This illustration is of a view near the NE corner of Pike Street and Central Avenue.
It shows a train going toward Pittsburgh. The large building is the milling company, located where the Law and Finance Building now stands.
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1876 Illustration. from Caldwell's Atlas of Wash. Co., |
The following email dialog relates to the illustration.
From: Dick Garboski
To: Jim Herron
Sent: Dec. 09, 2010
Jim, a few questions:
In this illustration, would the train be crossing Central Ave, heading East? Yes
What, where, was the the Law and Finance Building? The mill was where the Law and Finance Building is, on the corner of Central and West Water Street. The Milling Company in our time was south of this building, where a grain elevator was built along the railroad, which came through nearly a century after the mill was built.
Would the dapper Gent leaning again the rail be located on Pike Street near what was the "Richie Diamond" area?
I believe so. The hotel that was on the southwest corner of Pike and Central (replaced by the Citizens Trust Building) doesn't show. The hitching post would have been on the north side of Pike Street, if it existed at all. It may have been artistic license. The building that preceded the Morgan Building doesn't show, probably because it interfered with the view of the mill and the railroad. The covered bridge actually was a lot bigger.
From some past reading, I seem to recall that around the same time of this illustration there existed an Inn/Saloon facing the hitching posts and our standing gentleman. Any recollection?
The timing of the inn where the Morgan Building stands (if there was one) is hazy. I'll work on the chronology when I do that side of Pike Street next year. The problem is location in the time before street numbers. Newspaper references in the 1800s usually don't give locations because everybody knew where things were.
There was an inn (Emery's, then Irons') that was a stagecoach stop on the Pittsburgh-Washington Turnpike that would have been behind the gent. I'll be working on its chronology in the next few months. The brick building was still there until it was torn down to build the Mellon (now Citizens') Bank.
