Category Archive: Pittsburgh Tribune Review
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Saxonburg embraces old world charm
By Joan Greene
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, February 25, 2007Saxonburg’s storied history draws thousands of visitors to the quaint borough nestled among the farmland and hills of southeast Butler County. An array of quaint shops and historic buildings line Main Street in the tiny borough of 1,629 residents.
Saxonburg was founded in 1832 by German engineer John Roebling and his brother, Charles, who bought 1,600 acres of land for $1.50 each. The brothers then sent word back to Germany for others to come help them establish the village.
In 1842, Saxonburg staked its claim to fame when John Roebling invented the wire-rope cable in a workshop. His invention allowed for the construction of suspension bridges. After building Pittsburgh’s Smithfield Bridge in 1846, Roebling achieved worldwide fame with his design of the Brooklyn Bridge. Opening in 1884, the bridge was noted as an engineering feat of its time.
Today, Roebling Park is the center of many of Saxonburg’s special events.
The park’s gazebo and pavilion add to Saxonburg’s old-fashioned charm. During the summer, the park is rented almost every weekend for weddings and other special events, Mayor Brian Antoszyk said. In the park, history buffs can see Roebling’s original workshop and visit the Saxonburg Museum, featuring historic artifacts and other memorabilia, including the recently released German stamps commemorating Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge.
When visitors walk along Main Street, stopping in at Kelly’s Family Restaurant to have a bite to eat, it’s almost like stepping onto the set of “Mayberry R.F.D.,” a 1960s sitcom about a sheriff in rural North Carolina. Dishes, pots and pans can be heard rattling in the kitchen as locals sit down for a home-cooked meal. Off at a corner table sits Erik Bergstrom, the borough’s police officer in charge, chatting with Saxonburg’s controller Mary Papik.
With the notorious exception of the murder of Saxonburg’s police chief, Greg Adams, during a traffic stop in 1981, crime in Saxonburg mostly is limited to a handful of jaywalkers scurrying across the street during the borough’s car cruises, craft shows, carnivals and parades.
“Saxonburg is very homey. Yeah, it’s something like ‘Mayberry R.F.D.,’ ” said Bergstrom, who heads a police force of five, including police dog Lucas.
“The people make Saxonburg special,” Papik said. “They make an effort to learn your name and make you feel welcome.”
In 1846, when Saxonburg was incorporated into a borough, 61 families lived there, a school had been established, and the cornerstone had been laid for the German Evangelical Church. The building now is part of the Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian Church and is the historic centerpiece of the borough at the head of Main Street.
Travelers would pass through Saxonburg to get to Freeport, Butler and other boroughs and townships in Butler County. Because Saxonburg merely was a stop on the way to a destination, many of the borough streets, such as Pittsburgh and Butler, were named after the cities and towns they lead to.
Saxonburg thrived during oil development in the 1880s and ’90s in neighboring Penn and Jefferson townships, and homes were built for the oil workers.
During the 1880s, Saxonburg had several hotels, including the borough’s landmark Saxonburg Hotel. At the turn of the 20th century, the area’s most famous hotel, Mineral Springs, was built just north of Saxonburg. A hotel casino and the healing effects of the mineral water drew travelers from miles around. The building that housed the hotel was destroyed by fire in 1972.
In the 1930s, broadcasting came to Saxonburg when Westinghouse’s KDKA erected a flat top antenna — a series of wooden poles — in the borough.
Ceramics shaped Saxonburg’s economic development in the 1930s and ’40s. Saxonburg Ceramics opened in 1936, manufacturing ceramic components used in electrical appliances, automobiles, light bulbs and televisions. In 1949, two former employees of Saxonburg Ceramics founded Du-Co Ceramics, which still is in business, according to “Historic Saxonburg and Its Neighbors” by Ralph Goldinger. According to Antoszyk, Saxonburg Ceramics will close in May.
