[PRCo] Re: Allegheny City Book

[Fred Schneider]

So am I.   Especially with the TV weather man.

On Jul 14, 2008, at 11:22 AM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:

> But it's two "parallel streets" intersecting one another!
>
> I'm just having fun.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of  
> Fred
> Schneider
> Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 11:16 AM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Allegheny City Book
>
>
> Ah, but that's legitimate.
>
>
> On Jul 14, 2008, at 10:38 AM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:
>
>> And then there is the intersection of Pittsburgh's 5th and 6th
>> Avenues...
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
>> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
>> Fred Schneider
>> Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 10:15 AM
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Subject: [PRCo] Allegheny City Book
>>
>> Those of you truly interested in history might like to buy the book
>> "RESURRECTING ALLEGHENY CITY: THE LAND, STRUCTURES & PEOPLE OF
>> PITTSBURGH'S NORTH SIDE" by Lisa A. Miles, ISBN 978-0-9798236-0-2.
>> This is a second printing issued in 2007.   I bought my copy in the
>> PTM store.  While the last chapter or two describes what happened
>> after the enforced merger with Pittsburgh in 1907, the bulk of the
>> book deals with old Allegheny.
>>
>> Like all books, even in the second printing we don't get it all
>> right.   I'm amused when she talks about a house at the intersection
>> of Federal and North Diamond St.  That's Diamond Street in Allegheny,
>> not Diamond St. in Pittsburgh.   Come on, Lisa, parallel streets do
>> not intersect each other.   Diamond ran parallel to Federal between
>> Federal and Arch!
>>
>> But I also learned a lot ... a lot about sewers and plumbing, a lot
>> about the University of Western Pennsylvania (the predecessor of the
>> University of
>> Pittsburgh) which deeply involved a man named
>> Brashear.   I learned how the state brow-beat Allegheny into merging
>> with Pittsburgh and the U. S. Supreme Court approved the
>> confiscation.   I learned that Observatory Hill was not where the
>> observatory is today out in Riverview Park and hence I finally know
>> where the original Observatory Hill Passenger Railway ended.
>>
>> While his name isn't indexed, I found a statement on page 168
>> interesting.
>> It reads, "In 1886, Perrysville Avenue got perhaps its most famous
>> homeowner.  William Thaw would sponsor John Brashear's move to
>> Allegheny City, in order to have him close to the Observatory.  He
>> posed the offer to the world renowned lens maker,
>> and Brashear accepted.   On land that belonged to Thaw, and that was
>> directly across Perrysville Avenue from the entrance to McClintock
>> Street, a beautiful mansard home was built for Brashear at 1954
>> Perrysville Avenue.
>> Shortly thereafter, a factory building was completed behind the
>> house."
>>
>> It did not see any mention of the legendary Harry Zubik and his boat
>> junk yard on the North Side but, as I pointed out, this is largely a
>> history of Allegheny and not a history of the North Side.   It would
>> be for people like my grandmother who never in her life would be
>> accused of calling that part of the city Pittsburgh.   To her, it was
>> always Allegheny.
>>
>> Just heard a television announcer tell me the rain "continues to  
>> end."
>> Is that any more possible than parallel streets intersecting?
>>
>>
>>
>>
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