Mister Rogers Neighborhood

“It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor, would you be mine?? Could you be mine?? It’s a neighborly day in this beautywood, a neighborly day for a beauty.? Would you be mine?? Could you be mine?? I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.? I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.? So let’s make the most of this beautiful day, since we’re together, we might as well say, would you be mine?? Could you be mine?? Won’t you be my neighbor?? Won’t you please, won’t you please, please won’t you be my neighbor?”

For the last three decades of the twentieth century, many people young, and old, turned on their television and heard a man commonly called Mister Rogers who was a star of a television program called Mister Rogers Neighborhood.? The show began with a view of the neighborhood Mister Rogers lived in.? In the next scene, Mister Rogers enters his home and sang the song.? Although the show was targeted to young children, many adults became a fan of the show.? Although the show aired its last episode in 2001 and he passed away in 2003, the legacy of Mister Rogers and Mister Rogers Neighborhood continues on to this day.? In 2018, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood aired in theaters telling the story of the television series with Tom Hanks playing the role of Mister Rogers whose real name was Fred Rogers.? Fred Rogers may be gone, but his legacy lives on.

Some of you are saying, “Wow!? Mister Rogers must have been a great man to have been loved by so many.? There is one problem.? The show was about Mister Rogers and was a show for children.? It was not a railroad show for railroad lovers.? Therefore, I have no desire to be his neighbor.”

So, you do not want to be a neighbor of Mister Fred Rogers.? Why?? The reason is because you had never seen the Mister Rogers Neighborhood television show.

As mentioned, the show began with a view of the neighborhood.? This neighborhood was designed after his hometown of Latrobe in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.? What is special about Latrobe, Pennsylvania?? It was a town designed by a civil engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad who named the town after a college classmate, Benjamin Henry Latrobe II who was an engineer for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the son of the man who happened to be the architect responsible for rebuilding the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. after it was burned down during the War of 1812.? Latrobe was also the western terminus of the Ligonier Valley Railroad, a narrow gauge railroad that ran east of Latrobe to the town of Ligonier.? There were also two trolley lines that operated in the town.

Some of you are saying, “It is nice that he came from a railroad town, but what does this have to do with the television show?”

As mentioned, again, the show began with a view of the neighborhood.? One of the things that you saw was a trolley.? Mister Rogers entered the house and sang the famous song.? Along with Mister Rogers, the show had other characters.? Part of the show took place in ‘The Neighborhood of Make-Believe’.? How did he get to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe?? One of the characters of the show was called ‘Trolley’.

Some of you are saying, “That is a strange name.? Who in the world is ‘Trolley’?”

Oh!? ‘Trolley’ was an actual trolley.? Well, it was a model trolley that departed from Mister Rogers’ living room to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.? ‘Trolley’ was followed as it left Mister Rogers and along its route until it arrived in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, a neighborhood that featured puppets.

Some of you are saying, “Wow!? That is interesting.? I bet he enjoyed riding around in his expensive cars and never rode a train.”

Well, you are wrong again.? While he was living in New York City, New York during the filming of the television show, Fred Rogers rode around New York City on the subway.? No.? He did not have his own private subway car.? Fred Rogers enjoyed being around people, and a ride on the subway allowed his to mingle with the regular common people.? He was also a big fan of trolleys.? A famous photo of Fred Rogers is a photo of him sitting on the steps of a trolley.

Some of you are saying, “That is very nice.? Too bad that the trolley is now scrapped.”

Sadly, you are wrong again.? The trolley, Trolley Number 3756, can be seen at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, Pennsylvania, like Latrobe, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Some of you are saying, “Whew!? It got spared.? I am glad that they saved it.? Why the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum?”

Why the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum?? In honor of Fred Rogers, whose home is in the Pittsburgh Metropolis, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, also in the Pittsburgh Metropolis, was the perfect home for the trolley, but there is more to the story.? The photo of Fred Rogers sitting on the trolley steps holding a replica of ‘Trolley’ was taken on October 3, 1983, at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum by a museum volunteer.? Fred Rogers was visiting the museum to film an episode of the television show.? While he was visiting, Fred Rogers operated at trolley with help from a volunteer.? Today, you can visit Trolley 3756, and you can replicate the photo of yourself.? The replica trolley used in the photo can be seen inside a glass encasement inside the Visitor Center.

Now that you know that Fred Rogers is a trolley fan, you might want to move to his neighborhood.? You will probably enjoy being his neighbor.