South Side Park (Pittsburgh)

Last updated
South Side Park
TypeMunicipal Park
Location Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Coordinates Coordinates: 40°25′16″N79°58′37″W / 40.421°N 79.977°W / 40.421; -79.977
Area65 acres (260,000 m2)
Operated byPittsburgh Department of Parks & Recreation

South Side Park is an urban park in Pittsburgh. It is situated in a ravine that divides the South Side Slopes neighborhood, and extends to the location of the former Oliver Ormsby estate in Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania, Ormsby Manor.

Urban park park in a city or other incorporated place

An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places to offer recreation and green space to residents of, and visitors to, the municipality. The design, operation and maintenance is usually done by government agencies, typically on the local level, but may occasionally be contracted out to a park conservancy, friends of group, or private sector company.

Pittsburgh City in western Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. A population of about 301,048 residents live within the city limits, making it the 66th-largest city in the U.S. The metropolitan population of 2,324,743 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 27th-largest in the U.S.

Oliver Ormsby was a businessman in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was a wealthy and influential leader in the city, and the borough of Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania is named for his son.

Contents

History

The park occupies land formerly used by the St. Clair Incline, and the former site of a Sankey brick works.

The St. Clair Incline, also known as the South Twenty-second Street Incline, was built in 1886–1888 and operated by St. Clair Incline Plane Company. It was a double track incline on the South Side Slopes of Pittsburgh from Josephine St. to Salisbury St. The lower station was near the intersection of S. 22nd Street and Josephine. The upper station was on Salisbury Street across from the former Fort Laughlin site eventually occupied by Arlington Playground. The incline was 2,060 ft (628 m) long, with a vertical rise of 361 ft (110 m). It was designed by engineer J. H. McRoberts. As it carried both freight and passengers over steep tracks laid on the ground, it could be considered to be a cable railway. Its path was not of constant slope but became progressively steeper toward the top, tracing a parabolic arc. It is uncertain exactly when the incline closed permanently, but it was reported as shut down in a 1932 Associated Press article about the "passing" of Pittsburgh's inclines. The structure was dismantled in 1934.

Sankey brick brick made in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Sankey brick is the preferred construction material of the South Side Flats in Pittsburgh. It was the original product of the Sankey Brick Company, founded in 1861 by William, John, and Thomas Sankey. The original brick works stood at the end of a railroad at 21st Street, and now forms part of the present South Side Park. The Sankey Brothers were pioneers in the automated production of brick, using local shale instead of clay as the basis of the brick. The company had an office at 2112 Carson Street, and additional plants at 37th and Liberty in Lawrenceville and at Penn and Atlantic in the East End of Pittsburgh.

Plant Species

Invasive Species: 1. Vitis 2. Reynoutria japonica (syn. Fallopia japonica) 3. Alliaria petiolata 4. Lonicera japonica 5. Menispermum canadense 6. Catalpa speciosa 7. Cirsium arvense 8. Celastrus orbiculatus

<i>Vitis</i> genus of plants

Vitis (grapevines) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce wine. The study and cultivation of grapevines is called viticulture.

<i>Reynoutria japonica</i> Species of plant

Reynoutria japonica, synonyms Fallopia japonica and Polygonum cuspidatum, is a large species of herbaceous perennial plant of the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. It is commonly known as Asian knotweed or Japanese knotweed. It is native to East Asia in Japan, China and Korea. In North America and Europe, the species has successfully established itself in numerous habitats and is classified as an invasive species in several countries.

In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name, although the term is used somewhat differently in the zoological code of nomenclature. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use: it is now a synonym of the current scientific name, Picea abies.

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John Ormsby (1720–1805) was a soldier in the French and Indian War, Pontiac's Rebellion, and the American Revolution, and among the first settlers of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The son of the Anglo-Irish landed gentry, he emigrated from Ireland to the Thirteen Colonies in 1752. After Pontiac's Rebellion, he received a land grant from King George III, and established a homestead on the banks of the Monongahela River. He established extensive economic and merchant interests in Bedford, Pennsylvania, and at the head of the Ohio River.

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