Category Archive: Education
-
On the Whiskey Trail
Jasmine Gehris/Tribune-Review
By Jerry Storey
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 22, 2005Grant Gerlich, executive director at West Overton Museums, near Scottdale, would like to establish a small distillery at the site where Old Overholt whiskey had its beginning.
The curators at the Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park, and at Woodville Plantation, in Collier Township, Allegheny County, have more modest projects in the works to celebrate their whiskey heritage, building a barn to house an 18th-century still and planting rye, respectively.
The southwestern Pennsylvania museums are linked as three of the seven historic sites on the new American Whiskey Trail.
The others are the George Washington Distillery site at Mt. Vernon, Va., the centerpiece of the effort; Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City; Gadsby’s Tavern Museum in Alexandria, Va.; and the Oscar Getz Museum, in Bardstown, Ky.
Also included on the tour are four operating distilleries in Kentucky — Jim Beam, in Clermont; Maker’s Mark, in Loretto; Wild Turkey, in Lawrenceburg; and Woodford Reserve, in Versailles — and two in Tennessee — George Dickel, in Tullahoma, and Jack Daniels, in Lynchburg. There are also two rum distilleries, Bacardi, in Catano, Puerto Rico, and Cruzan in St. Croix, the Virgin Islands.
The Web site for the American Whiskey Trail describes it as “a cultural heritage and tourism initiative of the Distilled Spirits Council in cooperation with Historic Mount Vernon.”
The three sites in southwestern Pennsylvania represent two different eras in whiskey making.
The Oliver Miller Homestead and the Woodville Plantation highlight the lives of early settlers, the importance of whiskey to commerce and the independent spirit that led to a short-lived rebellion in 1794 after the federal government taxed whiskey. The owners of the Miller and Neville homesteads were on opposite sides of the rebellion.
The homesteads are two of only eight sites in Allegheny County listed as National Historic Landmarks.
West Overton was developed after the Whiskey Rebellion. Although rye whiskey was made at the site in a log house as early as 1803, the 1838 distillery building, and the village that surrounded it, represent a tipping point in the nation’s transition from agriculture to industry, according to Gerlich.
None of the three area museums have extensive exhibits on whiskey making yet. But that doesn’t concern Dennis Pogue, associate director at Mt. Vernon, who invited the three museums to be a part of the American Whiskey Trail.
“There is more to the history (of whiskey) than just making whiskey,” he said.
Motorists speed by 18th-century history every day on Route 50.
The Woodville Plantation, also known as the John and Presley Neville House, is hemmed in by highways and surrounded by office buildings. The plantation, once spread out over 400 acres, now encompasses about five acres of land.
“It’s our little bit of Williamsburg,” said Julianna Haag, the president of the Woodville Plantation Associates, referring to the restored Colonial capital in Virginia.
The original log cabin was erected by Neville in 1775, making it the oldest domicile in Allegheny County. Now covered in clapboard, two small doors can be swung open to show visitors the original logs. The original cabin’s kitchen room, with its hearth and period utensils, is the most popular stop on the house tour, according to Haag.
John Neville and his son, Presley, had distinguished records in the Revolutionary War as a general and aide-de-camp to Lafayette, respectively.
John Neville had built a new mansion at Bower Hill and given Woodville to Presley by the time of the Whiskey Rebellion.
But then, his friend, President George Washington, asked him to collect the new tax on whiskey in western Pennsylvania. After angry neighbors burned his new mansion to the ground, John Neville had to move back in with his son.
Succeeding owners made several additions to the home, including, in the late 1820s, a wraparound veranda set off with latticework.
The dining room walls are painted in a bright verdigris green popular in the late 18th century. The bedrooms are papered in a replica of an 1815 pattern.
Early occupants of the Woodville Plantation made their mark by etching their names and messages in the windows with diamond rings, a 19th-century custom akin to later homeowners tracing their initials in wet cement.
There are few exhibits showing the home’s direct connection to the Whiskey Rebellion, although it is emphasized in tours.
Rob Windhorst, a member of the Woodville Plantation Associates, recently added a living connection to the era by planting some rye on the grounds.
Volunteer docents, dressed in 18th-century garb, give tours of the Woodville Plantation on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.
“We try to put ourselves in John Neville’s era,” Haag said.
Haag, who discovered the site when she helped her daughter with an eighth-grade history project, said associates emphasize educational programs, particularly for children.The group also published a collection of personal letters and documents from the Whiskey Rebellion.
