In September, 1996 Cultural Heritage Research Services (CHRS, Inc.) of
North Wales, Pennsylvania submitted a historic resource survey of a
proposed project located in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: the improvement
of Pennsylvania Route 28. The report was titled Historic Resources Survey
and Determination of Eligibility Report, S.R. 0028 Project, Pittsburgh and
Millvale Borough, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. In May of 1997 I had an
opportunity to read the report submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation, District 11-0. The proposed project area lies within a
part of Allegheny County in which I have been conducting intensive research
into the development of a local economy based on the meat and meat
byproducts industries. In reading the CHRS report, I identified several
substantive errors in fact and methodology that seriously compromise the
report's credibility. I wrote a detailed letter outlining the report's
deficiencies to the Pennsylvania SHPO (Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission, Bureau for Historic Preservation) and to PennDOT. I never
received a reply to my letter.
On October 20, 1997 I detailed some of my observations regarding the report
in an e-mail post to the American Cultural Resource Association discussion
list, ACRA-L. Terrence Epperson, Ph.D., Vice President and Director of
Research for CHRS, Inc. posted a reply to my continued criticism of the
CHRS, Inc. report. Epperson wrote that the Pennsylvania SHPO had dismissed
my review of the report as "a personally-motivated slur perpetuated by a
disgruntled former employee who has a financial interest in bad-mouthing
competition in his region."
This is an issue that goes far beyond the cultural resource management
community and begs the attention of all academic historians and public
historians concerned with historic preservation and the growing body of
literature created by CRM historians. What kind of permanent damage are we
doing to other historic resources in later projects within the vicinity of
Pennsylvania Route 28 because of inaccurate work? What about creating a
body of literature produced by professional historians and archaeologists
that by the virtue of our advanced degrees and voluminous reports, makes us
look like experts, but in actuality is rife with errors in fact and errors
in methodology. Yes, it's good CRM for the moment, but it is bad history
for the future
Below is a detailed critical review of the 1996 CHRS, Inc. report. Copies
of the initial and subsequent e-mail posts to the ACRA-L discussion group
may be accessed at the list's archive: < and are listed in the October 1997
(/9710) sub-directory.
Resources:
Rialto Street
CHRS 1996: p. 9: The track of the Troy Hill incline became the modern
Rialto Street, which offers motorists a brisk jaunt downhill at a 24 degree
drop.
Rialto Street, prior to the annexation of Allegheny City by Pittsburgh, was
known as Ravine Street. The Troy Hill incline was in fact located several
hundred feet south of the Ravine/Rialto Street corridor. On August 31,
1850 the Duquesne Borough Council appropriated $50 "for opening a road from
the Butler Pike [S.R. 28] to Troy Hill . . . called Ravine Street"
(Duquesne Borough Council Minutes August 31, 1850); three weeks later, an
addition $25 was appropriated toward the construction of Ravine/Rialto
Street (Duquesne Borough Council Minutes September 21, 1850).
In 1885 a large stockyards facility (Pittsburgh and Allegheny Stockyards)
opened on Herr's Island in the Allegheny River. The Pittsburgh and
Allegheny Drove Yard Company was chartered Allegheny City tanner James
Callery and six partners in April, 1884 (Allegheny County Charter Book
9:189) and in December of 1884 the first tracts of land on Herr's Island
were purchased for the stockyards (Allegheny County Deed Book 497:535). By
December 18, 1884, construction on the stockyards had commenced (Pittsburgh
Post December 18, 1884).
Between 1884 and 1891, the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Drove Yard Company
acquired several more tracts on Herr's Island comprising most of the middle
of the island (Allegheny County Deed Books 548:149, 697:301). While the
principals of the stockyards company were building their stockyards,
Allegheny City butcher and byproducts dealer Emil Winter, in 1887, bought
the former site of the Pennsylvania Tube Works located south of the 31st
Street Bridge on Herr's Island and built a substantial slaughterhouse
locally known as "Emil Winter's Abattoir: (Allegheny County Deed Book
574:428; Sanborn Fire Insurance Company 1892). By the turn of the
twentieth century, Herr's Island's entire 41 acres consisted of livestock
yards, a slaughterhouse and soap making facility.
