Golden Anniversary of Myer and Rose Levine
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Abram (d.1955) and Blanche (d.1945) Levine immigrated to Pittsburgh from Pliskov in Russia about 1900 with their four young children, Eva, Minnie, Frank and Myer. They lived at 1603 Webster Avenue. Abram H. Levine worked as a carpenter and a wholesaler.
Myer W. Levine (1896-1992) studied “electricity, science, spelling, arithmetic, English, mechanical drawing, hygiene, and first aid to the injured” at the old North Industrial School. He later completed five terms at the Fifth Avenue Evening High School. When he graduated in March 1919, he delivered a commencement address titled “Dispensers of Dreams,” in which he exhorted his classmates, “We’ve got to live in the here and now. So let’s cut out the dream stuff, and throw our whole hearts into our work.” During this time, he also took evening classes in economics at the University of Pittsburgh.
Levine worked throughout high school, including jobs with the Keystone Tire Company on Wood Street and the Rubenstein Feed Company on Webster Avenue, variously as stenographer, bookkeeper, and general office manager.
In 1917, Levine began work as a stenographer at the Naturalization Service of Pittsburgh.
In 1917, while still in high school, he took a job as a stenographer and clerk for the U.S. Department of Labor Naturalization Service and soon became interested in enlisting in the U.S. military. He spent the early months of 1918 applying for military positions before being drafted as a private in August 1918. He was honorably discharged two weeks later at Camp Lee, Virginia, because, as he explained to his former employer, his right arm “was found too weak to carry a gun” and his heart was “jumpy, or beating too fast at times.”
Levine was involved in several social clubs of the Hill District. He founded a men’s club, the Bunch, that among other activities held honorary events for a women’s organization, the Eternal Club.
Myer Levine married Rose Ginsberg in 1922. They had four children, Henry, Milton, Irene and Barbara. They lived in East Liberty and were members of B’nai Israel Congregation.
