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Home , Monongahela Incline, Smithfield Street Bridge

A Place of Historic Landmarks 4. William George Burns (from Canada) and New Buildings 5. & Lake A. Grand Concourse Restaurant NOTE: Notice the photograph on the front cover of the Scavenger Hunt brochure. This photo shows the TOP of The Landmarks Building. The name of the railroad is SCAVENGER B. Bessemer Court entrance spelled out. If you want to see that building detail, walk up to the Smithfield Street level of the building HUNT C. Grand Concourse Restaurant and look up. D. Bessemer Court (Joe’s Crab Shack 6. Because of the two plaques. clock tower) NOTE: The building has a “Historic Landmark” plaque NOTE: There are TWO clocks on the tower by Joe’s Crab from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Shack. The photograph matches the clock above the The Landmarks Building is one of 504 sites in Allegheny a sign: “Free Crab Tomorrow” County to have a “Historic Landmark” plaque. The plaque n brings recognition to the building but does NOT protect the building from demolition. The Landmarks Building is s E. The “cornice” (the uppermost section also listed on the “National Register of Historic Places.” w of the building) of Buca di Beppo’s This round plaque is awarded by the US Department of the Interior after a rigorous review process and means that 4 Italian Restaurant this building will most likely not be harmed by a develop- e NOTE: Originally, this building was the “Express House” ment project using federal funds. About 78,000 places in r of the P&LE Railroad. Priority shipments of packages and the nation are listed on the National Register. Neither of sproducts were quickly processed here. these plaques, however, would save the building if the private property owner of the building wanted to demolish it. F. Bessemer Court: The “cornice” of the building with 1 the “Dave & Andy’s Homemade Ice Cream” sign. 7. The Landmarks Building is much cleaner NOTE: This same pattern can be seen in the cornice than it was in the August 1926 photo. It of all the new buildings in Bessemer Court. doesn’t have any flag banners hanging on the “façade” (front of the building), as NOTE TO GROUP LEADER or PARENT: G. Freight House Shops roof (facing the Smithfield shown in the May 1923 photo. Street Bridge) When you complete a Scavenger 8. (Hopefully, you found everything!) Hunt QUESTION, check your answer H. Hard Rock Café roof (in Bessemer Court) 3

2 against this Answer Sheet. Share the “NOTES” given here with group The Shops at Station Square members so everyone learns more The Landmarks Building Answers for the long, low building about the story of this place. 1. P & LE Terminal NOTE: Cities today have airport and bus terminals, and 1. This was the “P & LE Freight House” only some still have railroad terminals. Years ago, all NOTE: This was like a parking garage for trains. Trains major American cities had at least one railroad terminal. would drive inside the building and workmen would unload Passengers came to this building to buy railroad tickets,

1 the freight that was then transferred to local delivery trucks. wait for trains, check their baggage, and get something “Freight” might be bags of mail, pieces of machinery, or 2 4 to eat and drink. This building also contained offices on crates of fruit, among many other things. 3

3 the upper stories for the P&LE railroad executives. The 4

2 P&LE Railroad Terminal was a primary transportation center during the time when Pittsburgh was the “Workshop of the World.” 2. 1897 1 NOTE: This is the oldest of the five remaining 2. 1898-1901 P&LE railroad buildings at Station Square.

Copyright © 2006

Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation 3. 105 years old 3. 109 years old

