• ». -""M" r The Saga of Pittsburgh's 1 t> iberty Tubes: Geographical Partisanship on the Urban Fringe Steven J. Hoffman Fred Haller, a long-time res- ident of Mt.Lebanon, drove the WHENfirst car through the LibertyTubes, he helped inaugurate the transformation ofhis hometown intoone of the Pittsburgh region's A premier early automobile suburbs. Built spe- cifically to accommodate automobile traffic, the Liberty Tubes (or Tunnels) were one of the first such projects in the country. As an increasing number of Americans embraced the automobile as their transportation mode of choice, American cities struggled to adapt their transportation networks, often with un- foreseen consequences. InPittsburgh, the opening of the Liberty Tubes in1924 not only increased transporta- tionaccess to the city,but sparked aresidential building boom inthe rollinghillssouth of the city as well. As more and more Pittsburghers incorporated the automobile into their daily routines, this sparsely settled region of farm land, a few churches and a tavern or two quickly became one of Pittsburgh's most im- portant suburban districts. Steven Hoffman is finishing his doctoral degree at Carnegie Mellon University inPittsburgh; his dis- sertation addresses race and class issues in the city- building process in Richmond, Va., 1870-1920. Hoffman, who considers himselfanurban historian withaspecial interest insuburbanization, wishes to thank Joel A. Tarr at CMU for his many helpful comments and suggestions. Photograph: Motorists exitingthe Liberty Tubes north-bound had to wait fouryears forabridge directlyacross the river.Until then, a sharp S-curve (shown here, 1926) led traffic to Carson Street and the SmithfieldStreet Bridge. i The Saga ofPittsburgh's Liberty Tube realize its fullpotential. the other communities further out in the South Hills Selecting the location for this important infrastruc- was more subdued. While Dormont increased its pop- ture improvement, however, was a lengthy and conten- ulation almost six-fold between 1910 and 1920, tious process. A total of at least six separate tunnel Mt.Lebanon grew about 30 percent. 6 Because of their projects were proposed and contemplated before the location near the end of the streetcar line,Mt.Lebanon county finallydecided in1919 on the current site of the and many nearby communities had to wait for better LibertyTubes. Initiallyproposed as a non-controversial connections before their growth could match those improvement to link the South Hills with downtown areas closer to the city. Pittsburgh, the economic ramifications ofdifferingtun- nel locations quickly became apparent to everyone A Traffic Tunnel is Proposed involved. As support for the construction of a tunnel As early as 1908, South Hillsresidents, realizing the under Mt.Washington grew, so toodid the controversy limitations of the trolley connection to Pittsburgh, over where that tunnel would be located. The ensuing formed themselves into groups and began agitating for debate reflected a kind ofgeographical partisanship, as a "traffic tunnel" under Mt.Washington. 7 But Pitts- people from throughout the South Hills formed groups burgh's downtown financial interests, the sector usually to advocate tunnel locations that would be of greatest credited withpromoting suburban development, were advantage to their particular localities. not interested inpromoting the continued residential growth of the South Hills;their interests lay in the The Streetcar Era in the South Hills topographically more accessible East End. Even Flinn, Throughout the nineteenth century, Pittsburgh's the principal backer of the streetcar tunnel under suburbanization largely followed the path ofleast resis- Mt.Washington, maintained a lowprofile in the move- tance. Hemmed inbythree rivers, tallsurrounding hills ment tobuild a traffic tunnel into the South Hills.As the and the rugged Mt.Washington escarpment to the editor of the Mt. Lebanon Messenger charged, "The south, Pittsburgh had expanded primarily eastward on prevailing big interests of Pittsburgh are more infavor the relatively level land along the rail line running ofmaintaining the supremacy of the East End than in through Shadyside, East Liberty and Wilkinsburg. In developing a new residential Pittsburgh in the South 1904, however, William Flinn, ex-senator and long- Hills."8 Although support from some downtown inter- time boss ofPittsburgh politics, dug a streetcar tunnel ests was essential for animprovement ofthis magnitude under Mt.Washington withhis associates, thereby open- to succeed, the problem ofactually finding a way to get ing up large tracts of undeveloped land in the South the tunnel built was left largely to the residents of the Hills and along the back face ofMt.Washington. This South Hills themselves. streetcar initiallyran as far as Dormont, on the edge of The South HillsBoard ofTrade was formed in1908 Mt.Lebanon, and from 1903 to 1909 an extension ran and from its inception worked to secure a highway and through Mt.Lebanon to Castle Shannon. 