Westinghouse Park is a city-block sized municipal park in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The park land is the former estate of

George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age of ...

, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, and his wife Marguerite. With an area of about 10 acres, it was the site of his mansion known as Solitude. At this house, Westinghouse worked with his engineers, including

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

Lord Kelvin William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (26 June 182417 December 1907) was a British mathematician, Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy (Glasgow), Professor of Natural Philoso ...

), and congressman and later president

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

. Close by was another building, a carriage house, that housed his private laboratory in the basement. There, he developed some of his residential electric lighting technology, installing a generator and running cables to the main house, with wires that were left exposed on the interior walls, so as not to cut into the woodwork. Also there, Westinghouse invented methods to control and transmit

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

for both industrial and residential consumers. In the winter of 1883/1884, seeking a source of natural gas in his own "back yard," Westinghouse ordered drilling on his estate. When gas was struck on May 22, 1884, a blowout resulted in the uncontrolled release of gas for about a week. Westinghouse devised a way to cap the well. An illumination test was conducted by igniting the gas jet at the top of a tall pipe. It initially produced a 100-foot flame that illuminated a mile-wide area to a brightness sufficient to read a newspaper. This well was designated as "Westinghouse Well No. 1" or "Old No. 1" to distinguish it from several other wells that were drilled in the area. Eventually, several natural gas

derrick A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and a ...

s towered above the estate's Victorian gardens. In modern times there is no above-ground trace left of these derricks.

History

The park's history began when Westinghouse, upon his death in 1914, bequeathed the

North Point Breeze North Point Breeze (or Point Breeze North) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It has a zip code of 15208, and representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 9 (Northeas ...

mansion to his son, who in turn sold the property in 1918 to the

Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania The Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania (or ESWP) is a non-profit membership professional association based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United ...

. The Society's intent was to establish both a city park and a memorial to Westinghouse there. As per a deed stipulation, the house was razed in 1919 and the park was developed; the

Westinghouse Memorial The Westinghouse Memorial is a bronze monument located in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It commemorates George Westinghouse, an engineer, founder of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and inventor of the railway air brake. The memo ...

, however, was erected a few miles away in

Schenley Park Schenley Park () is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. In 2011, th ...

. Westinghouse Park today is maintained by the City of Pittsburgh. The park hosts a well-used children's playground, a basketball court, and a community building used for meetings and as a 14th Ward polling (voting) station. Disused tunnels are still in evidence from the site of the former house to the laboratory and to the nearby railroad tracks. The park is bounded on three sides by residential streets of the

neighborhood, while on its north side are rail lines and a busway. On its southern side, across Thomas Boulevard, was the former estate of industrialist and entrepreneur

H. J. Heinz Henry John Heinz (October 11, 1844 – May 14, 1919) was an American entrepreneur of Palatine descent who, at the age of 25, co-founded a small horseradish concern in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. This business failed, but his second business exp ...

, with a mansion known as Greenlawn, now replaced by smaller, mostly early 20th century residences. Within sight of the Park are the still-extant houses of Westinghouse's son on Murtland Avenue and of his personal physician on Thomas Blvd. Nearby in Point Breeze on Penn Avenue is the mansion called Clayton, on the former estate of industrialist

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a major ...

. Writer

John Edgar Wideman John Edgar Wideman (born June 14, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, memoirist, and essayist. He was the first person to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice. His writing is known for experimental techniques and a focus o ...

made frequent references to the park in his books. Both of his memoirs, ''

Brothers and Keepers ''Brothers and Keepers'' is a memoir written by John Edgar Wideman. It was published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston in 1984. Plot summary Two brothers, Afro-Americans, John and Robert, grow up together in the same neighborhood in Homewood. But t ...

'' and ''Hoop Roots'', use the park as a setting, as does his fictional ''Homewood Trilogy''. In 2006, archeological exploration found numerous small artifacts and reestablished the location of the long-vanished gas well. An excellent view of the park, showing some of the ancient specimen trees, can be found at Ref. In 2019, the Westinghouse Park 2nd Century Coalition was formed to improve the park's facilities, explore and exhibit its Westinghouse history, and to provide it with on-going stewardship. See external link below.

Gallery

Shown here are several images related to the historic Westinghouse Park site. First is a photograph of the mansion Solitude seen from the east, from Lang Avenue. One sees a three-story house with a four-story tower and a mansard roof. An enclosed porch wraps around to the south. Sun awnings on the windows and leafy trees indicate a summer setting. The excellent condition of the house suggests the photograph predates the death of George Westinghouse in 1914. Next is another photo of the same house from the south, from about the distance of Thomas Boulevard. A corner of the former greenhouse is seen on the far left. Next is a photograph taken before 1890 of the gas derrick that became known as the "Westinghouse Old No.1" well in present-day Westinghouse Park. This picture shows also the carriage house and the mansion Solitude on the far right. A second derrick is also visible. The view is from the south, from present-day Thomas Boulevard. Small figures of children and workers can be seen near the well. An article in Harper's Weekly in 1885 featured an article on "The Gas Wells of Pennsylvania," and included an engraving of Westinghouse's "Old No.1" derrick flaming as an "illuminator" at night. The article extolls the revolutionary nature of using cheap natural gas as an alternative to dirty and expensive coal by industry and households, and the bonanza the recent discovery of this resource in Western Pennsylvania would bring to the economy of the region. Image:Westinghouse_Solitude_Leupp3.JPG, Photograph of "Solitude", home of George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, PA, seen from the east. From Ref. Image:Westinghouse_Solitude_Palmer_p124_crop.jpg, Photograph of "Solitude", home of George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, PA, seen from the south. From Ref. Image:Westinghouse_Gas_Derrick_No1.jpg, Photograph of Westinghouse "Old No.1" natural gas derrick in daytime, sometime between June 1884 and end of 1889, located at the Solitude estate in present-day Westinghouse Park. The Westinghouse carriage house/laboratory and the mansion are seen on the right. Image:Westinghouse_Old_No.1.JPG , Westinghouse "Old No.1" natural gas derrick in a controlled burn (center), sometime between June 1884 and November 1885, located at the Solitude estate in the present-day Westinghouse Park. Additional regional natural gas facilities from the time are shown, including a field in Murrysville, PA (top).

References

External links

* * *Westinghouse Park 2nd Century Coalition - http://www.westinghousepark.org {{Westinghouse Parks in Pittsburgh Urban public parks