Today, the historic village has become a destination. Featuring 32 buildings that are more than 100 years old, Saxonburg offers visitors a chance to step back in time and learn about the borough’s German heritage. Recently, a portion of Saxonburg’s Main Street — from Rebecca to Butler streets — was named to the National Register of Historic Places.
During the Big Car Cruise that takes place every July, as many as 900 antique and classic vehicles are displayed on Main Street, drawing more than 3,000 spectators.
The Festival of the Arts, which takes place every September in Roebling Park, features crafts, food and entertainment. Each year, Antoszyk looks forward to serving his family’s hot Italian sausage to hundreds of visitors.
Kathy Allen, whose family owns several properties on Main Street, describes Saxonburg as “a place separate from today’s vision of malls and congestion. It has a wonderful visual charm.”
Allen, who is writing a book about Saxonburg and southeast Butler County titled “Last of the Fencerows,” operates a bed and breakfast, Armstrong Farms, on her 200-year-old family farm in Clinton Township, two miles south of Saxonburg.
“A lot of our guests go into Saxonburg to shop and have dinner,” Allen said. “When they come back, they remark how refreshing and preserved everything is; it’s like a fantasy world. They’ve never been to a place like this.”
Michael Ortmann, owner of the Antique Coffee Shop on Main Street, believes he has found a “unique niche” by combining a coffee shop with an antique store. “Business people want Saxonburg to embody its history,” he said.
Featuring antiques and a gold couch where guests can sit and relax while enjoying a cup of coffee, pastries or ice cream, the Antique Coffee Shop, housed in an 1835 building, reflects the ambiance of a 19th-century parlor filled with guests on a Sunday afternoon.
One of Lucille Blakeley’s fondest memories of growing up in Saxonburg is attending the annual Firemen’s Carnival in June and marching in the Memorial Day parade. “The parade and carnival were a big thing for us children; we’d march down the street carrying bouquets,” said Blakeley, 88, whose father, Aaron Bachman, was fire chief for 27 years and whose nephew, Gary Cooper, is the current fire chief.
Although Saxonburg is small (two square miles), the downtown area has grown and “changed with the times” in the 82 years that Blakeley has lived in the borough. She recalled that she and her five sisters attended a little, red, two-story schoolhouse where the borough building now stands, and she graduated with a class of 25 in 1937 from Winfield High School, now a church three miles outside of the borough. Today, Saxonburg is part of the South Butler County School District. The district includes Knoch High School.
As a young woman, Blakeley worked at Chester Paul and Nellie Maurhoff, grocery and dry-good stores on Main Street. Maurhoff’s has become a fitness salon, and Chester Paul is an antiques shop.
When Blakeley was growing up, social life evolved around the Old Town Hall, where she attended dances and basketball games, and the Memorial Church. Although the town hall no longer is there, the historic church, built in 1837, is the centerpiece of the borough. A new Presbyterian church is across the corner, where the original Roebling Homestead serves as the church office.
Blakeley has seen several businesses change hands, but the Hotel Saxonburg, retaining its 19th-century decor, has been a landmark since opening during the mid-1800s. “I still go there for dinner,” Blakeley said of the hotel, which is known for its fine dining.
Local historian Bob Kaltenhauser, 76, has lived in Saxonburg for 50 years and was chairman of the John Roebling Historical Saxonburg Society, an organization formed to preserve the architectural heritage and old world charm of Saxonburg while revitalizing Main Street businesses.
“Ten buildings on Main Street date back to the 1830s and have clay and straw — called wattle and daub — inside the walls. (Saxonburg) really hasn’t changed that much; that’s the reason it still retains its charm,” he said.
Antoszyk said revitalizing Main Street, while retaining its history, will encourage “unique-type shops” to move into the borough.
The borough is in the process of securing grants, and conceptual drawings are being done to enhance the infrastructure with additional parking, sidewalks, trees and lamp posts.
“We hope to have the project completed in two years,” Antoszyk said. “The future of Saxonburg rests on the borough remaining a destination, not just a place to pass through.”
