Category Archives: History

Jerry’s Railroad Photo Archive – Pgh style

You want old photos of trolleys?

Oh man, do we got old photos of trolleys.

Check’em aht:

1
1520 (St. Louis 1944) [71 NEGLEY HIGHLAND PK]
at 6th. & Liberty in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (April, 1966)

2
1444 (St. Louis 1942) [77/54 NO. SIDE CARRICK VIA BLOOMFIELD]
at 32nd. & Liberty in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. (August, 1964)

3
1555 (St. Louis 1945) [76 HAMILTON]
at Coal and Ramsey in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. (August, 1964)

4
1621 (St. Louis 1945) [39 BROOKLINE]
on the Smithfield St. Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (August, 1964)

5
1662 (St. Louis 1945) [42/38 MT LEBANON BEECHVIEW]
at P&LE station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (February, 1967)

Its getting Chili in Braddock – but for a good cause…

One of the best things to love about Pittsburgh is the many Carnegie Libraries. Not only are the many branches of the carnegie Library awesome because they are full of books and vidoes and interesting knowledge that is free to the public but most of the libraries are located in amazing historic buildings that have other cool things liek swimming pools and musical halls.
If you are not from Pittsburgh – the short story is that Andrew Carnegie was a guy that made a lot of money in Pittsburgh with steel mills and other industries. He wanted to give something back to his employees and built libraries/community centers.

Carnegie Library in Braddock
The Carnegie Library in Braddock was the first one built and it is way more than books – it also has a musical hall and pottery studio and museum for the first battle of the French and Indian war complete with contemporary artifacts.
Visit the Carnegie Library in Braddock’s web page for more information on the history of the building
Better yet – why not attend the Braddock Library Chili Cook-Off Fundraiser.
Satruday March 25, 2006 – 1pm
Tasty Chili and music by the Groove Pilgrims

Paul Schweikher .. and the Knoxville Public Library

The neighborhood of Knoxville lies just north of the South Side and Mt. Oliver. Today it’s a working class neighborhood and, unknown to most Pittsburghers, it has an interesting architectual history. The neighborhood started as a fruit farm owned by Reverend Jeremiah Knox; it started developing after the introduction of the inclines, and is now dotted with Victorian and brick homes.

I drive past the Knoxville Library on Brownsville Road often – admittedly, I always thought the building looked like a misplaced concrete fortress. It wasn’t until I came across this urban history of Pittsburgh that I realized I was driving past an architectural landmark. (Thanks to Dr. Frank Toker, professor of architecture at the University of Pittsburgh, for posting this in its full glory.)

Apparently, the library was designed by Paul Schweikher, former chairman of the schools of architecture at Yale University and Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). The Knoxville Library can be cited as an example of “new brutalism” (from the French brut, or concrete.)

Schweikher also designed the studio theatre at CMU, the Duquesne Union at Duquesne University, and the WQED building.

Here is one interpretation of the Knoxville library (from the urban history of Pittsburgh):

“The neighborhood … provides a remarkable setting for Paul Schweikher’s elegant and self-contained Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh–Knoxville Branch (400 Brownsville Rd., SW corner Matthews; 1966). This cement-block structure pulls back from the street by means of two deeply recessed vestibules that muffle traffic noises. It receives its main light not from the street but from two grey metal hoods that rise, fortresslike, from the central block of the building and terminate in skylights. The design of the library is a daring concept, elitist rather than populist in tone, since its shrinks from contact with the rag-tag architecture of the street, and sets itself up as a sanctuary of learning for the neighborhood residents who want one.

Well then, this teaches me not to look at buildings as uninspiring slabs of concrete.

Does anyone have any photos of the library? I scoured the Internets, but alas, I could not find anything. Please comment or e-mail if you have any more info (or if you feel like taking a picture yourself!)

“Pittsburgh is Paris” says Denver columnist

This article is from the Denver newspaper – a columnist who first was not so complimentary of Pittsburgh came for a visit – Yinz might like Steeler Nation, after all

Of course, we already know that Pittsburgh is great but sometimes it is really nice to see an outsider discovering Pittsburgh.

