Agnes Green said the people of Farrell embraced her the second she stepped off the bus 54 years ago.

It was April 10, 1947, and the Mississippi native was 21 years old. She was traveling with her sister from Illinois and when they got off the bus, two young girls showed them where they were staying on Adams Street.

"All in all, Farrell has been good to me," Mrs. Green said.

Mrs. Green is one of many who came to Farrell -- which is celebrating its centennial this week -- in search of work.

She was following the pattern of the Great Migration that had begun about 20 years earlier. Black families by the tens of thousands moved to northern industrial centers hoping to find a brighter future than what was offered in the segregated South.

After staying a few months, Mrs. Green's sister soon left Farrell and returned to Illinois because her husband was still living there.

"I didn't care to go back to Illinois," Mrs. Green said, "It was really cold there in April."

Mrs. Green remembers her arrival in Farrell as if it was yesterday, although much has changed in her life and in Farrell since then. She speaks highly of her city and the people who live in it.She lived at 313 Adams Street above a social club. "It was never lonely because people were always coming and going from the club to play cards," Mrs. Green said. "Everybody was friendly and the people were good-hearted and willing to help."

She joined the Community Missionary Baptist Church, 1013 Emerson Ave., and made Farrell her home. She married in 1949 and is the mother of seven; three of her children are still alive. In addition to raising her own children, she raised four stepchildren.

In November 1952, she nearly died giving birth to a stillborn child.

"I was at death's door," she said, while attributing her life to the doctor who saved her -- Dr. Carl H. Rankin, who was practicing at what is now the hospital of Sharon Regional Health System.

"At that time, I would have put Buhl Hospital up against any hospital," Mrs. Green said. "I always pray for the doctors at the hospital."

After her near death, she was visited by Eliza Scott, a fellow member of her church. "She came to visit me and said, 'Your baby was ready for God but God didn't take you because you weren't ready.' "

"I set out from that day forward to get ready to meet my maker," Mrs. Green said.

Mrs. Green said she has met many good, humble people in Farrell and she has tried to learn something from each of them.

"I've traveled all over the states from Texas to Missouri to Michigan to Florida but I never thought of going anywhere else," Mrs. Green said. "My heart is fixed here."

Another native of the South and former cotton-picker, Mrs. Bertha Robinson made Farrell her home after she moved there with her three children from Cheraw, S.C. in 1951. Her late husband, Lester Sr., came to Farrell in 1950 to work for the former Sharon Steel.

"We came for work and there were good times and bad times," Mrs. Robinson said, adding that she, her husband and their five children lived through quite a few strikes at the Farrell steel mill.

Although she missed living in the South, she remained in Farrell, and many of her children and grandchildren still reside here.

Mrs. Robinson's fondest memories are of the children of Farrell. She worked at Farrell Elementary School for six years as a teacher's aide, a job she enjoyed. She loves children, she said, and always had all the neighborhood kids at her home.

"I'm a people person," Mrs. Robinson said, "I've always liked the people of Farrell.

"I feel Farrell is a very, very good place to live," Mrs. Robinson continued. "The community is growing together, people are working together and supporting each other."

Mrs. Green agreed that Farrell's strength is in its people.

"No matter how bad it looks or how much people put it down, I always see the good -- it's in the people here."