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Retiree’s volunteer efforts put her on right track at History & Landmarks
By Sandra Fischione Donovan
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, February 25, 2007Judith Harvey lives in a historic house in Fineview, so she is a history buff by association. When she retired and was looking for a channel for her unbounded energy, it seemed natural for her to volunteer in 2001 for the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.
The association proved fortuitous for both. The former librarian, who retired from the Baldwin-Whitehall School District after 35 years of teaching and doing library work in public schools, was in the foundation offices when she saw boxes full of railroad memorabilia collected by the late Frank B. Fairbanks, of South Park.Undaunted by the prospect, the peppy, petite and fair-haired Harvey volunteered to catalog it all. Foundation officials agreed.
Some of the tasks, such as putting thousands of railroad tickets in separate plastic sleeves, would take her years. But Harvey patiently did that and even computerized the collection.
“She’s a remarkable woman,” says Albert Tannler, the foundation’s historical collections director.
“Because of her meticulous volunteer work, we were able to open it to the public,” says Louise Sturgess, PH&LF executive director.“Her ability to organize a massive amount of information and present it to the public in a pleasing way is amazing,” Sturgess says.
The Frank B. Fairbanks Rail Transportation Archive opened last month at the History & Landmarks offices in Station Square. And Harvey has a new title: railroad librarian. She works at the archive one day a week.
Though she wasn’t a railroad buff to begin with, having gone through every tiny detail of Fairbanks’ collection has enabled Harvey to glean much about railroads and the people that love them.
“A rail buff can tell you how many repeat miles he’s traveled, but the real number is how many new miles you’ve traveled,” Harvey says. “If a rail line is reconfigured — oh, the joy of adding a tenth of a mile.”
As Fairbanks traveled, the chief executive officer of Stowe-based Horix Manufacturing Corp. not only noted his rail miles, he collected timetables and rail orders for engineers, handfuls of swizzle sticks railroads gave out to patrons to stir martinis and playing cards available in club cars, among many other items.
His collection lay in boxes in his South Park home until he met Jack Miller, History & Landmarks director of planned giving. Fairbanks subsequently donated part of his collection to the foundation, along with a $10,000 endowment to maintain it.
“We wouldn’t have taken it if it didn’t come with an endowment,” Tannler says.
After Fairbanks died in 2005 at age 74, his widow donated the rest of his extensive collection to History & Landmarks.
“The strengths and weaknesses of a private collection are evident in this,” says Harvey. “When you’re dealing with a private collection, you’re taking what they collected” for their own immediate goals.
Harvey says rail buffs will be thrilled with the collection, which includes official railroad timetables ranging from the 1800s until 1976; train orders engineers used for each trip; reference books on railroads; slides Fairbanks took and all those tickets.
A sign in the archive notes that Fairbanks was “clearly recognized as the third-ranking American with the most route miles traveled,” and was most likely the third-ranking such person in the world. He traveled 156,993.81 new miles and 7,841.47 duplicate miles.
The maps Fairbanks collected are Harvey’s favorite items. She has placed them in Mylar covers so researchers can readily handle them. “I’m not a hands-off librarian,” she says.
“Nothing was dirty or torn. He was very respectful of what he had,” Harvey says.
Tribune-Review Publisher Richard M. Scaife was impressed enough with the collection on a recent visit to ask Harvey whether she wanted several metal railroad signs he owned for the archive.
“You never ask a librarian if she wants anything,” Harvey says with a smile, pointing to the signs, which are now in the collection. Each red metal sign marked a different rail line for engineers.
The archive is in a sunny room with tall windows facing the Monongahela River. New and antique furniture is arranged for reading, research and perusal of railroad objects.
Hours for the collection are 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Wednesdays by appointment, so that Harvey is sure to be on hand to guide visitors through the collection. Members may use the archive for free; nonmembers pay a fee of $10 for three consecutive visits.
