Negley Run Was Here: Finding Silver Lake
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
NEGLEY RUN WAS HERE! 1820 A HISTORY OF 1778:Revolutionary War veteran It is often said that to find your way What happens when no one remembers a considered the water as a resource or a LIVING WATERS OF LARIMER Alexander Negley is among the first around Pittsburgh, you need to be major ecological landmark, like say, a nuisance that had to be controlled and, is a community development SILVER LAKE permanent settlers of the East End. His 1830 family eventually acquired over 1,500 able to navigate by landmarks stream? Negley Run, like most of the beginning in the early 1800’s, the stream project that will demonstrate acres and utilized Negley’s Run, which that are no longer there. To streams in the City of Pittsburgh, is was systematically rerouted, straightened, how green infrastructure can took its name from his family get to your destination, you invisible to us today. The stream channeled, and covered. be artfully integrated into the 1816: Alexander’s son Jacob, who laid may have to “turn right at Negley Run, once connected Squirrel Hill to urban spaces, cultural life, and out East Liberty, establishes a steam 1840 1850s: Pennsylvania Railroad the old bakery” or other like most of the Allegheny River, but today Negley Run Was Here is an effort to discover flour mill, first of its kind west of the construction includes earliest culvert the traces of Negley Run and to understand economic infrastructure of a Alleghenies, along the stream of the stream under the railroad extinct landmark. Though the streams there is no collective memory maddening to newcomers, of the stream and very few how it shaped our community in the past community. in the City of and to speculate on what it could mean a 1868: East End Gas Company formed these phantom places clues in our urban fabric. 1850 and located in the valley between may remain in the Pittsburgh, is Change was unavoidable today. Negley Run Was Here is a project of Living Waters of Larimer Lincoln and Larimer Avenues collective memory invisible to us in Negley Run –located on Living Waters Of Larimer. is a project of for years and can be a relatively flat area east of The Kingsley Association, 1870s – 1880s: Negley Run encroached meaningful connections to today. the city, the East End was Larimer Green Team, 1860 upon by rapid settlement, begins to smell from unregulated waste disposal practices a community’s past. farmed and later urbanized. and Larimer Consensus Group The incoming waves of residents 1860s: Union stockyards developed along 1870 railroad (map from 1872); post-civil war settlement and migration from the SILVER LAKE’S south drive neighborhood development ALLEGHENY RIVER 1895: City Council authorizes funds to 1880 DEVELOPMENT extend Fifth Avenue toward Highland Park and became part of Beechwood Boulevard 1882: George Finley publishes a book on how to maintain an artificial lake 1890 1882 c fishery based on his experiences with By 1872, maps show that George Finley Silver Lake had diverted the streams around Silver Heth’s Run Lake to prevent regular flooding, and Watershed b was using the lake to produce carp for 1900 resale. Later maps show evidence of some early sewers, probably installed by Finley. 1910 Negley Run – 1902: Brilliant Cutoff Viaduct built by 1910 Washington Pennsylvania Railroad Co. e Branch d d 1900s: The Finley family sells property The City was busy building new sewers 1920 to build the Pittsburgh Hospital throughout the first decade of the 20th century, including much of the Negley Negley Run Run valley as well as Larimer and Watershed e Homewood. As early as 1887, Judge c Thomas Mellon and other “Negley LARIMER f 1930 Runites” were active in trying to Two prevent planning of the sewer within Mile Run b the run proper. “This run in cases Watershed of heavy rains is turned into a raging a 1910: Construction of Larimer Avenue 1940 torrent, which an 8½ foot sewer cannot Bridge, longest concrete span in the carry off. If the run is improved at all it world at the time should be an open sewer.” 1910: Construction of Meadow St. Bridge What is a Watershed? 1930s: Parcels along the Boulevard connecting Highland Park and Larimer The drainage area of a river or (now called Washington) were sold 1950 stream is called a watershed. to small business, machine shops, f 1950s - TODAY For example, the topography and others to create the commercial landscape visible today In 1949 the Silver Lake Drive-In around Negley Run causes opened for business. The lake had rainwater to flow down slopes 1960 been filled in the 1930s to hide the and into the stream. 1949: The Silver Lake Drive-in opens pollution and accumulated rubbish that neglect had created. The Drive-In 1969: The Urban Redevelopment closed in 1968 and was replaced by Authority purchases the Sliver Lake light industry intended to create new Drive-in property 1970 jobs for African-American residents of Nine Mile Run 1939: Silver Lake last shown on maps; Watershed Homewood. 