Linked to the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and Ohio railroads by the
Pittsburgh Junction Railroad, the Herr's Island stockyards became a
significant point of sale and resting place for livestock in transit
between the Midwest (Chicago) and eastern markets (Philadelphia and New
York City). Livestock sold at the stockyards was driven up Ravine/Rialto
Street in midnight drives, through the Troy Hill community and into the
Spring Garden valley to several large slaughterhouses.
The midnight livestock drives up Ravine/Rialto Street defined the street's
cultural landscape. Ravine/Rialto Street, along with steps constructed up
the south face of Troy Hill were the only transportation corridors linking
Herr's Island with Troy Hill and the Spring Garden valley. Local historian
and journalist William Rimmel wrote:
Long lines of workers could be seen every night climbing the steep steps
leading from Herr's Island to Troy Hill after a 12-hour day in the
stockyards. Others hiked up and down SpringHill and Troy Hill en route to
and from the tanneries, packing houses, soap factories and the H.J. Heinz
plant (Rimmel 1981:103).
Walter Mall, 88, worked for the Northside Packing Company (located on
Spring Garden Avenue) for sixty-seven years. He began his career on the
packing house's shipping floor and worked his way up to credit manager.
Part of his early responsibilities with the company was driving livestock
from the stockyards on Herr's Island up Ravine/Rialto Street. "We went up
from the stock yards up Ravine Street. We called it 'Pig Hill'. And that
went down into Spring Garden Avenue. And we drove them up there at night,"
said Mall in a 1996 interview (Mall 1996).
There is no available evidence for when Ravine/Rialto Street became known
as "Pig Hill" or "Pig Alley," but they are the names used by local
residents when referring to Ravine/Rialto Street. Livestock - pigs and
cattle - drives through Ravine/Rialto Street were constant up until the
stockyards on Herr's Island closed in the 1960s. Mickey Zeidler is a
third-generation Croatian who grew up along East Ohio Street (Route 28)
during the 1940s and 1950s. Most of his family were employed in the
stockyards, meatpacking plants or soap factory. During an April 1997
interview Zeidler recalled
[O]ur mother said that Ravine Street, on the end of the 31st Street Bridge,
we know that as Pig Hill. They used to run cattle up the street at night
because they didn't have the traffic or the trucks and they'd block off and
they'd run them over to Walker's Bridge and up into the O & H Packing
Company [Oswald and Hess] in Spring Garden" (Zeidler, et al. 1997).
"They did the same with pigs. Sometimes they had to go back and look, see
the ones that went in the sewer. Some would crawl into the sewer." added
Zeidler. He also noted that some people who lived along the drive would
take animals "lost" and then sell them back to the packers. The sounds and
the smells from the animals on Herr's Island and driven through
neighborhood streets defined much of the East Ohio Street community the
Croatian residents called "Malo Jaska."
The corridor leading from East Ohio Street (Route 28) to Troy Hill now
known as Rialto Street is potentially eligible for listing in the National
Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a historic transportation resource
under Criterion A of 36 CFR 60.6. The corridor's steep grade and continued
use, as well as its role in and associations with the locally and
nationally significant livestock and meat industries, contribute toward is
significance. Ravine/Rialto Street's position in the local cultural
landscape further enhances the resource's viability as a significant
historical resource.
Croatian Community
CHRS, Inc. 1996: p. 11 Often, they worked in the coal mines and steel
mills.
According to current and former residents of the East Street (Route 28)
corridor, most of the Croatian community were employed in the livestock ,
meat and meat byproducts (leather, wool pulling, rendering, soap making)
industries. In their somewhat uneven discussion of Pittsburgh soap
factories, compilers of the multi-volume, multi-year sociological study of
the Pittsburgh region known as the "Pittsburgh Survey" wrote that most of
the employees of Walker's Soap factory on the northern end of Herr's Island
were women, "Polish [Eastern European] from the lower North Side" who lived
in "unsightly shacks on the hills along the River" (Butler 1909:270).
Working conditions were comparable to the descriptions of similar
facilities painfully presented in Upton Sinclair's classic 1906 study of
Chicago's meat industry, The Jungle:
The stench from the stockyards and the odor from the soap combine to daunt
any but the most hardy seekers for employment. Unventilated and sometimes
dirty rooms, a heterogeneous series of industrial processes, an atmosphere
of nervous haste, low piece rates, high pressure, - such facts as these
characterize a plant unique among Pittsburgh factories. (Butler 1909:269)
Croatian labor, after the turn of the twentieth century, also came to
dominate the declining leather industry within the Route 28 project area.