“It has a lot of information that will be very important,” Tannler says. “People who know railroads feel that we have an asset.”
Sturgess says the transportation collection has further established the foundation’s archives, including its James D. Van Trump Library of regional architectural history, as a “top-notch collection” of historical resources.
“I am very happy at Landmarks, and hope to be able to serve those interested in railroad materials for a long time to come,” Harvey says. “I count it a privilege to do this for pay. I count the days till I come in the next time.”
People who wish to use the Frank B. Fairbanks Jr. Railroad Collection may call the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation on Wednesdays to make an appointment with Judith Harvey at 412-471-5808, ext. 542, or e-mail fairbanksarchives@phlf.org.
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Diocese sells Tarentum, McKeesport church properties
By Andrew Johnson
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, February 16, 2007Two shuttered churches in Tarentum and McKeesport have been sold to the Manhattan real estate firm, The Follieri Group LLC, according to the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
The properties are the St. Clement Church owned by the Holy Martyrs Parish in Tarentum and St. Stephen Church owned by St. Pius V Parish in McKeesport. The St. Clement deal also involves school buildings and a parking lot, said diocesan spokesman Rev. Ronald Lengwin.The Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds has no record of the Tarentum transaction. But St. Stephen Church, located on Beacon Street in McKeesport, sold in January for $60,000, part of a “package deal” that includes a rectory, school building, and two parking lots, said Rev. Edward Litavec, pastor of the St. Pius V. He said St. Stephen Church closed in 2002 and merged with St. Pius V.
Litavec said money from the sale would go to care for St. Stephen Cemetery on Westinghouse Avenue in North Versailles.
Lengwin said The Follieri Group is interested in several other properties, and sales agreements on three have been reached, including one for the historic St. Nicholas Church on the North Side. Lengwin refused to give the price and also declined to name the other two churches.
He said a fourth church is for sale, but declined to name it.Messages left for The Follieri Group were not returned, but on its Web site, the company says that church properties it acquires “are converted to uses that would continue to serve and contribute to their respective communities in a socially responsible fashion consistent with the ideals of the Church.”
Some uses include “low and middle income housing, community centers, day-care facilities, senior citizen housing, places of worship, offices and retail spaces,” according to the company.
“We have confidence that they will live up to their promise,” Lengwin said.
Litavec said he has no idea what The Follieri Group intends to do with the empty McKeesport church.
“We were just so happy it sold,” he said. “There was always somebody breaking into the place.”
Since 2002, 15 vacant church buildings, including St. Stephen and St. Clement, have been sold, Lengwin said. All money made from selling church properties goes to the parish selling the individual church, Lengwin said.
Andrew Johnson can be reached at ajohnson@tribweb.com or 412-380-5632.
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X marks $1.1M spot for North Side theater, URA
By Bonnie Pfister
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, February 16, 2007A decade of legal battles over the Garden Theatre ended Thursday with a $1.1 million agreement between the owner of the North Side X-rated cinema and the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority.
The settlement, announced at the URA’s monthly board meeting just an hour after it was signed, comes almost two months after the state Supreme Court ruled that the city of Pittsburgh could seize the theater by eminent domain.The board unanimously approved the deal, and the city could be in possession of the theater along West North Avenue before the end of the month.
“This is a great day for the city of Pittsburgh,” said state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, a URA board member. “It certainly elevates the overall development potential of the area.”
The dispute began in the mid-1990s, when then-Mayor Tom Murphy initiated the seizure of 47 buildings along and near Federal Street west of Allegheny General Hospital as part of a redevelopment program called “Federal North.”
But theater owner George Androtsakis refused the URA’s $214,000 buyout offer, saying the city was trying to squelch his First Amendment right to show pornographic films.
“Mr. Androtsakis would have loved to have a theater showing other kinds of film, but he couldn’t attract an audience because of the demographics of that neighborhood,” said James Sargent, the attorney who argued on Androtsakis’ behalf before the court and negotiated yesterday’s deal.