One interesting outside exhibit is John Neville’s original tombstone, although he isn’t buried at Woodville Plantation. The most recent reconstruction project is an 18th-century privy, built by Julianna Haag’s husband, Doug, who modeled it after plans from Williamsburg.
In 1976, Woodville was acquired by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. It is operated by a board made up of representatives from the foundation, the Neville House Associates, the Allegheny County Committee of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America and individuals.
In addition to the Sunday tours held May through October, appointments for private tours and school groups are available.
The Oliver Miller Homestead is in the middle of a park. Stone Manse Drive, which leads to the homestead, is just off Corrigan Drive, the main road in South Park.
According to a history of the homestead, Oliver Miller emigrated with his family to America from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, in 1742. He purchased a tract of land on Catfish Run in 1772 and settled on the site six years later, building a two-story log cabin.
The cabin was replaced in 1830 by the current Stone Manse, which stayed in the family until the 1927 formation of South Park.
Visitors in shorts, T-shirts, sweats and bicycle helmets mingle with docents in Colonial dresses and bonnets at the homestead, often wandering unaware into the 18th-century world.
Mary Olesky, president of the associates, said neighbors who live near the homestead often don’t know it’s there.
But those who find their way to the Stone Manse are greeted by guides in period garb conducting tours and discussing history. On any given Sunday, visitors will find quilters, wool spinners, chair makers and blacksmiths demonstrating pioneer crafts. Volunteers also prepare a meal from the era, such as catfish cooked on the griddle on April 17, opening day.
There is a series of programs that run from opening day through a Dec. 11 frontier Christmas. On July 17, a skit titled “Serving the Writ,” will be performed several times to dramatize the outbreak of the Whiskey Rebellion.
Three of Oliver Miller’s sons were involved in the outbreak, according to the homestead’s history, when on July 15, 1794, Gen. John Miller and a U.S. marshal went to the home of William Miller near the homestead. The officers attempted to serve a writ which imposed a $250 fine for Miller’s failure to register his still.
As the rebellion spread throughout western Pennsylvania, Washington, in turn, formed an army of 12,000 men who quickly put an end to it.
Guides at the Oliver Miller Homestead retell the story of the Whiskey Rebellion to visitors.
“We try to educate people,” said Noel Moebs, 78, a retired geologist who has been involved with the associates since it beginning 30 years ago.
In addition to the presentations, a number of books on the Whiskey Rebellion are on sale at the log house.
While Allegheny County owns the Oliver Miller Homestead, the associates have been responsible for operating the site and making all the improvement on it for the past 30 years. The group receives no tax revenue from the county for the improvements.
“It’s all donations,” Moebs said.
In addition to the Stone Manse, the property includes a springhouse, a reconstructed log house, a blacksmith forge and various heirloom gardens. The most important Whiskey Rebellion artifact on display at the homestead is the bottom half of an 18th-century still that belonged to the Millers.
“It is a real museum piece,” Moebs said.
A new barn is being built to house the still and other exhibits depicting the Whiskey Rebellion.
Moebs hopes the honor of being part of the American Whiskey trail will guide more visitors to the Oliver Miller Homestead, which is open Sundays through Dec. 11 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. The last tour begins at 4 p.m.
West Overton is an agriculture village founded by Henry Overholt in 1800 and expanded by his son, Abraham, located on Route 819 near Scottdale. The collection of stone buildings, the Overholt mansion, the distillery building and an enormous barn is hard to miss.
Gerlich said that Abraham Overholt, living in eastern Pennsylvania with his father at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion, was captivated by it. He said Abraham realized “that’s where the future was.”
Soon after the German Mennonite family moved to southwestern Pennsylvania, Henry Overholt established a distillery in a log building.
“They had a recipe they brought from Germany,” Gerlich said.
After Henry Overholt’s death in 1813, Abraham expanded the distillery, bricking in the log building and erecting a gristmill. With his rye crop, the gristmill, and distillery, he had everything he needed for his product.
“You could grow it, mill it and distill it,” Gerlich said.
The brand Overholt made at West Overton was Old Farm Rye Whiskey. He also made Old Monongahela Whiskey at a distillery at Broadford, Connellsville Township, Fayette County.
The name was changed to Old Overholt after his death in 1875. It became a popular national brand.
Gerlich pointed out that a true Manhattan or Old-Fashioned mixed drink has to be made with Old Overholt.
During Prohibition, the distillery was shut down at West Overton, but “medicinal whiskey” was made at the Broadford site. Old Overholt was distilled at Broadford until a 1965 fire; the brand is still made at the Jim Beam Distillery in Kentucky.
