Westinghouse Park | |
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Location | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
Coordinates | 40°27′12″N79°54′10″W / 40.4532°N 79.9027°W |
Established | 1919 |
Westinghouse Park is a city-block sized municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The park land is the former estate of George Westinghouse, an American entrepreneur and engineer, and his wife Marguerite. With an area of about 10 acres, it was the site of his mansion known as Solitude. At this house, Westinghouse worked with his engineers, including Nikola Tesla, and entertained notable people of the day, including scientist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), and congressman and later president William McKinley. [1] Close by was another building, a carriage house, that housed his private laboratory in the basement. There, he developed some of his residential electric lighting technology, installing a generator and running cables to the main house, with wires that were left exposed on the interior walls, so as not to cut into the woodwork. [2] Also there, Westinghouse invented methods to control and transmit natural gas for both industrial and residential consumers. In the winter of 1883/1884, seeking a source of natural gas in his own "backyard," Westinghouse ordered drilling on his estate. When gas was struck on May 22, 1884, a blowout resulted in the uncontrolled release of gas for about a week. Westinghouse devised a way to cap the well. An illumination test was conducted by igniting the gas jet at the top of a tall pipe. It initially produced a 100-foot flame that illuminated a mile-wide area to a brightness sufficient to read a newspaper. [2] This well was designated as "Westinghouse Well No. 1" or "Old No. 1" to distinguish it from several other wells that were drilled in the area. [3] Eventually, several natural gas derricks towered above the estate's Victorian gardens. [4] In modern times there is no above-ground trace left of these derricks.
The park's history began when Westinghouse, upon his death in 1914, bequeathed the North Point Breeze mansion to his son, who in turn sold the property in 1918 to the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania. [5] The Society's intent was to establish both a city park and a memorial to Westinghouse there. [3] As per a deed stipulation, the house was razed in 1919, and the park was developed; the Westinghouse Memorial, however, was erected a few miles away in Schenley Park.
Writer John Edgar Wideman made frequent references to the park in his books. Both of his memoirs, Brothers and Keepers and Hoop Roots, use the park as a setting, as does his fictional Homewood Trilogy.
In 2006, archeological exploration found numerous small artifacts and reestablished the location of the long-vanished gas well. [6] An excellent view of the park, showing some of the ancient specimen trees, can be found at Ref. [7]
In 2019, the Westinghouse Park 2nd Century Coalition was formed to improve the park's facilities, explore and exhibit its Westinghouse history, and provide it with ongoing stewardship. See the external link below.
Shown here are several images related to the historic Westinghouse Park site. First is a photograph of the mansion Solitude seen from the east, from Lang Avenue. [2] One sees a three-story house with a four-story tower and a mansard roof. An enclosed porch wraps around to the south. Sun awnings on the windows and leafy trees indicate a summer setting. The excellent condition of the house suggests the photograph predates the death of George Westinghouse in 1914. Next is another photo of the same house from the south, from about the distance of Thomas Boulevard. A corner of the former greenhouse is seen on the far left. [8] Next is a photograph taken before 1890 of the gas derrick that became known as the "Westinghouse Old No.1" well in present-day Westinghouse Park. [9] This picture shows also the carriage house and the mansion Solitude on the far right. A second derrick is also visible. The view is from the south, from present-day Thomas Boulevard. Small figures of children and workers can be seen near the well. An article in Harper's Weekly in 1885 featured an article on "The Gas Wells of Pennsylvania," and included an engraving of Westinghouse's "Old No.1" derrick flaming as an "illuminator" at night. [10] The article extolls the revolutionary nature of using cheap natural gas as an alternative to dirty and expensive coal by industry and households, and the bonanza the recent discovery of this resource in Western Pennsylvania would bring to the economy of the region.
East Pittsburgh is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately 11 miles (18 km) southeast of the confluence of the Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers at Pittsburgh. The population in 1900 stood at 2,883, and in 1910, at 5,615. As of the 2020 census, the borough population was 1,927, having fallen from 6,079 in 1940. George Westinghouse erected large works there which supplied equipment to the great power plants at Niagara Falls and for the elevated and rapid-transit systems of New York City. Nearby, the George Westinghouse Bridge over Turtle Creek is a prominent fixture in the area, which is very near the borough of Braddock.
Sewickley Heights is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 857 at the 2020 census. It is a residential suburb of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Sewickley Heights is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Pennsylvania and in the United States.
