Tag Archives: History

Allegheny Valley: Its Industry and Its Railroads

Join us for the second lecture of our Fall 2017 Series

Keneth Kobus, author on Steel and Railroad History, will present “Allegheny Valley, Its Industry and Its Railroads”

Ken Kobus is author of the 2015 book “City of Steel: How Pittsburgh Became the World’s Steelmaking Capital During the Carnegie Era“.

More about Ken Kolbus’s research into Pittsburgh steel industry:

All Lectures are Free and Open to the Public

East Liberty History & Upcoming Lectures on George Washington & Frederick Scheibler, Jr.

The East Liberty Valley Historic Society is a nonprofit that exists to document and share the history of the East Liberty neighborhood and surrounding areas. East Liberty is a particularly interesting area of Pittsburgh when it comes to development as it has many buildings from the time East Liberty became a fashionable suburb for some of Pittsburgh’s wealthiest families who were looking to escape the congestion of Downtown Pittsburgh in the 1850s. East Liberty is also the site of a massive Urban Renewal project in the 1950s.

The East Liberty Valley Historic Society has been documenting and sharing information about the neighborhood from both of these eras and everything in between.  You can read a detailed history of East Liberty from the 1700s to today, on the East Liberty Valley Historic Society website here. Follow East Liberty Valley Historic Society on Facebook for more photos and history of East Liberty.

East Liberty Valley Historic Society Spring Lecture Series

There are two more lectures in the East Liberty Valley Historic Society Spring Lecture series that may be of interest to Pittsburghers looking to learn more about history and local architecture.

George Washington: Here on Business

Presented by Miles S. Richards, Ph.D., author and retired Faculty Member, University of South Carolina and Midlands Technical College.

  • Date: Friday, May 5, 2017
  • Time: 7:30-9pm
  • Location: East Liberty Presbyterian Church (use entrance on Highland Ave)
  • Facebook Event

Apartment building on Highland Ave designed by Frederick Scheibler.

Architect Frederick G. Scheibler, Jr. and His Work in the East End

Presented by Martin Aurand, Author and Principal Architecture Library/Archivist, Head of University Libraries Arts Library and Special Collections Department, Carnegie Mellon University.

  • Date: Friday, June 2, 2017
  • Time: 7:30-9pm
  • Location: East Liberty Presbyterian Church (use entrance on Highland Ave)
  • Facebook Event

Looking for more historic preservation events? Join the Pittsburgh Historic Preservation MeetUp group.

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Building Your Family Tree – History Center to offer FREE Workshops in on Researching African American and Jewish Family Histories

Nowadays we can log on to ye olde Facebooks and keep tabs on our cousin and in many families Grandma and Grandpa are using the Facebooks to keep in touch.  But if you want to find out about previous generations – Facebook doesn’t offer much.  Just the word Family Tree brings back memories of my mom helping me we a 2nd grad project.  She was determined to fill that piece of posterboard out correctly – probably because there was no other written location of the family history.

The Heinz History center is kicking off a new series of events this weekend to help you learn about your family tree before the Facebook era.  The workshops this weekend are focused on researching African American and Jewish family histories.  It looks like they will be hosting additional workshops in the future.

Saturday, February 25, 2012 – African American Family Histories

On Sat., Feb. 25, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., noted genealogist Dr. Deborah Abbott will trace the ancestry of an African American family and provide insight to visitors on the best genealogical methods. Dr. Abbott will demonstrate how visitors can trace their family roots with limited facts and information, particularly those with ancestors who were enslaved and emancipated.

This History Center workshop is co-sponsored by the Afro-American Genealogical Society of Pittsburgh and supported by the Department of Education Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program.

Sunday, February 26, 2012 – Jewish Family Histories

On Sun., Feb. 26, from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Detre Library & Archives will offer special demonstrations of Ancestry.com, Jewishgen.org, and a presentation on Jewish family research methods called “Finding Family in the Old Country.”

Following the demonstrations, the presenters and Detre Library & Archives staff will be available for genealogy-related questions during an open house session.

This Rauh Jewish Archives workshop was underwritten with the generous support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

ADMISSION: Admission is FREE for Genealogy Weekend participants and registration is encouraged. To pre-register, call Natalie DeRiso at 412-454-6373or e-mail nnderiso@heinzhistorycenter.org.

The Nina, The Pinta Make a Pilgrimage to Pittsburgh

The Nina
Image by matneym via Flickr

Last week the Nina and the Pinta sailed into Pittsburgh, well okay not the original ships that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue with but the reproductions of The Nina and The Pinta. The two ships are docked next to Heinz field until November 15, 2009.

The website for the ships is – http://www.thenina.com/ – but it doesn’t have any info about their stop in Pittsburgh. From what I have read on the internet the ships are open for tours daily from 9am – 4pm daily. I think the tickets are $7. Continue reading →

Some Park and Parking History & Friday is Park(ing) Day in PittsburghParking

092107_ParkingDay
Image by JessyeAnne via Flickr

This is a neat event that is another creative way to think about our city, transit and how cars fit into the urban landscape.   It fits well into the conversation we have been having about if you need a car in Pittsburgh on the post about Zipcar.

Last year, I posted about Parking Day 2008 and recieved this interesting comment that I wanted to share – which puts some historical perspective of how cars have fit into Pittsburgh over the past centruy or so.

I have a nineteenth century “History of Pittsburg” which lists the word “parking” in the index. I thought this odd as I couldn’t imagine someone parking a carriage. When I looked it up, the word meant the placing and creating of parks in the city which was not done until after the Civil War.

Park(ing) Day, Friday, September 18, 2009 is being coordinated by Mattress Factory, the Office of Public

Park (ing) day
Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

Art and the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh.

More info about Park(ing) Day and some great photos of the parks from last year is available at http://parkingdaypittsburgh.blogspot.com/ Continue reading →