The new makers of Old Overholt have made at least one change, however. Gerlich pointed out that they’ve added a slight smile to the portrait of the dour Overholt on the label.
As the birthplace of Henry Clay Frick, West Overton was also at the center of the Connellsville coke industry. Frick, Overholt’s grandson, was a towering, controversial figure in the coal and coke era. In recognition of this, a coke oven was reconstructed and set in front of the museum.
Helen Clay Frick, Frick’s daughter, donated the West Overton site to a nonprofit association.
As important as the coal and coke heritage is to the area, Gerlich said he doesn’t want the whiskey era in southwestern Pennsylvania slighted. He said whiskey also would have broader appeal to many tourists than coal and coke.
The most prominent reminder of whiskey making at West Overton is the museum building, which is the shell of the old distillery and gristmill. An exhibit inside the museum also chronicles the era.
The museum sponsors a series of programs throughout the year, including a quilt show June 4 through July 1.
Someday, Gerlich would like to set up as a tourist attraction a small-batch distillery that would also sell its product. In the meantime, he said the whiskey era would play a more prominent role in presentations and programming at West Overton.
The museum is open May through Oct. 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.
The Jim Beam Distillery tour features a museum that shows how whiskey is made. There are also a number of historical exhibits such as old rack houses and what may be the oldest moonshine still in America, according to Doris Calhoun, who heads up the visitors center.
In addition, the tour offers an inducement to visitors that the three historic sites in southwestern Pennsylvania can’t match — at least not until West Overton gets its distillery.
Calhoun said visitors 21 and older can attend tastings of the product. The visitors are served one-half-ounce glasses of two different “ultra-premium” bourbons, which is “the maximum amount state law will allow,” she said.
Samples may be available at other distilleries on the tour. Although Old Overholt rye whiskey is made at the Jim Beam distillery, it isn’t offered in the tastings.
“Some do tastings, some don’t,” Calhoun said.
The centerpiece on the historic portion of the whiskey trail is the distillery Washington built in 1797 at Mt. Vernon, his Virginia home for 45 years.
An operating gristmill has been reconstructed at Mt. Vernon. A five-year archaeological dig at the original distillery site is complete and a reconstructed distillery is being erected there, with funding from the Distilled Sprits Council.
The council is not the first to recognize the appeal of a whiskey trail.
The Scottish Whisky Trail has been around for decades and has become a popular tourist destination. Pogue, Mt. Vernon’s associate director, acknowledged that it has one advantage over the American Whiskey Trail in that there are a number of historic sites and distilleries in a small area that tourists can visit in a few days.
Even if all the sites on the American Whiskey Trail can’t be taken in a few days, Pogue said that individually or collectively, they have an important story to tell.
Jerry Storey can be reached at jstorey@tribweb.com or (724) 626-3581.
-
Students take role in city’s history
By Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW REAL ESTATE WRITER
Friday, April 8, 2005History is one of Amy Lollo’s favorite subjects.
So it’s not surprising the fourth-grader at Phillips Elementary School on the South Side is an eager participant in the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation’s “Save Our History” project.She is among about 500 students from four elementary schools in and around the South Side taking part in the project, which is focused on preserving the legacy of East Carson Street, the community’s historic main street.
“I love history,” Lollo, 11, said Thursday just before she joined other program participants, their teachers and guests for an afternoon program at Phillips Elementary to thank the History Channel for a $10,000 grant.
Since January, students from Phillips, Arlington and Philip Murray elementary schools, and Bishop Leonard Catholic, have been involved in activities ranging from research and community interviews to drawing sketches of commercial buildings and composing poetry and works of art.
“I interviewed my grandmother about what things have been made and what has been torn down,” said Lollo, adding that she later composed an essay about her experience.
One thing she learned, she said, is the Brady Street Bridge, which for years spanned the Monongahela River, was torn down in 1978 after the construction of the Birmingham Bridge now linking the South Side to neighborhoods on the northern bank of the river.
The History & Landmarks Foundation is one of 29 organizations across the country chosen for the newly established History Channel grants, said Judy Klein Frimer, director of brand enhancement for the History Channel.
“You folks are the whole future of saving our history,” Frimer told the students yesterday. “Unless you understand and treasure it, we won’t have a history and neither will your children’s children.”