“He loved the Garden Theatre because it was a remarkable edifice, a real testament to our evolution as a culture,” Sargent said. “But, in the final analysis, he agreed to this without bitterness. It’s a business decision.”
URA general counsel Don Kortlandt said he first reached out to Androtsakis soon after the Supreme Court’s ruling, but negotiations broke down in mid-January. Androtsakis reconsidered about a week later, and negotiations resumed in earnest 10 days ago, Kortlandt said.
While Androtsakis initially was asking for far more than double the price finally agreed upon, Kortlandt said, “We got to a number that we both could stand, high enough for them, low enough for us.”
Last month, the URA sent out requests for proposals for redevelopment of 10 parcels surrounding the theater, but URA officials said many expressed skepticism as long as the theater continued to show pornography. The requests now will be amended to include the 92-year-old movie house, which began showing adult films in 1972.
Bonnie Pfister can be reached at bpfister@tribweb.com or 412-320-7886.
This article appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
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Fallingwater, courthouse make Architects’ cut
By Joe Napsha
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, February 8, 2007Fallingwater, the famous Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Fayette County, and the Allegheny County Courthouse, Downtown, were rated as two of America’s 150 favorite pieces of architecture, in a list announced Wednesday.
“There is no question these are the two most uniquely architecturally significant structures (in the region). People come from throughout the world to see them,” said Arthur P. Ziegler Jr., president of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.Ziegler, whose organization is involved in preserving historic and architecturally significant properties in the region, said he was not surprised that Fallingwater and the Allegheny County Courthouse made the list.
The Empire State Building in New York City, followed by the White House in Washington, were at the top of the American Institute of Architects’ list of 150 favorite pieces of American architecture. The list was developed in conjunction with the association’s 150th anniversary.
Fallingwater, which Wright designed in the 1936 for Edgar J. Kaufmann, owner of the former Kaufmann’s department store in Pittsburgh, might be one of Wright’s most innovative works, Ziegler said.
“There really is no other house like it, yet,” Ziegler said, calling it “an extraordinary design in an extra ordinary site.”
The house at Mill Run, which Wright placed over a waterfall on Bear Run, is so popular that it attracts 130,000 visitors annually, said Clinton Piper, museums program assistant at Fallingwater.
“It’s something that continues to speak to people at all levels of education. People can come here without any prior knowledge of this and can find something inspiring. I think that’s part of its enduring appeal,” Piper said.
The Allegheny County Courthouse on Grant Street, which was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and finished in 1886, “is a timeless piece of architecture and represents a real quantum leap in terms of American style,” said Thomas Briney, immediate past president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
“Richardson had a singular kind of style and that’s what set it apart,” said Briney, an architect with Perkins Eastman, Downtown.
Richardson considered the courthouse “the culmination of his career,” Ziegler said.
To the late James Van Trump, the landmarks foundation’s co-founder, the courthouse was “the architectural lion of Pittsburgh,” Ziegler said.
Two buildings in Western Pennsylvania were ranked in the top 35 of the American Institute of Architects’ 150 favorite pieces of American architecture.
1. Empire State Building, New York City
2. The White House, Washington
3. Washington National Cathedral, Washington
4. Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Washington
5. Golden State Bridge, San Francisco
6. U.S. Capitol, Washington
7. Lincoln Memorial, Washington
8. Biltmore Estate (Vanderbilt residence), Asheville, N.C.
9. Chrysler Building, New York City
10. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington
29. Fallingwater (Kaufmann family residence), Mill Run, Fayette County
35. Allegheny County Courthouse, Pittsburgh
Joe Napsha can be reached at jnapsha@tribweb.com or (412)-320-7993.
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Group seeks designation for former city stable
By Bobby Kerlik
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, January 29, 2007Erected 112 years ago, a three-story building on West North Avenue on the North Side once stabled horses for the Allegheny City public works department.