January 19, 2006
PITTSBURGH – This is not a bad town. Not at all. I swear it.

Now, can I come home, please?

People want a piece of me. I have over the past 12 hours heard from perhaps every single person in Colorado who once lived here.

How dare I call Pittsburgh “butt-ugly?” You would have thought I was describing their children.

Slowly, I am coming to understand.

The people here, I will admit, are some of the nicest folks I have encountered in a decade.

And even they will acknowledge – if they are the slightest bit liquored- up – what your eyes are screaming at you: The place is kind of grimy and, well, kind of ugly.

But even if it is (and, between you and me, it is) that is not, I am learning, the point.

Pittsburgh is old, northern industrial on its facade, but deep down, in its heart, it is Paris.

In the City of Light, they never tear down anything, and neither does Pittsburgh.

So what if you have a corrugated-steel lumber mill from the 19th century plopped right in the middle of the old neighborhood.

In Denver, it would now be resting for eternity in a landfill. Here, they rip out just enough from the inside to turn it into gleaming, not-too-cheap condos, restaurants and office space.

The place where I ate breakfast, with its thick wood paneling, was a firehouse back in the 1800s. The old railroad station up the street? Today, it houses fancy cheese and wine shops, linen-tablecloth restaurants and boutiques.

But even that is not the point of Pittsburgh.

It is a relatively small city that appears not to aspire to grandeur or worry one bit about any large-scale greatness. Folks seem to know each other.

I spent the afternoon with the Yinzers, up in the Strip District. I know, I didn’t get it at first, either.

A Yinzer, it turns out, will ask you this:

Yinz going to the Strip today? It is the Western Pennsylvania equivalent of the Southern y’all. Some pronounce it “yunz.” The local radio sports station even has a “Yinzer Yap” segment.

You would love the Strip District. If Steeler Nation has a capital, the Strip is it. Even the candy is Black and Gold. It is home to Primanti Brothers Bar & Grill, where you are directed to lunch if you truly want to know the Nation.

Primanti Bros. is a 24-hour joint at 18th Street and Penn Avenue where the bartender/waitress sets immediately upon you, as if you’ve had time to read the long menu on the wall. You will be dead before they hand you a paper version.

“Pastrami and cheese,” you blurt out, the first thing you read.

It comes the way folks here say you absolutely have to have it: with french fries and coleslaw tucked inside the bread. The bartender/waitress slides it to you on sheets of wax paper. They don’t do dishes at Primanti Bros.

And all I tasted, Scout’s honor, was fries and coleslaw. But forget that. The real show takes place just outside the doors.

Up and down Penn Avenue stand long tent enclosures, inside of which is every manner of Steelers gear you can imagine. People are standing five-deep in the spitting snow, just to get inside and buy yet another Steelers T-shirt, hat or jersey. Or all three.

But wait, I ask no one in particular, weren’t these same items available the first week of the season? The reply comes almost choruslike: “They’re in the AFC Championship now!”

The hottest-selling item, I learned, is a simple T-shirt that depicts the slyly smiling Calvin and Hobbes-looking kid (in decals, he’s the one urinating on everything from Ford and Chevy logos to you-name-it).

On the T-shirt, his aim is at but a single word – Denver – done up in orange and blue. I bought one.

It is about as anti-Denver as you will find in this town. People here do not have time to hate Denver.

Churches fill at noontime with folks praying only for a Steelers victory. Whatever Pittsburgh is, the Steelers are the glue that binds.

School pep rallies are scheduled for Friday. This coming Saturday and Sunday have been officially declared Black And Gold Weekend.

The Steelers are religion here. An example:

It is just after noon, and the parking lot outside of Heinz Field is filling with cars. Residents are lining up outside to be part of the studio audience for the Jerome Bettis Show.

But the Bus’ TV epic will not tape until 7:30 this particular evening.