“East Carson Street is 194 years old, but it’s very much alive today because of the quality of life it supports,” said History & Landmarks Foundation executive director Louise Sturgess, who is overseeing implementation of the local project.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Program, designed to spur revitalization of commercial districts. East Carson Street was designated a Great American Main Street by the National Trust in 1996.
“Main streets are the heart of the neighborhood,” Sturgess said.
The next significant event for the Save Our History project will be “Spotlight on Main Street,” a major community program April 30 featuring a scavenger hunt and other activities at the South Side Market House and along East Carson between 10th and 22nd streets.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
-
Project gives students a fresh look at Main Streets: Learning from landmarks
By Patricia Lowry,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, April 07, 2005Since its founding in 1964, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation has been quietly growing the next generation of preservationists.
Working with teachers, Landmarks staffers are leading children out of their schools and into their neighborhoods, where they are learning to look up, up, up — to the bull on the South Side Market House, to the Moderne eagle on the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building and to dozens of other details on Main Street buildings they have passed by for years and never noticed.
Since Landmarks expanded its education programs in 1994, the foundation has reached 5,000 children in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, including about 500 students at four South Side elementary schools now participating in the “Spotlight on Main Street” project focusing on East Carson Street. It’s funded by a $10,000 “Save Our History” grant from the History Channel, which comes to town today to honor their work with the presentation of plaques for each school.
The project began in December, when fifth-grade students from Phillips Elementary School visited Douglas Cooper’s panoramic Pittsburgh mural at Carnegie Mellon University’s University Center and learned about his technique, which includes the use of oral histories to develop the mural’s content. Working with Louise Sturgess, Landmarks’ executive director, and Kelly Docter of CMU’s School of Architecture, they learned how poetry could be used to describe buildings, and they wrote poems and made drawings inspired by Cooper’s mural and based on photographs of South Side buildings.
Students also toured East Carson Street and explored several of its buildings, later interpreting them in poems, paintings and drawings, as well as collages in the style of Romare Bearden. They recorded interviews with elderly residents and learned how life on the South Side has changed.
Along the way, they’re strengthening their academic and creative skills and developing a sense of pride in their neighborhood. And that “fosters a better working environment within the school itself,” Sturgess says.
“They begin to see there’s a world outside themselves and being part of a community is an important part of being a citizen,” said Phillips principal Barbara Rudiak. “We support the work the community does, and the community supports us.”
The six-month project also involves students at Arlington Elementary/Middle, Bishop Leonard Catholic and Philip Murray Elementary schools. On April 30, the students will join to host a community event at the South Side Market House, with an East Carson Street scavenger hunt open to the public; it begins at Carnegie Library’s South Side branch and focuses on building details and history. The family radio program “Saturday Light Brigade” will broadcast on WRCT (88.3 FM) from the market house beginning at 6 a.m., with students reading their poems intermittently between 8 and 10:30 a.m.
The South Side Local Development Co., which hopes to illuminate some of the facades of historic East Carson Street buildings, also is partner in the grant, which will fund the lighting of the Bridge Cafe and the Maul Building. Landmarks is helping, too, with a $2,500 grant.
The end products also include an interactive Web site of information for and by students, www.spotlightonmainstreet. com, which will eventually include photographs and student-researched histories of East Carson Street buildings; student poems, artwork and audio interviews; interactive activities and games and other resources.
There were 699 grant applications in this first year of the History Channel’s community preservation grant program; Landmarks was one of only 29 organizations to receive them.
“We were thrilled by the response,” said Dan Davids, president of The History Channel. “The grants not only enable communities to maintain the fabric of their local history, but the collaboration between the schools and the historic organizations brings communities together and the interaction between generations will hopefully inspire young people to continue their historic preservation efforts.”
While Landmarks had been doing field trips and in-school projects with the four schools before the grant, it allowed Sturgess to link programs with a single theme focusing on East Carson Street and with bricks and mortar projects, such as the facade illuminations. One of the goals is to show children the value of the historic main street as it faces increased competition from the new SouthSide Works development and from shopping malls.
Children who have grown up shopping at indoor malls describe Carson Street as “an outdoor mall,” Sturgess says, and find discovering the street’s design details lots of fun.
Landmarks’ commitment to education dates to its earliest days; its first newsletter in 1966 reported that with the help of the Junior League, a slide lecture program, based on buildings discovered during Landmarks’ survey of Allegheny County, was being offered to all fifth-grade classes in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
Today, Sturgess spends 90 percent of her time on education, which includes newsletters, publications and programs for all ages.
