historic pittsburgh Archives

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When I first started blogging, I set up a google calendar to keep track of and share Pittsburgh events. In 2008 we wrote a post about the Three Rivers Postcard Club and I added a recurring event for their monthly meetings to the calendar. While the IheartPGH Google calendar has not been updated in years, each month I still get a reminder for the monthly meeting of the Three Rivers Postcard Club. And each month I’ve wondered if the club still exists.

As much as I love social media and I love looking at and sharing photos of Pittsburgh, I still love postcards. In many ways, postcards were the original Instagram or Facebook post. A quick photo and a short message to send someone an update. I love sending them and I love browsing through stacks of old postcards when I visit a flea market or Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse (which is an excellent source for both new and used postcards and greeting cards). Who doesn’t like getting a piece of mail that isn’t a bill or a solicitation from Comcast.

Last week, Diana Nelson-Jones published a lovely article about the Three Rivers Postcard club – Diana Nelson Jones’ Walkabout: Recalling postcards: underrated sources of folk history (Post-Gazette, January 9, 2017). The postcard club still exists and still meets at the same time and place as they did in 2008, 7 p.m. every third Thursday at the Fairhaven United Methodist Church, 2415 Saw Mill Run Blvd., in Overbrook.

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Pittsburgh Postcards then and now…

Would anyone be interested in helping to recreate some old postcard photos and share what those places look like now? I think it would be interesting to see what some of these places look like now and if they even still exist. The Fort Pitt Hotel, pictured above, was built in 1905 and demolished in 1967. You can read more about the Fort Pitt Hotel here.

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Last Saturday, Urban Hike explored the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Hazelwood. I have shared a few of the photos from the hike on Instagram and there have been several comments asking about the John Woods house.

But this house! The John Woods house is the 2nd oldest house in the city. The house is owned by URA and is for sale.

A photo posted by Iheartpgh (@iheartpgh) on Jun 22, 2015 at 7:38pm PDT

The John Woods House has a long history in Hazelwood and is currently waiting for someone to take a liking to it. The house is currently owned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, URA, and is listed on the URA website without a price. I have reached out to a few people to see if I can get some more information about this property.

Map of the John Woods House from the URA website.

Here is some more information about the history of the John Woods House and Hazelwood:

Architectural Significance of the John Woods House

The website Living Places has a detailed history of both John Woods and the house. Here is some information about the historical significance of the house:

The Woods House is significant as a rare survivor of a late 18th century vernacular style house. Historians George Swetnam and Helene Smith note that this house along with the Ft. Pitt blockhouse and the Neil house are the only surviving 18th century buildings in Pittsburgh. The late 18th century Robert Neil House is a small, one-and-a-half story log building with stone chinking. Presently located within the Schenley Park Historic District, the house collapsed in 1968 and was dismantled. It was reconstructed by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

Timeline of John Woods House & Some Key Hazelwood Dates

Here are some of the dates I came across while researching the John Woods house. This is not meant to be a comprehensive history of the area. I thought others might be interested in the dates and articles about Hazelwood.

1792 – John Woods House was built in what is now known as Hazelwood.

1794 – Pittsburgh is incorporated as a borough.

1816 – December 16, 1816 John Woods died in Brunswick Co., Virginia at age 55. [Living Places John Woods House Hazelwood]

1869 – Hazelwood is incorporated into the city of Pittsburgh. [Wikipedia]

1977 – Pittsburgh City Council adds the John Woods House to the list of historic designations. [Wikipedia]

1988 – Theresa Curran Gallagher spends the summer working at the LTV Coke Works. The Post-Gazette published her memories of working at the mill in a 2015 article that describes some of the chracter of the mill and Hazelwood in the 1980s. [Local Dispatch: Dirty Hazelwood mill produced splendid memories, Post-Gazette, March 20, 2015]

Local Dispatch: Dirty Hazelwood mill produced splendid memories

1993 – The John Woods House is added to the National Register of Historic Places. [John Woods House]

1998 – Hazelwood Coke Works closes.

1999 – The stacks from the LTV site are demolished. [Farewell to the city’s last Big Steel plant, Post-Gazette, July 12, 1999]

Farewell to the city’s last Big Steel plant

2001 – The URA buys the John Woods House from Andre Keith Houser for $25,000. [Allegheny County Real Estate website]

2002 – Almono partners purchases the formed LTV Steel site in Hazelwood.

Hazelwood Happenings: ALMONO, Greenway, Hazzelwood Summer Marketplace

Screenshot from the p4Pittsburgh website about Hazelwood Greenway

Now could be a the perfect time for the John Woods house to take on a new role in the neighborhood. Here are just some of the things happening in Hazelwood today that are important to what this neighborhood will look like in the future:

The former site of the LTV steel works is now refered to as the Almono site (Almono is short for Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio) will begin the first phase of development later this summer.
The John Woods House is located right next to the Hazelwood Greenway. There isn’t much about the Hazelwood Greenway online but from what I understand it is a quasi-park like designation. A greenway is a bunch of land, much of which is owned by the city, which has been set aside, but it isn’t considered a park.
Another exciting development for Hazelwood is the Summer Marketplace. On Saturdays during the summer local food vendors are setting up shop on Second Avenue. Hazelwood has not had a grocery story since Dimperio’s Market closed in January 2009 (Thieves cause Hazelwood grocery to give up, Post-Gazette, December 23, 2008).