The Newtown Pentacle

Friday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This is the sort of post which I often describe as being ‘serendipitous.’

After marveling at a rail yard, and a bit of overbuilt pedestrian infrastructure on Pittsburgh’s North Side, your humble narrator had pointed his toes at Chateau Street. While scuttling along, the intricacy of the masonry on that building pictured above (2034 Chateau Street) caught my attentions and I stood there for a few minutes admiring it. I took a photo.

A fellow had just parked his truck, sauntered up, and said ‘Hi.’

I’m terrible with names, so he was either a ‘jim’ or a ‘rob’ or a ‘dave,’ since his name immediately exited my brain after the handshake. I asked if he knew anything about the building, whereupon he said that it housed his family’s business – the one advertised on the signage.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I mentioned my appreciation of the finery apparent in the masonry, and that the building looked ‘1920’s’ to me, opining that this sort of decorative and expensive brick work indicated that this building had some sort of grand past.

Rob/Dave/Jim laughed, and told me that the building was built in the 1920’s (good eye, he said), and that it was originally a Standard Oil Cannery operation. Further, he invited me to come inside and look around, but I declined that offer.

Rob/Dave/Jim said I should make sure to get a shot of a big, century old oil tank at the edge of their property, which is a part of the original Standard Oil setup.

This building’s tale set your humble narrator off on a spate of interesting reading, centered around this area. Specifics of the cannery operation were just out of historic reach for most of it.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It seems that Standard operated the cannery out of this site through the end of the Second World War, whereupon the property was sold and converted over to be the HQ of an interstate trucking company in the 1950’s. Said trucking company specialized in unloading cargo from rail cars and then onto a truck bed, for localized delivery. ‘Intermodal’ is what that’s called.

I also learned that in 1963, Pittsburgh pretty much annihilated another living ‘mixed use’ neighborhood, which was found right here, in the name of urban renewal, progress, and erecting more high speed roads and ramps. The neighborhood was flattened, and its rubble used to land fill in the Ohio River, creating its modern coastline.

This ‘zone’ is largely flat, thereby, and this 1963 project is ‘why.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

That’s the Standard oil tank, back there.

Of course, there’s oceans of nasty chemicals in the ground down below the surface, floating around on the aquifer. Researching this former Standard Oil property revealed yet another set of surprises about Pittsburgh’s past, which will – of course – lead to other scuttles around this fairly interesting area.

According to old maps I’ve seen, the original waterfront facing street around these parts was actually Chateau Street, where I was walking, which is why Standard was here as they had access to both docks and rail.

Me?

It’s a ‘walk,’ not a ‘stand around and ponder,’ so I leaned back into it.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The plan for the rest of this effort was to head south, cross the Allegheny and then the Monongahela Rivers, have a quick beer at that brewery with the trains, and then catch a light rail ride back to HQ in Dormont.

From the point in space pictured above, the peregrinations prior to arriving at the light rail would require around four to five additional miles worth of walking.

Another abandoned and condemned house caught my attention.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Whereas I’d be pretty jazzed to have a rail yard just on the other side of my back yard, I can understand how that would grind on you. Moe the Dog would definitely not enjoy this.

Hey Now! Norfolk Southern #9871 just kind of appeared, hauling a set of specialized track geometry and testing cars. Neat!

Back next week with more from the Paris of Appalachia – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

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