A local historic group wants to designate the building — now used as a private garage — as a historic structure.“There are very few municipally owned buildings left from the city of Allegheny,” said Timothy Zinn, 43, of the Allegheny West historic group. “The Department of Public Works had several stables at one point. This appears to be the only one left — from Pittsburgh or Allegheny.”
Built in 1895 for $12,260, the stable housed horses used for everyday tasks such as hauling water tanks to clean the streets, Zinn said.
After Pittsburgh swallowed Allegheny City in a forced annexation in 1907, Pittsburgh continued using the building as a public works stable until horses were phased out. The stable then was used as a garage, said Michael D. Eversmeyer, chairman of city’s Historical Review Commission.
“In 1928 the city of Pittsburgh still used 300 horses in various departments,” said Eversmeyer, chairman of city’s Historical Review Commission.Pittsburgh sold the building in 1969.
The commission will consider the proposal Feb. 7, although City Council will have the final say on the designation. Once a building is designated as historic, the owner must get approval from the commission before doing work on the exterior.
Building owner Jim Rutledge could not be reached for comment.
Tenant Al Land, of Spring Hill, rents the building from Rutledge to work on cars. He said historical buffs have asked to film or take pictures of the building in the past.
“I used to work here as a kid when it was a delivery company,” Land said. “I like the building. I hope they don’t kick me out. I don’t know what I would do with these cars.”
Zinn admitted the building is in poor condition. Windows on the first floor have been filled in with concrete bricks, and many of the windows on the second and third floors are broken or have been boarded up.
A faded sign, proclaiming “DPW Bureau of Highways and Sewers 8th Div.,” still hangs outside the building.
Inside the building, dim lighting reveals crumbling arched ceilings with ornate exposed beams and chipped paint.
Carole Malakoff, a member of the Allegheny West historical committee, said the building could be repaired and saved. She said the building was rumored to be targeted for demolition by a prospective buyer.
“We thought we ought to hurry up and do something,” Malakoff said. “It’s probably the last stable left in the city, and it can be developed. It’s important to reflect the history of Pittsburgh. People want to live in neighborhoods that have character.”
Bobby Kerlik can be reached at bkerlik@tribweb.com or 412-391-0927.
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Delmont’s identity is closely associated with landmark
By Bob Cupp
For the Tribune-Review
Friday, January 26, 2007The position of a natural spring often determined the location of a new town; that was the case at Delmont where a spring provided an ample water supply, undoubtedly influencing early settlers in their selection of a home.
Delmont was originally known as Salem Crossroads and, later, New Salem Borough. The name “Salem” was derived from Salem, Mass., after William Wilson arrived from that state and settled here in 1785.Wilson built a log cabin, south of present-day East Pittsburgh Street, near what became known as the Big Spring. Hugh Bigham arrived in the community about 1810 and opened the first store. He also laid the first wooden water line from the spring to a wooden trough just east of what became the center of town, in effect, establishing the community’s first “city” water.
A north-south road from Poke Run Church to Greensburg, eventually known as the Greensburg-Kittanning Pike, was built through the village around 1800. The east-west Northern Turnpike, which later became the William Penn Highway, was completed in 1819, linking Pittsburgh with Philadelphia. The turnpike also passed through Salem Crossroads, bisecting the north-south road at the center of town where Greensburg, Freeport and Pittsburgh streets now intersect.
The crossroads village quickly became a prosperous transportation center. As many as five different stage lines passed through town, carrying a large volume of freight and passengers.
Delmont would not have become a major stagecoach stop without the continuous flow of water provided by the Big Spring that’s never been known to run dry. When the stagecoaches reached Salem Crossroads, the passengers, drivers and horses could always look forward to a cool, refreshing drink of water.
The watering trough was originally known as the running pump because a wooden pump was used to fill the trough. The pump was replaced by a pipe in 1886. The trough is about 100 yards from the spring, which is in the vicinity of present-day Fairview Street on land once owned by Squire Patty.
