[PRCo] Re: PRR Federal St. Station & What Dreams May Come

Wed Apr 11 10:32:02 EDT 2007

With Allegheny Community College, Allegheny General Hospital, the 
Children's Museum, the Aviary, and nearby PNC Park, the Warhol Museum, 
Carnegie Science Centerand Heinz Field, I'd say that re-opening Federal 
Street would be a very good thing.    After a ball game, we always look 
for places to go and the few places in the area near PNC Park get so 
filled up, so fast.  
There's a few places up on East Ohio and Max's Allegheny Tavern that do 
well, but they seem inaccessible, having to wind around the old 
Allegheny Mall.
I know someone who lives in the Mexican War Streets area who is happy 
with his street and his neighbors.   They're happy about the recent 
closing of the Garden Theatre.   And they are hoping that Carnegie 
Library will re-open some day.   It closed after the tower was struck by 
lightning.

Maybe the Casino bank-rollers would fund a car line from town up Federal 
to the new casino being built near Manchester.  

Herb Brannon wrote:

>In reading the article on Northside I see they want to return it to something of its original self. A very good idea, and one which I hope is successful. It is indicated that if this plan is adopted, Federal Street would be opened again. Also, and one of the best parts of the plan, is the demolition of a part of Allegheny Center Mall. 
>   
>  As a personal comment, before I get to my main point, I believe both the rebuilding (meaning destruction) of Northside and East Liberty were part of the Robert Moses (the "sacred cow" architect who made parts of New York City into crime ridden shoebox-tenement districts through his right-wing brand of urban renewal) plan which he drew up for Pittsburgh way back 'in the day.'  
>   
>  However, here is another chance for an operating Pittsburgh Railways trolley museum ! PATransit is (or was) extending the light rail system over to Northside somewhere in the area of the stadiums. Now, if the Northside area is returned to something of its former self a nice connector from the end of the LRV line into the Northside/Allegheny City center als McKinney Street Transit Authority in Dallas would be excellent. Any comments?
>   
>  For the list member who mentioned it in this thread, yes, the PCC cars can be heard on the city streets of Pittsburgh again. 
>Bob Rathke <bobrathke at comcast.net> wrote:
>  I checked some old PRR timetables, and it appears that the Federal St. 
>Station building (later the Studebaker dealership) was off the east-west 
>schedules by 1950.
>However, the Pittsburgh-Cleveland trains still stopped at the Federal St. 
>platforms until 1955, and the Pittsburgh area commuter trains stopped there 
>as late as 1964. (In 1951, the PRR operated six round trip trains a day 
>between Pittsburgh and Cleveland.) Attached is a photo that I took on the 
>Federal St. Station platform in June, 1957. The view is to the east, and 
>the Federal Tire Co. store is visible on the east side of Federal St. along 
>the north side of the tracks. At that time, acess to the platforms was 
>through a staircase off Federal St. under the tracks.
>
>Like Amtrak service to major cities today, the PRR had major "suburuban" 
>stops on its mainlines to Pittsburgh:
>New York line trains stopped at East Liberty, St. Louis line trains stopped 
>at Carnegie, and Chicago line trains stopped at Sewickley.
>
>Bob 4/10/07
>
>-----------------------------
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Bob Rathke" 
>To: 
>
>Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 5:55 PM
>Subject: [PRCo] Re: Allegheny
>
>
>  
>
>>Boggs & Buhl closed in 1958. In the 1940's and 50's they operated a train
>>ride in the toy department at Christmas and Easter - an electric 1 ft. 
>>guage
>>B&O streamliner. I've often wondered what happened to that train after 
>>the
>>store closed
>>
>>Federal St. was still stop on the PRR up to the time the commuter trains
>>were discontinued in the Fall of 1964. I'm not sure when the Federal St.
>>Station building cesased being a station, but I remember the auto dealer
>>that took over the building - Reed Studebaker, I believe.
>>
>>Bob 4/10/07
>>
>>-----------------------------
>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>From: "Fred Schneider" 
>>To: 
>>    
>>
>
>  
>
>>Cc: "Dennis Lamont" 
>>Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 10:33 PM
>>Subject: [PRCo] Re: Allegheny
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I guess we all have our memories of the Nor'side.
>>>
>>>My Grandma Rebele lived off the 3400 block of Perrysville Avenue so I
>>>have my memories of the former City of Allegheny too. In fact, as
>>>long as Grandma lived, the lower Nor'side in her mind was still
>>>Allegheny. She never adopted the word Pittsburgh. But then she
>>>was married to my Grandpa and moved from Pittsburgh to Allegheny
>>>before it was annexed to the larger city.