Although precise figures currently are not available for Pittsburgh North
Side (research is in progress), in 1914 the U.S. Immigration Commission
reported to the U.S. Senate that labor in the tanning industry was
dominated by Eastern European (Polish and Slovak) immigrants and their
first generation descendants (U.S. Congress. Senate 1914). In
Pennsylvania, at the time of the Immigration Commission report, the
Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry reported that "foreigners"
comprised 43 percent (5,510) of labors employed in Pennsylvania tanneries
(Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Department of Labor and Industry 1915:193).
Although CHRS historians presented a lengthy discussion of the development
of the Croatian community within the project area (pp. 11-12), the
company's failure to account for the dominant local industries (livestock ,
meat and meat byproducts) that drew heavily upon the Croatians is a serious
oversight. About the Herr's Island industries, Sam Santini, a Millvale
resident who also grew up on East Ohio Street, said "I don't know of it
ever being a nuisance because the majority of the old Hunkies, they all
worked there to a point" (Zeidler, et al. 1997).
Island Hotel (39)
CHRS, in its NRHP significance statement determined that "The Island Hotel
is not eligible for listing in the National Register. It is not associated
with important historical events or significant individuals" (p. 75).
According to CHRS, "The property consists of a historic hotel, recently
used as a commercial property, 'Lambros Lounge' " (p. 74).
Contrary to CHRS's determination that the Island Hotel is "not associated
with important historical events or significant individuals," the resource
was a prominent fixture among the Croatian residents of East Ohio Street
(Route 28) and played a key social role in the community of workers
employed in the Herr's Island livestock, meat and meat byproducts industry.
According to Ronnie Zeidler, Mickey Zeidler's brother (see above), the
Island Hotel was a common place to board for people who brought livestock
to fairs held at the Herr's Island stockyards:
[T]hey used to bring their prized hogs and steers and sheep and they'd have
an auction over there. And they used to bring their prized hogs and steers
and sheep and they'd have an auction and a show, called the 4-H club and we
used to always run over there and get the free donuts. They had free
donuts and coffee for the 4-h members. So to get a free donut, we'd get
out of school and run right over there. A lot of them stayed over there,
but they also stayed at Lambros' Hotel. (Zeidler, et al. 1997)
The bar - Lambros Lounge - was one of the saloons around which "Croatian
life centered," wrote CHRS historians (p. 11). Lambros Lounge, according
to former East Ohio Street (Route 28) residents was the social focal point
for Croatian workers employed on Herr's Island. Sam Santini, the Zeidler's
cousin who also grew up on East Ohio Street recalled
As far as Lambros', my grandfather would stop there in the morning and get
a shot or something and he'd go to work. When he'd come back, he'd stop
there and get a shot and a beer before he'd go down and eat. My
grandmother would have lunch. Then he'd go back up there and stop there
and have some more and go back over and then after work. (Zeidler, et al.
1997)
Santini's cousin, Mickey Zeidler, noted that Lambros was an important part
of the community. "All the guys that worked the night shift, they had an
hour for lunch at Armour's and they ran across there and they was in there
in their white coats for the whole hour" (Zeidler, et al. 1997). The bar
also was a focal point for children too young to drink, as Ray Zeidler
recalled about Halloween. "Lambros - the places, the businesses gave the
best. Lambros gave some good stuff," he said. His brother Mickey added,
"If Lambros didn't give it, I used to go in his cellar and take his cases
of beer" (Zeidler, et al. 1997). Later, Sam Santini tied together Lambros
Lounge, the Croatian community and the Herr's Island stockyards. "Our
domain was East Ohio Street, stock yard," said Santini:
We had Lambros, we knew everybody because we walked to school every
morning. So, you know, walking from 1644 East Ohio Street down to St.
Nicholas and then back, that was our domain. And then we - we'd only go to
shows down North Side and that, but we didn't play or . . . . (Zeidler, et
al. 1997)
North Side Breweries Historic District
CHRS, Inc. 1996: p. 75: Several resources within the study area, in
particular, appear to be historically and architecturally related. Further
historical research indicated the importance of this resource type within
the study area and a brewery context was established to help place these
resources within the cultural and historical milieu in which they existed.
