End-of-summer sunlight filters through the leaves along Montour Run in Moon Township.
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Montour Run
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6; Kodak EasyShare Z1285. Click or tap the article title for comments.
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Spring in South Park
Canon PowerShot SX150 IS. Originally a shelter for access to an underground spring, this spiral structure—which may have been built under the WPA—has a stairway that winds down to a pool of stagnant water and debris. But it looks wonderfully mysterious.
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Norwood Incline Shelter, McKees Rocks
Most Pittsburghers know that there were once many more inclines than the two we have now; perhaps as many as seventeen running at once. Some of the vanished ones have left visible remains, like the power house for the Mount Oliver Incline. Here is another piece of an incline that most of us have probably never heard of: the Norwood Incline, which as far as old Pa Pitt knows was the only suburban incline. This little structure was a shelter for passengers waiting at the base of the incline.
1917 Hopkins plat map from Historic Pittsburgh. The Norwood Incline was built to connect the newly developed hilltop suburb of Norwood to the streetcar line at the base of the hill in McKees Rocks. (The connect-the-dots lines on the map represent the streetcars going both ways on Island Avenue.) It was initially free to ride; later a fare of a penny was introduced, giving it the popular name “Penny Incline.”
1917 Hopkins plat map from Historic Pittsburgh. Near the upper end of the incline was Norwood Hall, where the book of Pittsburgh’s Inclines tells us that “many sports events were held.” We presume that hall is the large frame structure marked “PAVILION” on this map.
“The two little yellow cars ran on only three rails,” we read in an unsourced quotation in Pittsburgh’s Inclines, “causing strangers to fear a mid-hillside collision; but by a deftly devised curve, the cars would suddenly switch out and pass.”
The incline closed in 1923 and was replaced by steps; the steps have since disappeared as well. But this little shelter remains, with its monograms to remind us of its history.
Kodak EasyShare Z1285; Fujifilm FinePix HS10; Samsung Galaxy A15 5G. 2 responses
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Morning Glories
Three different colors of morning glories were blooming in this patch in Beechview, and in one spot all three colors happened to line up and beg to have their picture taken.
Among wild morning glories, deep violet and pink are the usual colors. The pale blue is much rarer. Here is one of those blue flowers on its own. Enlarge it to see the tiny fly with bright red eyes, which shows us that nature is never at a loss for decorative ideas.
More of the flowers that bloom in every season can be found at Flora Pittsburghensis.
Canon PowerShot SX150 IS. Click or tap the article title for comments.
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U. S. Steel Tower
Fujifilm FinePix HS10. Looming behind Duquesne University on the Bluff.
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Ripley & Co. Glass Works, South Side
The best preserved of the old factories on the South Side, this was acquired, soon after the large corner building was built, by the United States Glass Co. It now belongs to the Salvation Army, which has kept the exterior beautifully.
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Carnegie Lecture Hall
The Carnegie Lecture Hall is designed to put a large number of people close enough to hear a single lecturer. It was filled to capacity today with people who came to hear poetry, which makes the literate think good thoughts about Pittsburgh. The International Poetry Forum is back after fifteen years of silence, and the first poet to speak was its founder, Samuel Hazo, who at 96 years old seems to be aging backwards.
The interior of the hall as it was filling up.
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St. Stephen’s Church, Sewickley
A very stony Anglican church that has kept its rich black coat of soot.
Gargoyles guard the building from the top of the tower.
Fujifilm FinePix HS10. Click or tap the article title for comments.
