Fred McFeely Rogers, Latrobe, Westmoreland County

I'm very pleased to report that yesterday's mission was a complete success - thanks to my 'baby' sister Liza, I was able to collect nine markers, including all three of those in Latrobe. So hello to the good people of Westmoreland County, and welcome to the blog! And a particular hello to David Newell, aka Mr. McFeely (Speedy delivery!), my mutual on Twitter and a truly lovely gentleman.

This has actually turned out to be a somewhat difficult post to write. Not because of a lack of source material - goodness knows, there's an abundance! No, it's a little difficult because there is so much information about the beloved topic that it's been a challenge to cut it down so the blog post doesn't go on forever. But I'm doing my best. 

The marker stands at James H. Rogers Park at the
intersection of Main and Jefferson Streets.

Generations of American children grew up watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, on which a tall man with kind eyes reminded us every day that each of us was a special person and he liked us just the way we are. He used puppets, songs, and gentle humor to teach us about (what felt like) just about everything; meanwhile, parents sought his guidance through the many books he wrote on difficult subjects from the death of a pet to dealing with the aftermath of 9/11. When the biopic It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood was released a few years ago, it became the first and only movie in my entire life to bring me to tears in the first ten seconds - the moment Tom Hanks appeared on the screen singing the beloved title song, I started to cry. I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Fred Rogers was incredibly important to me growing up, as he was to countless other people.

He was born on March 20, 1928 in the small city of Latrobe. He was the only biological child of James and Nancy (McFeely) Rogers; several years later they adopted a daughter named Nancy Elaine, nicknamed Laney. James was a wealthy brick manufacturer, and Fred led something of a pampered childhood due to the family's money and also his health issues; he suffered from severe allergies and asthma. "Fat Freddy," as his schoolmates called him, was driven to and from school almost every day by the family chauffeur, because of his parents' concerns about him being kidnapped. This might sound a little excessive, but you have to remember that when Fred was just four years old, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and never recovered, and the Rogerses dreaded the thought of something similar happening to their only son. Ostracized as a child, Fred turned to music and puppeteering as a creative outlet for his feelings. He also read extensively and particularly loved the book The Little Prince, which helped him establish his lifelong belief that every person is capable of loving and being loved.

As he got older, he lucked into a very helpful friendship with Jim Stumbaugh, one of his high school's star athletes; Jim was hospitalized due to an injury, and Fred was the one to bring him his homework assignments and help him with them. This friendship gained him acceptance from his peers. He went to college; originally he attended Dartmouth, but felt out of place in the party atmosphere and instead transferred to the much quieter Rollins College in Florida. There he met, among others, a young woman named Joanne Byrd. After graduating magna cum laude in 1951 with a degree in musical composition, he intended to enter the seminary, but one thing stopped him.

His parents bought a television. The Rogers family was among the first in Latrobe to own one of those things that Philo T. Farnsworth invented, and Fred saw it while home for Easter break. He was genuinely appalled by what he saw; years later, he recalled watching people throw pies at each other and thinking it was both demeaning (something he personally hated) and insulting to children. But with the degree under his belt, he got to thinking that there might be a way to use this new-fangled contraption for the betterment of humanity. He went to work in New York's NBC Studio, working his way up from gofer to floor manager and assisting with a number of productions, while learning everything he could from the talents employed there. 

He also kept up correspondence with his college friends, including Joanne, and one day the postman surprised her with a letter from Fred in which he asked her to marry him. After thinking it over, she found a pay phone and called him to say yes. They married in July of 1952 and eventually had two sons, James and John.

After he accepted a job at WQED in Pittsburgh in 1953, Fred and Joanne moved back to his native Pennsylvania. He began writing and producing a show called The Children's Corner, which is particularly notable as featuring several of the puppets who would later become Neighborhood icons. Most particularly, Daniel Striped Tiger (who was always something of an avatar for Fred) was first introduced to viewers this way, as he provided historical tidbits on every episode. Josie Carey, who helped Fred develop the show and often appeared on it, later recalled that each of the puppets had such distinct personalities and voices, she occasionally forgot that they were puppets!

The award-winning Children's Corner ceased its run in 1961. Fred, meanwhile, spent eight years earning his master's degree in Divinity and becoming a Presbyterian minister. He didn't preach regularly, but often filled in as needed in the Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. He considered his work in television to be his own form of ministry, his means of bringing lessons of love and forgiveness to homes across the country by being a good example for everyone regardless of their faith.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood first aired in 1968. It quickly became a touchstone of serenity in an extremely tumultuous year, as the country navigated the Vietnam War and the assassinations of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Wanting to provide his young viewers with both reassurance and explanations they could understand, Fred had Daniel Striped Tiger discuss the word "assassination" with Lady Aberlin in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. The following year, he famously appeared before Congress to testify about the need for public television; his speech was so passionate and yet so mild and earnest that they were persuaded to completely reverse their position on the matter. Instead of pulling funding for PBS, they granted $20 million for public television.