The history of Pittsburgh began with centuries of Native American civilization in the modern Pittsburgh region, known as "Dionde:gâ'" in the Seneca language. Eventually, European explorers encountered the strategic confluence where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio, which leads to the Mississippi River. The area became a battleground when France and Great Britain fought for control in the 1750s. When the British were victorious, the French ceded control of territories east of the Mississippi.
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in 1945. The company acquired the CBS television network in 1995 and was renamed "CBS Corporation" until being acquired by Viacom in 1999, a merger completed in April 2000. The CBS Corporation name was later reused for one of the two companies resulting from the split of Viacom in 2005.
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania. It operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny that connected the midwest to the eastern seaboard across the barrier range of the Allegheny Front. Approximately 36 miles (58 km) long overall, both ends connected to the Pennsylvania Canal, and the system was primarily used as a portage railway, hauling river boats and barges over the divide between the Ohio and the Susquehanna Rivers. Today, the remains of the railroad are preserved within the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.
Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a historic rural cemetery.
North Point Breeze is a mostly residential neighborhood that is located in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It has a zip code of 15208, and representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 9.
The Grange Estate, also known as Maen-Coch and Clifton Hall, is a historic mansion built by Henry Lewis Jr. (1671–1730) in Havertown, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. Parts of the residence are incorporated in the carriage house.
The Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is part of a complex designed by H. H. Richardson. The buildings are considered among the finest examples of the Romanesque Revival style for which Richardson is well known.
George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, carries U.S. Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, over the Turtle Creek Valley near to where it joins the Monongahela River Valley east of Pittsburgh. The reinforced concrete open-spandrel deck arch bridge has a total length of 1,598 feet (487 m) comprising five spans. The longest, central span is 460 feet (140 m), with the deck height 240 feet (73 m) above the valley floor, for a time the world's longest concrete arch span structure. It cost $1.75 million. The design engineers were Vernon R. Covell and George S. Richardson, with architectural design by Stanley Roush. The pylons at the ends of the bridges feature Art Deco reliefs by Frank Vittor.
Allegheny Islands State Park is a 43-acre (17 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Harmar Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The undeveloped park is composed of three alluvial islands located in the middle of the Allegheny River northeast of Pittsburgh. The islands are just north of the boroughs of Oakmont and Plum, and southwest of Cheswick. Bridges for the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Branch of the Canadian National Railway cross the Allegheny River at the middle island.
Frederick John Osterling was an American architect, practicing in Pittsburgh from 1888.
The economy of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is diversified, focused on services, medicine, higher education, tourism, banking, corporate headquarters and high technology. Once the center of the American steel industry, and still known as "The Steel City", today the city of Pittsburgh has no steel mills within its limits, though Pittsburgh-based companies such as US Steel, Ampco Pittsburgh and Allegheny Technologies own several working mills in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
Turtle Creek is a 21.1-mile-long (34.0 km) tributary of the Monongahela River that is located in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Situated at its juncture with the Monongahela is Braddock, Pennsylvania, where the Battle of the Monongahela was fought in 1755.
William Flinn (1851–1924) was a powerful political boss and construction magnate in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Along with Christopher Magee (1848–1901), his political partner, the two ran the Republican Party machine that controlled the city for the final twenty years of the 19th century.
The John F. Singer House is a house in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, United States, an east-side suburb of Pittsburgh. It was built for John F. Singer, who was made wealthy during the American Civil War by supplying the Union Army with iron and steel.
The Westinghouse Air Brake Company General Office Building in Wilmerding, Pennsylvania is a building from 1890. It was listed on the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 1975, National Register of Historic Places in 1987. Originally built as an office building for the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, it housed the George Westinghouse Museum from 2006 to 2016. In 2016 it was sold to the Priory Hospitality Group with the intention of being developed into a boutique hotel. However, the 2020 global pandemic affected those plans and it was announced in November 2021 that the building will be used for an art academy and to house classrooms for the Westighouse ArtsAcademy, a nearby high school.
Vernon R. Covell was an American engineer. He was chief engineer of the Allegheny County Public Works Department.
George Sherwood Richardson (1896–1988) was an American engineer known for his elegant bridges, innovative construction techniques and skillful planning of highways. Designer of many bridges in the Pittsburgh and Allegheny County areas in the 20th century, he has been called "the dean of Pittsburgh bridge engineers".
The Westinghouse Interworks Railway was a short line railroad that operated in the lower Turtle Creek valley east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A subsidiary of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the railway used former Turtle Creek Valley Railroad tracks that Westinghouse rebuilt and extended from Trafford through Wilmerding to East Pittsburgh along the right bank of the creek. The railroad transported freight between the Westinghouse plants and also tested and demonstrated electric rail cars.
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