2011: Flash flood on Washington pavement now covers the site next to Four Mile Run Boulevard kills four present day Silver Lake Drive Watershed NEGLEY RUN WAS HERE! FINDING SILVER LAKE WALKING TOUR The tour is approximately 1.5 miles total walking distance the Allegheny. Edward Bigelow developed the road 5 Urban Agricultural Zone build and live collaboratively with common facilities building in 2010, they a continuation of Beechwood Boulevard to create a and private living units. Cohousing communities share installed some innovative 1 START: Westinghouse HS promenade connecting Downtown with the City’s Corner of Winslow Street and Paulson Avenue activities to varying degrees, but cohousing does not green infrastructure grand parks…Schenley and Highland. Shetland Avenue (formerly Spring Street) creates a require the residents to share economic resources like practices that receive and 1101 N. Murtland Street modern artificial edge for an urban agriculture vision By 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the City other intentional communities. manage runoff from the Westinghouse High proposed by the Larimer Community to Vision to @LivingWatersPgh began to construct the Brilliant Cutoff and Viaduct and rooftop. School’s current building Action Plan. The plateau was among the earliest 7 the Lincoln Avenue Bridge to decrease rail congestion, Larimer Point KBK Enterprise’s new opened in 1924 to farming areas that served the young city. The soils connect communities, and to honor the “City Beautiful’ Larimer Pointe scattered- serve affluent families were conducive to bumper crops for the early settlers Corner of Orphan and Lenora Streets www.LivingWatersPgh.org planning that inspired Bigelow’s vision site redevelopment is new housing and landscaping settling in the newly and western travelers. Little is known about how the The northern tip of the Larimer plateau sits over the that is consistent with the Larimer Vision Plan’s goal developed neighborhood 4 original native residents used the area. confluence of the east and west branches of Negley Thompson Estates to redevelop the neighborhood as an example of green Contact John Stephen: of Homewood, and at Run. During the most intense rain storms, the buried Historical maps of Larimer indicate that early order and sustainable urban living. KBK has collaborated its peak enrolled more than 1,500 students. Named Corner of Winslow and Winfield Streets pipes that now carry Negley Run become overwhelmed 412.606.7149 or [email protected] streams flowed from near Shetland Avenue down the hill to with the Larimer Consensus Group and LWOL for Pittsburgh inventor and engineer George This area of vacant lots tells the story of the ebb and the stretch of Washington Boulevard to the north the Negley Run valley. Walking Larimer streets reveals the demonstrating how developers and residents can work Westinghouse, the school has produced a great number and flow of people in Larimer. The area bounded by floods dangerously. In the 1950s, the last exposed generally sloping gradients toward the neighborhood edge. together to find mutually rewarding design solutions. of famous and successful personalities, including Meadow, Paulson, Turret and Shetland Streets was length of Negley Run was culverted to build Negley All of these reasons give credence to the Larimer Billy Strayhorn, Errol Garner, Maurice Stokes, Bill one of the last open space areas on the plateau. In fact, Run Boulevard, and the hillside section known as Vision-to-Action designation of this area as an urban FINISH: Village Green Nunn (Sr. and Jr.), Ahmad Jamal and Dakota Staton. Paulson Street was once called Park Street, suggesting Chianti was eliminated. agriculture district. And now with a Community Land Shifting economics and population patterns led to that the property at the “intersection of Meadow and Today, Project 15206 and Pittsburgh Public Works are 413 Larimer Avenue Trust exploratory committee, the Larimer Consensus 9 dramatic changes in the student body and today, the Park” may have served as an informal park for the constructing a wetland garden at the bottom of Negley The Village Green is a city block of gardens Group is identifying priority parcels and developing an school is attended by about 500 students, 99% of which growing neighborhood. Run Blvd and a swale along the north side of the road and open space that has become the heart of implementable business plan for food and plant production. are African-American. Westinghouse (affectionately In 1872, this area was owned by Thomas Brown, to capture and manage stormwater. Living Waters of community activity. As vacant buildings were torn known as the ‘House) continues to be one of Pittsburgh who may have used it for farming. His two houses on 6 Cohousing+School Larimer is proposing an ambitious stream restoration down, the community had a vision for a public Public Schools’ most impressive landmarks and Meadow Street remained some of the only structures to receive runoff from the many new developments gathering space and worked with the City and URA facilities.