Of course, the original wooden trough eventually rotted. In its place, a longer wooden one was built. It also rotted and had to be replaced, as did later wooden ones. In 1910, a large concrete trough was built; it was about the same size as the previous wooden one. That first concrete trough lasted until the early 1930s when it was hit by a truck and damaged. It was then replaced by the smaller concrete trough that many present-day Delmont residents fondly recall.
“We drank that water all our lives and, so far, we haven’t died,” Bob Yaley remarked. “In the 1930s, people used to come and fill the trunks of their cars with gallon jugs. Back then, there wasn’t much traffic in town and you could park there without any problem.”
Delmont native Dorothy Cochran Lindsay shared some of her watering trough memories.
“During the 1930s, my dad would take his horses to the watering trough whenever there was a dry spell and the spring on the farm went dry,” Lindsay said. “Later, he and a group of local men would ride their horses through town on Sundays. They would always stop there to water them.
“I drank from the watering trough every day on my way to and from school,” she said. “We never went past the watering trough without stopping for a drink. I can’t recall it ever freezing over — even in the coldest winter.
“We used to sled ride down the Lutheran Hill on East Pittsburgh Street all the time,” Lindsay continued. “The watering trough is at the bottom of the hill. I remember when Paul Frye slid into the corner of the cement trough and got a concussion. My parents didn’t allow me to sled ride down the hill after that incident.”
Don Jobe’s great-grandfather hauled coal and freight with a team of horses and a wagon.
“He used to water his horses there at the trough,” Jobe said. “When I was growing up, everyone used to go down there and wash their cars. I stopped there every day to get a drink of water when I delivered newspapers on Pittsburgh Street.”
Eleanor Jobe Kemerer recalls that “the water ran all the time; it was good and cold. I can remember when people would bring their horses in and water them. Later, they would fill up milk cans and haul them away in their cars.
“When Bob and I got married, we lived in an upstairs apartment in Chal Christy’s house,” Kemerer reflected. “We had no running water at that time and we carried all our water in from the watering trough for drinking, bathing, cooking and washing clothes. We brought it upstairs in buckets and heated it on the stove.”
Alice Ewing Cathey grew up across the street from the watering trough. She recalls her father, Fred Ewing, cleaning the trough.
“I remember coming home from college during the late 1960s and finding him standing there in the rain, smoking his pipe upside down to keep it dry, while using a rake or hoe to remove debris from the bottom of the watering trough; it was a hilarious sight,” Cathey said with a laugh.
Cher Anderson’s most prominent memory of the watering trough is a line of cars along East Pittsburgh Street on Sunday afternoons, waiting their turns to be washed. Of course, in those days, there weren’t any commercial car washes in the area.
Lysle Bash recalls, “When I was young, people filled 10-gallon cans to water their livestock, or to use in their houses. I remember one elderly couple, in particular, who would walk from near the Presbyterian church every day to fill up two water jugs.
“That was the place we always stopped after we played ball,” Bash remarked. “Back when I was still in school, they put a sign on the trough warning people not to drink the water, but I don’t know of anyone who died, or even got sick from drinking it.”
In 1973, the Delmont Lions Club rebuilt the watering trough for the Salem Crossroads Historical Restoration Society. The club’s intent was to restore it to its 1850 wooden construction. The design was based on architect’s sketches and drawings derived from old photographs and descriptions from old-time residents.
The trough is 17.5 feet long and 4 feet wide. A tree couldn’t be located that would be big enough for the entire trough in one piece, so a partition was constructed instead, using steel plates with supporting rods on either end. It was built from white oak obtained from Boswell Lumber Co., and assembled at John Wolfe’s residence. Several Lions Club members assisted with the construction and installation.
Over the years, there have been many unofficial caretakers of the watering trough, including A.S. Machesney and, later, Fred Ewing, while the cement version was still in place. During the 1980s, as part of another restoration project, cut stones from the barn on the nearby Shields Farm were used to provide a solid foundation for the trough.
