the Northern Liberties

The exploration actually started in the beauty of Pittsburgh's Autumn. In late October I walked the Strip District, the Northern Liberties of the early 19th century. If I had waited until 2011 I would not have had much to say until spring, I am not going to walk if the cold and wind make it painful.

The exploraton heads upstream as I will return to the Golden Triangle later in the year when more of the exciting project around the Convention Center is complete.






So on October 24, 2010 I walk upstream from Eleventh Street to 23rd Street, former railroad yards that served the produce terminals of the strip for generations until the 1970s.

In this picture:

St. Stanislaus Kostka
Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish Church in Polish Hill
Otto Milk Condos (former home of the Phoenix Brewery)

Prior to this area's service to freight this was the site for some of the first heavy industry of Pittsburgh. The Schoenberger Ironworks were located near present day 14th to 16th Street. The wealth from this early ironworks (circa 1820) led to the Schoenberger family endowing St. Margaret's Hospital in Lawrenceville. The hospital eventually moved upstream to its present location in Aspinwall and acquired by its current non-profit owner, UPMC. The ancestry of the St. Margaret's Foundation is distantly linked to the wealth generated here.

A row of lumber poles are standing in a straight line along the riverbank in the area beneath the Veteran's Bridge. This must be remnant of barge docks from some point during the industrial use of this section of town.