2 tunnel route from downtown Pittsburgh to the South The coming of the trolley precipitated an explosion Hills.9Comprised ofbusinessmen from the South Hills of residential development in the South Hills. Land communities of Allentown, Beltzhoover, Mt.Oliver, values soared as speculators and home buyers flocked to Knoxville,Carrick, Beechview, Brookline,Mt.Lebanon, the area. Three farms inBrookline increased invaluation Castle Shannon and others, the organization boasted a from $68,000 to $1.3 millionbetween the opening of membership of250 in1910.Arguing that over 100,000 the trolley tunnel in 1902 and 1910. The total cost of persons lived in the South Hills and that the district houses being built in the West Liberty, Beechview, required 2,000 wagon loads ofsupplies daily,the group Brookline, Dormont and Mt.Lebanon sections of the attempted topersuade county commissioners tobuilda South Hills immediately adjacent to the trolley line tunnel and bridge combination that would provide amounted to $1.5 million in 1910. 3 access toPittsburgh's downtown. While this building activity in the South Hills was Frank I.Gosser, president of the group, maintained impressive, the limits to expansion were obvious. Since that a new traffic tunnel would pay foritselfinincreased the tunnel was designed for passenger streetcar service, county land valuations and higher tax revenues ina few it could not accommodate heavy team freight. This short years. He noted that the trolley tunnel under restricted the movement ofgoods from the cityand kept Mt.Washington "added $30 million or more to the the transportation cost of building materials high.4 In assessable valuations within three and a halfmiles of the 1910, the South HillsBoard of Trade, a local booster [county] court house, and the population of the district organization, estimated that transportation charges add- had increased 40,000." 10 The effect ofa traffic tunnel, ed $450,000 tothe cost ofgoods coming intothe South he argued, would be even more substantial. Hills.5 Thus, the streetcar initiated the process ofsubur- The idea of a highway and tunnel connection be- banization in the South Hills,but could not adequately tween the South Hills and downtown Pittsburgh was sustain it.Inaddition, although the streetcar connec- initiallywellreceived. Uponbeing presented witha plan tion toPittsburgh fueled a building boom inBeechview, inlate 1909, Allegheny County Commissioners indicat-" Brookline and Dormont, its effect onMt.Lebanon and ed that they "heartily favor[ed] the proposed highway, 131 Pittsburgh History, Fall 1992 but they wouldgive "nodefinite promise" as to the date HillsBoard ofTrade was the LibertyAvenue Bridge and ofconstruction. The proposed plan, also known as the Shalerville Tunnel Association. Although this group Shingiss-Haberman plan or "high"tunnel, was for a shared the original group's desire for a tunnel, they tunnel withanorthern portal onMt.Washington above wanted itina completely different location. Comprised Brownsville Avenue (present-day Arlington Avenue) ofresidents ofCarnegie, Bridgeville, Oakdale, Green- and Carson Street, and a southern portal at Haberman tree, Crafton, Rennerdale, Scott Township, Union Street near Washington Road (present-day Warrington Township, Robinson Township and South Fayette Avenue). The plan also included a double-deck bridge Township, this group advocated a tunnel that would crossing the Monongahela River, with the upper deck pierce Mt.Washington from the south inShalerville, at connecting on the river's north shore with Shingiss the junction of Big and Little Saw Millruns (below Street, which today windsup the hillonto the Duquesne Duquesne Heights, near the intersection ofBanksville University campus above Forbes Avenue. The lower Road). This Shalerville plan, or "western" tunnel, deck connected Carson Street withShingiss and Forbes. would have been located near the site of the Fort Pitt The planned grade ofthe road leading to the tunnel was Tunnels (which did not open until 1960), and would 3.78 percent, making the north portal of this tunnel 80 have provided access along the ridges running south and feet higher than the present-day Liberty Tunnel, and west of the city,an area not wellserved by the Shingiss- 184 feet higher on the south side. 11 Haberman plan. 15 This tunnel and bridge plan was published as a two A second splinter group, calling themselves the page spread in the January 1910 edition of the Allied South HillsTunnel Association, was formed topromote Boards