“It’s estatic here, this town is going crazy!” says Mike Stivason, 34, standing in the afternoon snow and bitter chill. He has come to the stadium with his brother, Ken, who will turn 30 today, and three of their buddies from Ford City, about 60 miles away. They have come only to be part of the Bettis show.

“What’s 60 miles?” Ken asks. “We just want to be here, to see it and take part. It’s the atmosphere! The Steelers are in the AFC Championship! We got our Terrible Towels in the trunk!”

You are born here and breathe your first breath as a member of Steeler Nation, says another of the group, Chris Zilla, and it never leaves you.

“I don’t know what it’s like in Denver,” he says, “but here we live and die with the Steelers.

“And we don’t intend on doing any dying anytime soon.”

By 5 o’clock, the line waiting to get into the Jerome Bettis show numbers into the hundreds.

And it will not air until Friday.

French & Indian War – PBS

Hi all! I just came back to PGH, and won’t cha know, on my first night here, I curled up on the couch to watch … a PBS re-enactment of the French and Indian War. I know that to some of you this sounds as interesting as paint drying, but I was surprised at how geekily I got into it. Pittsburgh is the star of this historical documentary. The blood shed here isn’t something to love about Pittsburgh per se, but this series underscores its historical importance in the creation of the United States.

warthatmadeamerica

In the mid-1700s, our Ohio River Valley was the key to expanding the French or British empire. The 3000-4000 American Indians living here also claimed the forks of the Mon, Allegheny and Ohio as their land.

The documentary is totally fascinating – esp. the pastoral and colonial scenes of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Fayette, and other surrounding counties. Imagine, only 250 years ago, the banks of our rivers were green, pristine, and silent, save for the occasional fort, trading post, or brave frontier outpost.

In the 18th century, the area around Pittsburgh was owned by the French and their Indian allies. Sent from Great Britain, General Braddock, along with the American-born and inexperienced George Washington, were sent with over 1000 troops to fight the French and take over the river fork as a major trading route. (Their excrutiating journey from Virginia to Pittsburgh looks eerily like Route 40.) Braddock, having never fought before on American terroritory, was ill-prepared by the French and Indian guerrilla fighters, and he and his troops were slaughtered … on what is now PA 837 at Kennywood Park, North of Duquesne. He finally died en route in Chalk Hill, off route 40 in Fayette County.

braddock

After watching the initial blunders of the British troops, it’s a wonder we aren’t all speaking French … or Lenape (the language of the Delaware Indians) right now. I guess we’ll just have to tune in to the next installment to find out how the British finally won the war, after losing many of the first battles. What I also appreciate about the documentary is the portrayal of American Indians and their presence on our land. (Unfortunately most of the native Indian population were later forced to Oklahoma by the US government.)

The first installment was on Wednesday at 9pm, but it is playing again on Friday night. Check the local listing here. The next installment is next Wednesday, January 25 at 9pm. Don’t be afraid to get your geek on – I assure you, it’s much more interesting than another repeat of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Here is a description from the site:

“The War that Made America” brings to life a vastly important time in American history, when events set forces in motion that would culminate in the American Revolution. The dramatic documentary tells the story of the French and Indian War (1754-1763), which began in the wilderness of the Pennsylvania frontier and spread throughout the colonies, into Canada, and ultimately around the world.

“The War That Made America” combines a commitment to accuracy with a compelling portrayal of the dangerous world of the 18th-century frontier. A central figure is George Washington, a brash and ambitious young officer in his twenties hoping to make his reputation in the military — and whose blunders inadvertently trigger the war.

“A primary focus of the series, and a story that has been distorted or long forgotten, is the critical military importance and strategic diplomacy of Native Americans in the conflict between the English and French. It was a war the British won, but the fruit of their victory contained the seeds of the Revolutionary War.

“The program is narrated and hosted by Graham Greene, the Academy-Award nominated actor for “Dances With Wolves” and an Oneida Indian whose ancestors fought in the French and Indian War.”