“We work with pre-schoolers all the way up through graduate students,” she said. “For instance, we can show pre-schoolers three different views of Pittsburgh — in 1817, 1939 and 1994 — and ask them ‘What’s the same? What’s different? What shapes do you see?’ ”
For high school students, Landmarks offers scholarships to students who write convincing essays about the importance of historic preservation. Sturgess now is working with a University of Pittsburgh graduate student who is doing volunteer research on the history of Miller School for a booklet of student art and essays Landmarks will publish honoring the school’s centennial this year.
In December, Landmarks received a three-year, $60,000 grant from the Grable Foundation. It will fund several projects, including a Web site of Pittsburgh’s historic art and art-in-architecture, such as murals and stained-glass windows.
Another focus will be a program for children affected by school closings, to help them understand their new school’s neighborhood and buildings.
For school groups visiting the Children’s Museum, the grant also will support an architectural scavenger hunt within the museum, seeking out the history, details and green features of its three buildings erected in different centuries.
With two national history conferences coming to Pittsburgh (the American Association for State and Local History in September and the National Trust for Historic Preservation in fall 2006), the “Spotlight on Main Street” and Grable grant projects give Landmarks a chance to shine a spotlight on its fine work in education. Its programs could — and should — become national models.
(Architecture critic Patricia Lowry can be reached at plowry@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590.)
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. © Pittsburgh Post Gazette
-
Saving Carson Street’s history
By Ron DaParma
Tribune Review Real Estate Writer
Thursday, April 7, 2005Hundreds of young “historians” from four local schools will join their adult counterparts from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and The History Channel today to celebrate a project designed to bring to life the history of East Carson Street on the South Side.
The pupils from Phillips, Arlington and Murray elementary schools and Bishop Leonard Catholic — all in or around the South Side — already are deeply involved in the project funded by a $10,000 inaugural “Save Our History” grant to the foundation.
The grant’s purpose is to raise awareness about East Carson, a historic main street lined with Victorian-style commercial buildings.
The landmarks foundation is one of only 29 organizations across the country chosen for the newly established History Channel grants, which are for “innovative, educational projects designed to bring communities together and engage children in the preservation of their local history.” Today’s event is set for 1:30 p.m. at the Phillips school on the South Side.
“We expect the auditorium to be packed,” said Louise Sturgess, the foundation’s executive director and overseer of the East Carson project.
Students in grades kindergarten through eight are integrally involved, she said, handling tasks ranging from conducting research and community interviews to sketching buildings and presenting oral histories.
In all, about 500 students are expected to participate in the project, which is to run through May 15.
“People from The History Channel are coming to recognize the work that the students have been doing since we received the award in January,” Sturgess said.
They will be bringing with them project banners and enamel plaques to present to the participating schools.
“There will be some really neat stuff,” Sturgess said. “It will help the kids understand that they are part of one of the few programs in America who are getting the chance to do a project that really helps preserve a part of history.”
“We are thrilled to see the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation work hand-in-hand with local students to teach them about the great city around them,” said Judy Klein Frimer, director of brand enhancement for The History Channel.
As part of the project, students have been working in pairs to identify and document more than 20 historic main street buildings along East Carson.
They also have interviewed senior citizens to document how South Side buildings have changed over the years, created silk screens of some of those buildings and composed poems, sketches and other artistic pieces.
The foundation also has worked in conjunction with “The Saturday Light Brigade,” a family-oriented public radio program on WRCT-FM, to host chat sessions between students and community members.
Plans are to record and archive these recollections of the neighborhood and the main street in particular.
Officials today also will announce plans for “Spotlight on Main Street,” a major community event planned for April 30 at the South Side Market House and along East Carson, between 10th and 22nd streets.
“That will be a highlight of our project,” Sturgess said. It will feature a scavenger hunt, entertainment and a live radio broadcast conducted by the “Saturday Light Brigade” from the street.
After the Save Our History project concludes on May 15, plans are to launch a new interactive Internet site that will feature the buildings identified by the students, as well as “fun facts” and trivia about the buildings and neighborhood.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review © Pittsburgh Tribune Review
-
Point Park restoring buildings
y Ron DaParma
TRIBUNE-REVIEW REAL ESTATE WRITER
Wednesday, March 9, 2005The ability to combine new facilities with historic buildings is becoming a specialty at Point Park University.
Evidence includes a recently completed $2.8 million television studio and production project at the Downtown school’s historic University Center and the soon-to-begin $1 million first-phase restoration of Lawrence Hall, a building housing dormitories, classrooms, offices and dance studios.“We’re really combining historic preservation and renovation with contemporary student needs,” said Point Park President Katherine Henderson on Tuesday. “These projects also enhance Downtown, both historically and aesthetically.”