Over the years, the Neighborhood would touch on various topics, all of which seem quite large when you're rather small. It also hosted a number of notable guest stars, including Julia Child, Tony Bennett, and Margaret Hamilton, who wanted to show children that even though she played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, she was really a nice person under the costume. Fred sometimes took his viewers on field trips to factories and other workplaces, to show us how different products are made. The show broke racial barriers when Fred invited the black policeman Officer Clemmons to join him in sitting with his feet in a kiddie pool on a hot day. And through it all, the amiable host was aided in his work by a regular cast of characters, both human (the aforementioned Mr. McFeely being probably the best-remembered) and puppet (almost the entire population of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe).

Fred occasionally appeared on other shows, almost always as himself. The episode of Sesame Street in which he meets with Big Bird (who is a huge fan and very excited to meet him) remains a beloved classic, as is the episode of Neighborhood in which Big Bird visits the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. The only time he ever appeared on television as a human character, rather than as himself or a puppet, was his guest role on the show Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; the showrunners, having heard that he and Joanne were fans, invited him to play a visiting minister in one episode. 

As a person beyond the program, Fred had a couple of endearing quirks, many of which are touched on in the Tom Hanks film. (Tom Hanks, incidentally, is a distant cousin of Fred's.) He received entirely too much fan mail to personally write a response to every single letter, but he did read every response his assistant drafted, edited them where necessary, and hand-signed each one. He was a committed vegetarian, explaining that he just couldn't bring himself to eat anything which had once had a mother, and was also opposed to the fur industry. He also had a bit of a fascination with the number 143, because those are the numbers of letters in the words I love you; throughout his adult life, he maintained his weight at exactly 143 pounds. His faith throughout his life was simple and profound, as he prayed daily for many people, and he spent much of his free time visiting hospitals and hospices.

Neighborhood remained on the air all the way until 2001, at which point Fred was diagnosed with stomach cancer and needed to step down. The final episode aired on August 31st of that year; I'm almost positive I watched it, despite being in my 20s. By that time he had been the recipient of literally dozens of awards and accolades, including more than forty honorary degrees and, in 1999, a Lifetime Achievement Emmy. In 2002, President George W. Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. During retirement, he continued to write (notably penning a guide for parents to talk to their kids about the events of 9/11) and make public appearances.

Fred passed away from the cancer on February 27, 2003, at his home in Pittsburgh after falling into a short coma. His obituary made the front page of almost every major newspaper in the country. Following a private funeral on March 1st, he was interred in Latrobe's Unity Cemetery in his mother's family mausoleum. A public memorial was held on May 3rd at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, featuring many notable speakers and musicians, including the cellist Yo-Yo Ma (who had been a guest on Neighborhood) and PBS president Pat Mitchell. The memorial was televised and can be found on YouTube by clicking here. Joanne passed away on January 14, 2011, and is interred with her husband.

Fred's legacy endures, of course. The animated series Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, featuring the adventures of Daniel Striped Tiger's young son, carries on the lessons of the Neighborhood for kids who were born too late to be Fred's own neighbors. Latrobe is extremely proud of its native son and gave him a wonderful statue in the park near his historical marker; as you can see in this picture of my sister Liza, anyone can sit next to him and feel like they're visiting an old friend. Around the corner from the park, the city's visitor center (for which I couldn't find a website) utilizes the Neighborhood logo and features many books about the man and the show. There's also a "Fred Rogers Trail" which can be followed throughout the Pittsburgh region, showcasing many of the locations and events of his life. I encourage anyone with an interest to check out all of this and the sources I've listed below, which are just the start of the wealth of information available about our remarkable neighbor.

143, Mister Rogers. Thank you for everything.

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Sources and Further Reading:

The official website of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Assorted contributors. Mister Rogers: The Magical World of an American Icon. Life Books, 2019.

Long, Michael. Peaceful Neighbor: Discovering the Countercultural Mister Rogers. Westminster John Knox Press, 2015.

Hollingsworth, Amy. The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World's Most Beloved Neighbor. Integrity Publishers, 2005.

Cheney, Jim. "How to Get to Buttermilk Falls in Indiana County." UncoveringPA.com, November 27, 2021. (Buttermilk Falls is on property that was once owned by Fred McFeely, the maternal grandfather for whom Fred Rogers was named, and Fred spent a lot of time there in his youth. Thanks to the anonymous commenter who suggested including this link!)

Official website of the Fred Rogers Institute at Vincent College

Official website of the City of Latrobe

Fred McFeely Rogers at the Historical Marker Database 

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.