• Or “backwards” inside the buildings! Always go • Go “forward” • Go Scavenger Hunt Route Hunt Scavenger 4. Several things inside remind us of the 2. 1917 The Big Idea: Recycle! 5. From Bessemer Court you can see: original purpose of the building: • PPG Place (the glass building with pinnacles that 3. 89 years old 1. Newspapers, pop cans, leaves, clothes, toys, etc. look like arrows piercing the sky) • Five freight cars are still inside the Freight House. • One Oxford Centre (the four silvery octagons They have been converted into shops. 4. An elevator tower with stairs, ramps, and a foun- 2. There are lots of answers, including: of uneven height) tain and landscaped area. COOL FACT: The freight cars sit on the original train tracks • New shops and restaurants and entertainment that are laid throughout the Freight House. The tracks still NOTE: A big hole, or atrium space, was created in the • US Steel Tower (the darkest brown skyscraper exist under the new floor surface. center of the Central Warehouse when it was renovated places have opened, and that activity has ––Pittsburgh’s tallest––at 841 feet) as “Commerce Court,” a modern office building. Then an generated jobs and tax revenue for the city. • A train-track pattern appears in one area of the • Citizens Bank Building (a thin, tan, medium- elevator tower with stairs and ramps was constructed. The • Historic buildings have been saved and reused, floor (near the food court). height skyscraper) atrium was built to bring sunlight into the interior space, and that has set the stage for more development. • The food court has railroad crossing signs and and the stairs and elevators take people to the offices. The • Grant Building (orange-brick with a beacon ramps make the elevator tower accessible to anyone who • People can see that historic preservation––the on top). The beacon flashes Pittsburgh in lights. isn’t able to use the stairs. business of recycling old buildings––is good for Morse Code. • There’s a little kiddie train. the economy and adds to the quality of life for • There’s a black train engine with a postcard people today. In addition, from The Landmarks Building photo booth inside. Bessemer Court & Other Stuff • Pittsburgh’s NUMBER ONE tourist destination has you can see: been created! Three million people visit Station • One Mellon Bank Center (with the name Mellon 5. The banners show lots of historic places and 1. Everything is new except the “artifacts” and Square each year. in green at the very top) sights. You might recognize: railroad platform structure. • People can more easily learn about Pittsburgh’s • Highmark/Blue Cross/Blue Shield (peaking out • Blast furnaces from a steel mill NOTE: The buildings, kiosks, fountain, signs, garbage railroad history because the P&LE RR buildings cans, pavement, plants, MAC machine, benches, black from behind PPG Place) • A Bessemer Converter with hot, fiery air and are still here. metal railing at the edge of the railroad platform, and 6. From Bessemer Court you can see four of pollutants blasting out the top steel bridge and stair tower that take people over the Pittsburgh’s 446 (no city has more!) • Frick Building and Allegheny County Courthouse railroad tracks are all new. • Bessemer Court Bridge (the over • Monongahela House (a hotel) 2. The artifacts, railroad platform structure, and The River & Downtown train tracks are old. The artifacts include the: the railroad tracks leading to the marina) • The Landmarks Building (or P&LE RR Terminal) • First electric arc steel-making furnace in the 1. The • (the yellow, tied arch bridge) • Western Hemisphere (1906) • (it looks like a 2. North • (when it had another • Ten-ton Bessemer Converter (1930) figure 8 on its side). The lenticular-truss bridge pair of tracks) is blue with yellow portals and has an orange • Boyd Brick press (1941) NOTE: This is a significant fact. British settlers and colonists • Fourth Avenue Post Office on the eastern seaboard journeyed west and followed the underside • Very tall lamps from the Sixteenth Street Bridge • Annex Hotel course of the Monongahela River NORTH. French settlers • Panhandle Railroad Bridge (now the Light-Rail • The railroad platform structure occupied “New Canada” and followed the course of the Bridge that the “T” goes across). You can just • A flood scene SOUTH. These two rivers met at the “Point,” • Train tracks––that trains still use! strategically located where the begins its 981- see the dark brown truss bridge beyond the • A city view (Frick & Lindsay Co. advertisement) mile journey westward to the Mississippi River. Whoever Smithfield Street Bridge. • Smithfield Street Bridge 3. Clinton Furnace controlled the Point gained access to inland America. In November 1758, the British and Virginian colonists • The Point (including George Washington) won the struggle against the 4. It converts molten (liquid) iron into steel. French and named the land at the Point “Pittsburgh,” in Attention Scavenger Hunters: 6. The letter “X,” most obviously, and triangles, honor of William Pitt, who was then Great Britain’s Secretary If you find any corrections to these answers or tilted squares, pentagons, and very long rectangles 5. A stair/elevator tower and bridge that leads of State and later its Prime Minister. have additional information worth sharing, email: to an observation deck, another stair/ elevator [email protected]. Answers for the seven-story building tower, and marina. 3. West Virginia (Fairmont, WVA)

1. It was the P&LE RR Central Warehouse. 6. YOUR CHOICE 4. Pittsburgh (the Point) Thanks for taking the Station Square Scavenger Hunt! NOTE: Trains and freight were stored here. Also, shovel YOUR REASON transfer equipment was used to move freight from one Continue to use your observation and research railroad car to the next. skills to discover the story of other places you visit.