Point Park’s efforts have support from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, Mellon Financial Corp. and the Allegheny Foundation, chaired by Richard M. Scaife, owner of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Those organizations all provided funding support for the upcoming Lawrence Hall project.
“We are very pleased with Point Park’s attention to the historic nature of its campus buildings,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of Landmarks Foundation, which provided a $12,000 grant to help develop a restoration plan and budget.
Allegheny Foundation added a lead grant of $100,000 to initiate a restoration campaign, and then Mellon Financial kicked another $150,000 to the funding mix, with Point Park funds supporting the rest.
The building, which is located across Wood Street and connected via an enclosed walkway from Point Park’s Academic Hall, originally was built in 1928 as the Keystone Athletic Club, and later converted into the Sherwyn Hotel. It was acquired by Point Park in 1967 and renamed in honor of former Pennsylvania governor and Pittsburgh Mayor David L. Lawrence.
Designed by Janssen and Cocken, a well-known Pittsburgh-based architectural firm that also fashioned such Pittsburgh landmarks as the Mellon Institute and the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, the building is notable not only for its Gothic architecture style, but also its distinctive Art Deco third floor ballroom, Ziegler said.
Expected to begin in May, the first phase will reclaim the historic appearance of the first-floor lobby and the exterior facade. Plans include replacement of a series of arched windows on Wood Street and Third Avenue, cleaning of the limestone exterior and relocation of the Wood Street entrance to align with the interior grand staircase.
The project, designed by Landmarks Design Associates of Pittsburgh, will bring in more natural light, and add amenities like an expanded bookstore and additional first-floor student lounge space. The work will improve the atmosphere for the school’s 3,200 students and more than 300 staff and faculty members.
The work also will include addition of a second entrance on Wood Street and restoration of the outside sidewalk. Later phases over the next several years will include more expensive infrastructure and mechanical systems improvements, Henderson said.
The university’s new television studio and production facilities have been available for use by students and faculty in Point Park’s broadcasting program since January.
The studios, which Point Park officials say rival professional facilities, are tucked in a corner of the school’s University Center, a Wood Street complex that in the early 1900s housed five adjacent bank buildings and later, an urban shopping mall known as the Bank Center.
From 1997 until 2004, the complex housed the joint library collections of Point Park and the Downtown & Business Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. That was after a restoration that preserved the building’s historic and architectural details, which include marble staircases, an elaborate bronze clock and restored walk-in bank vaults.
The university developed new plans for the facility once the Carnegie last year decided to relocate its collection to another Downtown location on Smithfield Street.
“It is important that faculty members are able to teach students in an environment in which they will be working professionally one day,” said Jan Getz, broadcaster-in residence in Point Park’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Ron DaParma can be reached at rdaparma@tribweb.com or 412-320-7907.
-
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Receives Save Our History Grant from the History Channel
Foundation Partners with Local Schools to Help Spotlight East Carson Street
NEW YORK, January 20, 2005— The History Channel today announced that it will award The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) with a $10,000 inaugural Save Our History Grant to partner with 500 students, grades K-8, from Phillips Elementary, Arlington Elementary, Bishop Leonard Catholic School and Philip Murray Elementary on a project designed to raise awareness about East Carson Street, a historic main street on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The PHLF is one of 29 history organizations across the country that will receive Save Our History community preservation grants to fund innovative, educational projects designed to bring communities together and engage children in the preservation of their local history. The History Channel created the Save Our History Grant Program as an extension of the Save Our History philanthropic initiative, demonstrating The History Channel commitment to inspiring, motivating and educating local communities on the importance of preserving the past.
Third graders from Phillips Elementary School will work in pairs to identify and document 20 of Pittsburgh’s historic main street buildings. Students from other partner schools will either interview senior citizens to document how South Side has changed over time, make silk screens of main street buildings, or compose poems, sketches, and other artistic pieces. PHLF will work with The Saturday Light Brigade, a family-oriented Pittsburgh public radio program, to host chat sessions between students and community members. Community members’ recollections of the neighborhood and the main street in particular, will be recorded and archived. The various student activities will culminate with a historically themed “Main Street Scavenger Hunt” this spring, open to the community, and coinciding with PHLF and the South Side Local Development Company’s efforts to light the facades of two historic East Carson Street buildings. The students will act as tour guides and hosts at the event and also provide oral histories and personal reflections on the project during a live radio broadcast from East Carson Street.
