[PRCo] Re: Another comment on the PAT union pictures

[robert netzlof]

> On Behalf Of Fred Schneider [fwschneider at comcast.net]
 
> http://atu85.org/v2/images/IMG_6284.jpg

> And it was taken so close to where I grew up in Penn
> Hills.   I probably drove by that
> intersection hundreds of times with my parents as a young
> boy.   It was in route to the family
> doctor.   It's Rebecca St. at Swissvale
> Avenue in Wilkinsburg.   (I have no idea what
> the huge church is down at Coal Street ... I suspect that as
> the population dropped, it lost its function and is
> something else today.)

Can't speak to "today". According to the Hopkins and the Sanborn maps, 'twas Trinity Reformed Church.

The 1903 Hopkins map shows just the configuration of tracks shown in the photo, that is, single track left-to-right on Swissvale, one track coming down Rebecca and turning left to a switch onto the track on Swissvale. The church is marked "Reformed Church".

Curiously, the 1915 Hopkins map shows only a single track on Swissvale, no track on Rebecca. The church is now marked "Trinity Reformed Church".

The 1927 Sanborn map shows "Trinity Reformed Church" still there at Coal and Rebecca. Sanborn maps almost never show street car tracks and this one is no exception.

The lawn enclosed by an iron fence in the left of the photo appears to be the lawn of "Home For Aged Protestants" (1903), "Home For Aged Protestant Women" (1915 and 1927). "Home For Aged Men and Couples" (1915 and 1927) was farther to the left on Swissvale.

Bob Netzlof a/k/a Sweet Old Bob