[PRCo] Re: Liberty and Seventh Avenues

[Fred Schneider]

Let's tear it apart element by element.

1.  Once I printed it, I could see a trolley span wire and an ear at  
the bottom of the picture ... so we still have trolley service on  
Liberty Avenue.    I suspect it might have been taken on a Sunday or  
a Holiday morning because of the lack of traffic.

2.  Pittsburgh Railways Company did have a fleet of GMC diesel  
coaches with the bulging headlights but there were a lot of other  
companies that also ran such vehicles such as Ohio River Motor Coach  
Company.

3.  I do not see any vehicle newer than a 1942 - 1948 design.    
Perhaps the lack of traffic relates to wartime gasoline rationing.

4.  Union Station has not yet been sand blasted.   That happened in  
1948.   So this was before the summer of 1948.    The fact that there  
isn't a single clean building and there is a clear sky might suggest  
a long holiday weekend with three days off in a row ... since  
Independence Day then was not necessarily a Monday holiday, I'm going  
to suggest this was Memorial Day holiday weekend during the war.

5.  The total lack of streetcars makes one wonder if it might have  
had something to do with the September 1946 Duquesne Light Company  
labor dispute were it not for people standing on the safety islands.

The longer I look at it Matt,

                          the more I want to believe it was taken  
during World War II.




On Nov 7, 2005, at 1:47 PM, Matt Barry wrote:

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> Hello all,
>
> Browsing through Historic Pittsburgh again, and noted the attached
> photograph.    At first look, I thought it was something taken a few
> years after the abandonment of the East End lines, given the  
> disconnect
> between the Liberty and Seventh Avenue tracks.     Closer look at the
> vehicles and manner of dress of the pedestrians, I think this is the
> 1930's or 1940's.
>
> Anybody?
>
> The description is:
> Title: Liberty Avenue Street Scene
> Date: unknown
> Creator: Judge of Good Pictures
> Description: The intersection of Liberty Avenue and Seventh Avenue in
> downtown Pittsburgh. In the right center of the photograph is the
> Triangle Building, an example of Victorian architecture. Andrew  
> Pebbles
> designed the building in 1884. The structure was constructed in three
> stages. Three stories were built during the first stage. Three more
> floors were added during the second stage to accommodate demand for  
> more
> office space. Eventually the structure was expanded to occupy the  
> entire
> block bounded by Liberty Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and Smithfield  
> Street.
> In the left background is the Pennsylvania Railroad's Union Station.
> Construction of the Union Station at Grant Street and Liberty Avenue
> lasted from 1898 to 1903. The building's designers, Bottle Burnham &
> Company of Chicago, incorporated French heads and leaf  
> ornamentation to
> give the rotunda its striking appeal. The structure has recently been
> converted to apartments and is currently called The Pennsylvanian.
>
> Matt
>
>
>
>
>
> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
> -- Type: image/jpeg
> -- Size: 78k (80747 bytes)
> -- URL : http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/ 
> LIBERTY_SEVENTH.jpeg
>
>
>