“We were thrilled by the response to the Save Our History National Program,” said Dan Davids, President of The History Channel – USA. “The grants not only enable communities to maintain the fabric of their local history, but the collaboration between the schools and the historic organizations brings communities together and the interaction between generations will hopefully inspire young people to continue their historic preservation efforts. We are excited to be a part of that momentum and help give them the tools they need for their projects because unless history lives in the present, it has no future.”
The History Channel is also awarding Save Our History grants to historic organizations in Boston; Detroit; Kansas City; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; New Orleans; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Seattle; Washington, DC; Charlotte, NC; Tuskahoma, OK; Haines, Alaska; Titusville, NJ; Omaha, NE; Mauston, WI; Millville, NJ; Los Angeles; Cleveland, MS; Baltimore; Charlotte Harbor, FL; Lowell, MA; East Rochester, NY and Chepachet, RI. In total, The History Channel is awarding $250,000 in grant money. Organizations that applied but did not receive Save Our History grants are encouraged to participate in the Save Our History Program and will be eligible for The Save Our History National Awards Competition. Submissions can be made until April 8, 2005 by logging onto www.saveourhistory.com.
Save Our History, which received the Promotion Marketing Association’s 2004 PRO Award for “Overall Best Idea or Concept,” was launched in 1998 and is The History Channel national and grassroots initiative that marshals the network’s media, creative, and financial resources as well as its advertising, affiliate and promotional relationships to support community preservation nationwide and to enhance the teaching of local history in America’s classrooms.
In 2004, The History Channel created a full educator’s manual—now linked to all 50 states’ educational standards—in addition to a one-class lesson plan that teachers can utilize to educate students on historic preservation. Approximately 55,000 students in the first year alone used the educators’ manual in classrooms across the country. The Save Our History campaign also includes original documentaries, national promotion on The History Channel, broadband activities in schools, and past work with The Smithsonian Institution, National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation and others.
Sponsors
For 2005, Lowe’s has signed on as the primary sponsor of Save Our History, as the official “home improvement” sponsor. Additionally, Lowe’s will be the on-air sponsor for the program. Other sponsors include Comcast, U-Haul International, Inc., Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and the National Association for Music Education (MENC).
About Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors is one of the world’s largest philanthropy services, helping donors create thoughtful, effective philanthropy throughout the world. Originally developed as the private philanthropy service of the Rockefeller family, it is now an independent, nonprofit service that represents the cumulative knowledge and experience of more than a century of high-quality professional service to America’s most philanthropic family. Over the past decade, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors has served more than 100 clients and facilitated over $850 million in gifts/grants to more than 40 countries.
About AASLH
AASLH was born in 1904 as a department within the American Historical Association. Now, one hundred years later, AASLH is the only national association dedicated to the people and organizations that practice state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful to all Americans. From its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, AASLH provides a variety of programs and services, as well as leadership in the national arena.
About Save Our History
Save Our History, The History Channel strategic philanthropic initiative, is a national and grassroots campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education through awareness and regional participation. Save Our History works to mobilize communities and schools across the country to preserve America’s national and local heritage, including landmarks, sites and artifacts. This ambitious endeavor traces its origins to Save Our History, the Emmy Award-winning initiative.
The program supplements the teaching of history in America’s classrooms, educates the public on the importance of historical preservation and motivates communities across the country to help save endangered local historic treasures. The Save Our History campaign includes original documentaries, special teachers’ materials, national promotion on The History Channel, broadband activities in schools, and has worked with The Smithsonian Institution, National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, National World War II Memorial, American Rivers and The White House 200th Anniversary.
Additional information about the grassroots Save Our History program, including a comprehensive school manual containing suggested lesson plans for grades two through 12 and details about working with local preservation organizations can also be found at www.saveourhistory.com.
The History Channel
Now reaching more than 87 million Nielsen subscribers, The History Channel®, “Where the Past Comes Alive®,” brings history to life in a powerful manner and provides an inviting place where people experience history personally and connect their own lives to the great lives and events of the past. In 2004, The History Channel earned five News and Documentary Emmy® Awards and previously received the prestigious Governor’s Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network’s “Save Our History®” campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education.
The History Channel web site is located at www.History.com.
-
Traditional Amish Barn Raising at Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park
December 14, 2004
A traditional Amish barn raising occurred today at the Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park.