This context is based on previous work prepared by CHRS, Inc. for the
Mon/Fayette Transportation Project in Allegheny, Fayette, and Washington
counties, Pennsylvania.
Perhaps the greatest flaw with this introductory statement relates to the
distinct economic and social histories of the Monongahela River valley and
the Allegheny River valley / Pittsburgh North Side. A historic context
prepared for the Monongahela River valley should have no bearing on one
prepared for Pittsburgh's North Side, especially the area within the
proposed Route 28 project. Pittsburgh's North Side (the former Allegheny
City) was home to Pittsburgh's first genuine ethnic neighborhood: a vibrant
German community that brought with them traditional foodways and crafts,
one of which was brewing (Faires 1981, 1983, 1989). Although CHRS did cite
a Society for Industrial Archaeology convention booklet that discussed
breweries within the project area, they failed to fully explore the ethnic
history that contributed toward the development of a concentration of
breweries during the nineteenth century as detailed by Faires and others
(Holmberg 1981; Peiffer 1964).
The American Brewing Company (40)
CHRS, Inc. 1996: p. 88: Many of the buildings associated with the American
Brewing Company survive. The transformation of the brewery into an
industrial park has strengthened the viability of the complex . . . .
The office, stock house, and brewing buildings are extant.
Additionally, the brewery is banked up into a hill, where vaults were
normally placed to store beer during the lagering.
The brewery formerly known as the American Brewing Company occupied the
site identified by CHRS historians as Historic Property 40 until August 29,
1921 when the property was sold to the Fried and Reineman Packing Company
by the Independent Brewing Company of Pittsburgh for $250,000 (Allegheny
County Deed Book 2069:320). The Fried and Reineman Packing Company
consolidated its operations at the East Ohio Street site and in 1923 sold
its Spring Garden facility to Oswald and Hess, another local meatpacking
company (Allegheny County Deed Book 2146:208). The Fried and Reineman
Packing Company remained in business at the East Ohio Street site until its
sale in 1961 to Martin Fellman et al. (Allegheny County Deed Book
3927:537). The Fried and Reineman Packing Company was one of few
Pittsburgh (and, indeed, US) meatpackers who remained independent of the
Chicago meat oligopoly (Armour, Swift, et al.).
The facility was banked into the hillside for two reasons: to drive cattle
into upper story slaughtering floors and to store meat. The sharp
topography of the hills surrounding the project area was adapted by the
many traditional butchers as cold storage for slaughtered meats. The
hillsides of the Allegheny River and Spring Garden valleys are scarred with
such cold storage areas, some two or three rooms deep, where meat was hung
on overhead rails until its sale.
Although issues of significance for listing resources in the NRHP are
debatable, CHRS was negligent in its assessment of Property 40 by not
including it as a significant component in the local meat industry.
References
Butler, Elizabeth B.
1909 The Pittsburgh Survey : Findings in Six Volumes. Vol. I, Women and the
Trades, Pittsburgh, 1907-1908.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Department of Labor and Industry
1915 Second Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor and Industry.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Faires, Nora
1981 Ethnicity in Evolution: The German Communities of Pittsburgh and
Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, 1845-1881. Diss. University of Pittsburgh.
1983 Occupational Patterns of German-Americans in Nineteenth-Century
Cities. Pp. 37-51 in German Workers in Industrial Chicago, 1850-1910: A
Comparative Perspective. Edited by Hartmut Keil and John B. Jentz. DeKalb,
Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press.
1989 Immigrants and Industry: Peopling the Iron City. Pp. 3-31 in City at
the Point: Essays on the Social History of Pittsburgh. Edited by Samuel P.
Hays. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Holmberg, James C.
1981 The Industrializing Community: Pittsburgh, 1850 - 1880. University of
Pittsburgh.
Mall, Walter
1996 Interview, December 17.
Peiffer, Layne
1964 The German Upper Class in Pittsburgh, 1850-1920. Seminar Paper,
University of Pittsburgh.
Rimmel, William M.
1981 The Allegheny Story. Ph. D. Diss. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The
Guttendorf Press.
U.S. Congress. Senate
1914 Immigrants in Industries. Senate Document No. 633. 61st Cong. 2d sess.
Zeidler, Danny, Mickey Zeidler, Ray Zeidler and Sam Santini
1997 Interview, May 21, 1997.
David S. Rotenstein, Ph.D.
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