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<DIV><FONT size=4>Fred</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=4>When I did some graduate work there in the mid 60s we called
it “The Height of Ignorance!”</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=4>Dwight</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=fwschneider@comcast.net
href="mailto:fwschneider@comcast.net">Fred Schneider</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, 28 June, 2013 12:23</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org
href="mailto:pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Western PA Trolley
discussion</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [PRCo] Mixed Bag Of Old
Pittsburgh</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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style="FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none; DISPLAY: inline"><BR><BR>I
guess my favorite view was the one which was titled downtown from the point in
1945. I cannot argue with the date. Why my
favorite? Because it reminds me of the city when I was a kid.
It also represents the city when it was at its peak. It was still
growing. People came there for jobs instead of going to Dallas or Phoenix
or Los Angeles. But don't expect to breath. :<)
<BR><BR>http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20130628/e060b9f0/attachment-0003.jpg<BR><BR>Is
the 1945 date correct? I cannot argue with it.<BR><BR>The Wabash
Pittsburgh Terminal was still there. It burned March 6 and March 22,
1946. Wikipedia claims two successive fires. It still is
intact in this picture.<BR><BR>I cannot find anything on line that dates Bigelow
Blvd (originally Grant Blvd) by section. Parts of it were as early
as 1916.<BR><BR>The Gulf Building was 1930 and it's there.<BR><BR>The 10th
Street Bridge was opened in 1933; it's there.<BR><BR>We also see in the center
in the distance, the Inverted Mine Shaft (some call it Pitt's Cathedral of
Learning) which is also early 1930s. The stone work goes all the way to
the top suggesting this might be as late as 1934 (the exterior was finished in
October 1934).<BR><BR>But why is the 7th Street (Andy Warhol) Bridge almost
invisible. It was built in 1925-1926. Had they repainted
the 6th and 9th Street structures and not gotten around yet to doing the 7th
Street bridge? When you enlarge it, it looks as though the cables
had all been removed leaving only the roadway. Now this may sound
impossible, but this is a self-anchoring suspension bridge. The
suspension cables pull not against anchors in the ground at the ends but against
the girders along the side of the roadway. Those girders had to be
installed across the river first before the primary eye-bar suspension cables
could be installed. The girders are strong enough in compression to
support anchor the suspension cables but not strong enough to hold up the
roadway and traffic on it without the suspension cables. I
have e-mailed Bruce Cridebaugh, who runs the Pittsburgh Bridges and Tunnels web
site, to see if he knows anything.<BR><BR>If someone here is older than me and
has an intact memory and can recall when the Pennsylvania Railroad station had
all the grime sandblasted off it, that also could be a clue. I
remember it being done which probably makes it after I was five years old
(1945). In this picture we see it is still filthy. I
also remember when they tore down the old train shed and erected individual
roofs over each platform in the postwar era … but even enlarged, I cannot be
100% sure I am seeing the shed. I think I see the rounded roof of
the shed behind the division office building but I am not positive.<BR><BR>So
the photo was dated 1945 but I think we can date it with some assurance to
between 1934 and 1945. But
<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Pittsburgh-railways
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list<BR>Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<BR>https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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