For the last several months, Allegheny County’s public works and parks departments have worked with the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation to construct a historic replica of an 18th century barn on the Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park.
Landmarks project manager, Tom Keffer, worked with the architectural firm of Landmark Design Associates and general contractor Lee Bruder to contract with Amish Timber Framers (www.amishtimberframers.com) of Doylestown, Ohio. The Amish construct native timber frames with mortice and tenon joints using wood pegs – the construction method of 200 years ago. No metal screws or fasteners are used on the timbers in the barn. The project took three days to complete the framing work.
In addition to the historic timber framing, the roof is covered with recycled material of simulated shakes, which will remain fairly maintenance free, for it’s 40-50 year life span.
“This importand addtion will serve the region for years to come and improve our ability to attract visitors and engage the public in the historic events that occurred on the Homestead,” said Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato.
According to the the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, the Oliver Miller Homestead, built in 1772, was a two-story log house with a shingle roof – a rare structure for that period.
It was at the Oliver Miller Homestead that General John Neville and U.S. Marshall David Lenox went on July 15th, 1794 to serve a warrant on William Miller, for failure to register his still. An arguement ensued and shots were fired by the farmers working in nearby fields.
The first shots of the Whiskey Rebellion had been fired. Two days later, 500 irate farmers, led by John Holcroft, stopped at Fort Couch where the Reverend John Clark of Bethel Church pleaded for peace. The farmers went ahead to burn down Neville’s Bower Hill Mansion.
In 1808 James Miller, added a stone section to the log house, and in 1830, the original log house was replaced with a large stone section, making it as it stands today. In 1934 it became a National Registered Landmark building.
The Oliver Miller Homestead Associates, a volunteer organization with 40 members locally was formed in 1973. Long time member Paula Bowman said: “The Associates are excited about this additon to the Homestead as the barn will afford us the opportunity to display historic artifacts and ephemera and to offer educational outreach to the community.”
Allegheny County worked with the Oliver Miller Homestead Associates to secure a $500,000 state grant from the Department of Community and Economic Development to build the barn.
-
No decision reached on Woodland Hills’ East Junior High location
By Mike Scheinberg
Wednesday, December 08, 2004Woodland Hills school board members wrapped up their final session of the year last week without reaching a consensus on a location for a new East Junior High School.
So any vote on the school’s future will not be made until next year. Cost of the new building would be at least $17.1 million.
Board President Cynthia Lowery said she hopes a final decision can be reached at the January board meeting.
Lowery added that none of the municipalities in the school district seems to want the school.
“We are not getting encouragement from any of them,” she said. “But we have to put the school somewhere.”
Lowery, who still favors the Eastmont School site in Wilkins, said the current East Junior High site in Turtle Creek could be used for stadium parking.
“Eastmont is the best site available,” Lowery said. “East and West junior highs should be similar. The property down in Turtle Creek is too small.”
Board member Linda Cole agreed with Lowery.
“A new building in Turtle Creek would have to be three or four stories. New buildings like that are not being built these days outside of the cities,” Cole said.
“We have to do what is best for the children of the district,” Lowery said. “It is a little disheartening that nobody seems to want the junior high building in their community.”
The board is split on where to locate the school. Three possible sites have been under consideration. They include the present site, Eastmont and a site next to Woodland Hills High School in Churchill.
Board member Randy Lott said he favors keeping the school in Turtle Creek.
“The presence of the junior high there is important for the community,” Lott said. He added that he is not overly concerned about the new Mon Valley Expressway in Turtle Creek. Other board members have expressed concerns about noise and safety.
School board members planned to meet with Turtle Creek council members this week to discuss the junior high further.
Board member Robert Tomasic has indicated a preference for combining the district’s two junior highs into one big school near the high school. But Churchill police said they are against this proposal because they don’t want to patrol another large school building in the borough.
Cole said there are too many pupils for one junior high building.
“This is a huge decision,” Lott said. “We need to take our time with this.”
Approved at last week’s board meeting was a $2 million capital improvement plan for the schools. Business Manager Richard Day said the money would come from the district’s capital reserve fund and still leave about $3 million in the fund.
The list of improvements included $300,000 in upgrades to fields, tracks and scoreboards at several schools. Other projects included replacing carpet at Dickson and Rankin, repairing restrooms, installing new lockers at the high school, repairing roofs and upgrading libraries.
In other action, Lowery was re-elected board president and Marilyn Messina was re-elected vice president in the annual board reorganization meeting.
(Mike Scheinberg is a freelance writer.)