Currently, Jay Anderson, who lives next door to the watering trough, serves as its caretaker. Anderson most recently refurbished the trough in 2004 with assistance from the borough. He has also preserved a 10-foot section of the original wooden pipe that was used to transport water from the spring to the trough.
In the 1970s, after the watering trough was restored, the Department of Environmental Resources determined that the water quality no longer met state requirements and the trough was disconnected from its water supply. That event was troubling for many old-time residents who wanted to see the water flowing again — just as it always did.
The watering trough is located along the south side of East Pittsburgh Street, 50 yards east of Greensburg and Freeport streets. The first trough was located under a tree near where G.A. McLaughlin’s house and, later, Chal Christy’s house, stood. After the lot was sold to George Reicker, the trough was moved a short distance to its current location.
Although Delmont no longer gets its water from the watering trough, the Big Spring continues to flow into a tributary of Beaver Run, which, in turn, flows into Beaver Run Dam. Since the reservoir supplies water to most of Westmoreland County, indirectly the Big Spring is still quenching the thirst of Delmont residents today.
Delmont just wouldn’t be the same without its watering trough. The old landmark is closely associated with the founding and history of Delmont. Although the horses and water are long gone, the trough remains today, restored and maintained by a community that values its past.
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Prestigious award may park in Mellon Square
By Allison M. Heinrichs
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, January 20, 2007An unassuming, peaceful piece of green in the heart of Downtown has support from a national historic landscape expert to be honored as a landmark, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy has announced.
Mellon Square — a block of green dotted with fountains and sculptures near the Mellon Bank Building — should be given National Historic Landmark status as the oldest-surviving park above a parking garage, said Charles Birnbaum, founder of the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington.
“Think about the green roof movement in America. This came before that,” Birnbaum said. “Think about the American fascination with the automobile in post-war America. This fed off that.
“Think about the civic-minded vision that the Mellons had: This is part of the city’s civic philanthropy.”
On Feb. 1, Birnbaum will be at The Pittsburgh Golf Club in Squirrel Hill to discuss Mellon Square’s eligibility for the national designation. His visit is sponsored by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, which is considering to sponsor Mellon Square for National Historic Landmark status.
“We feel the space is very elegant,” said Meg Cheever, president of the conservancy. “Sometimes we take for granted what is in our own backyard.”
Mellon Square was designed by landscape architect John Ormsbee Simonds, of Kilbuck, who died in 2005. He also designed Equitable Plaza and Crawford Square — all in Western Pennsylvania — and the Chicago Botanical Gardens.
Work on the park started in 1948 and was finished in 1951.
Birnbaum said he is optimistic about Mellon Square’s chances of getting National Historic Landmark status because very little has been changed there.
Simonds directed the park’s restoration in the early 1990s — staying true to his original vision for the park, which he described as “a platform, a structure, an island, a space, a focal center, a civic monument, a gathering place and an oasis,” according to Birnbaum.
John Scholl, a senior principal at Environmental Planning & Design — a Downtown firm that Simonds founded — said Simonds would have appreciated Mellon Square getting landmark status.
“I think it’s very much appropriate, and I’m sure John would be delighted,” Scholl said.
Officials with the National Park Service would evaluate Mellon Square, based on its significance to national history and how much of its original design still exists, said national parks historian Caridad de la Vega. Usually landmarks must be at least 50 years old to get the designation.
“It’s an involved process; there are a lot of steps. You can’t just say: ‘I want to be a landmark,’ and become one,” de la Vega said.
The process usually takes about two years. If Mellon Square gets the designation, it would be among a select few.
“National historic landmarks number about 2,600 or so in America, and it is the highest honor in the U.S.,” Birnbaum said. “Of that, only 50 or so have significance in landscape architecture — so you’re talking about a very elite group.”
Allison M. Heinrichs can be reached at aheinrichs@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5607.