>>>
>>>My Great Grandpa Rebele, whom I never knew, lived at 1439 Sandusky
>>>Street in a house that, surprisingly, still exists near Allegheny
>>>General Hospital. I've had conversations with a waitress of German
>>>ancestry, Jean Cerra, in Max's Allegheny Tavern who remembered tales
>>>about how her relatives were forced to lie about their ancestry in
>>>order to enroll their son (her grandfather or father) into a
>>>parochial school on the Northside. No German's were desired in that
>>>neighborhood at that time because it was for English people. The
>>>Germans, like my Great Grandfather and hers, lived in the triangle
>>>between the rivers after the War Between the States. Eventually
>>>much of that part of the north shore the river and Troy Hill became
>>>German but not without protest.
>>>
>>>My memories of the 1950s when I was running around the Northside was
>>>a of quasi-vibrant but declining area with a market at Ohio and
>>>Federal Streets. Pittsburgh Railways still maintained an house on
>>>Sandusky Streets north of East Ohio Street with the line / inclines
>>>department on the first floor (Charles Shauck was the superindent in
>>>my era) and the track engineering department was on the second
>>>floor. Shauck dragged me around to some wonderful places to eat in
>>>the market after, he claimed, I'd dumped all my money in company fare
>>>boxes.
>>>
>>>Allegheny had its own department store. Boggs and Buhl survived
>>>until 1957 I think. Ed Lybarger could fill you in on the details:
>>>one of the original founders of the store was one of the founders of
>>>the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler and New Castle Railway as well as one
>>>of the land development schemes up north near Warrendale. I
>>>remember the story that my uncle took his two daughters in to outfit
>>>them for school during the grand going out of business sale and the
>>>store forgot to send the bill.
>>>
>>>The Garden Theater degenerated in later years to an X-rated venue on
>>>North Avenue. That part of Allegheny became rather nondescript.
>>>My grandmother and mother used to worry about me if I was waiting for
>>>an 8 car down at Federal Street and North Avenue.
>>>
>>>I can also recall when the Pennsylvania Railroad was tearing down its
>>>grand castle of a station on Federal Street ... also known as the
>>>Fort Wayne Station. At one time the PRR station on the North Side
>>>was a base for some trains starting there and heading west. It was
>>>also a starting point for some trains that went east via the
>>>Allegheny and Connemaugh River lines to Johnstown. I'm not sure
>>>when the waiting room closed and it just became a non-agency stop for
>>>commuter trains ... probably even before World War II. I remember
>>>it as a Studebaker dealer. Then in 1954 I took some 35mm negatives
>>>of it being dismantled.
>>>
>>>But I remember the Northside as a city ... blocks this way and blocks
>>>that way filled with buildings. The last time I drove through there
>>>a few months ago I was suddenly struck by a totally different
>>>impression. It was one of how many blocks of buildings had been
>>>bulldozed away in order to build the East Street Expressway, the
>>>Crosstown Expressway and the I-279 Expressway. Perhaps 20 square
>>>blocks of buildings vanished. And as the link Boris posted pointed
>>>out, the heart and soul is gone thanks to the loop around the middle
>>>of it. Just restoring transit to the middle of Federal Street and
>>>East Ohio Street won't change anything ... the market is gone.
>>>Sears Roebuck is gone. The Carnegie Library is empty. The
>>>shoppers are out at the mall off McKnight Road. A small number who
>>>are captive may still be downtown because they have no automobile to
>>>take them to the mall.
>>>
>>>But, if you drive out East Ohio Street, between East Commons (we used
>>>to call it Sandusky Street) and East Street) there are still a couple
>>>of blocks of stores reminiscent of old Pittsburgh including ... get
>>>this guys ... a camera store and an Isalys. I've added a link to a
>>>google map showing that area today.
>>>
>>>http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Federal+Street+at+North+Ave.,
>>>+Pittsburgh,
>>>+PA&layer=&sll=32.442523,-87.032472&sspn=0.098367,0.148659&ie=UTF8&z=16&
>>>ll=40.452123,-
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>80.006669&spn=0.011087,0.018582&om=1On Mon, 9 Apr 2007, Boris Cefer
>>>>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>>>http://www.newcolonist.com/finding_allegheny.html
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>>There's an exhibit in the Heinz Architecture Hall at the Carnegie
>>>>Museum
>>>>of Art which suggests other ways Allegheny might be revitalized.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>    
>>
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>Herb Brannon
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