March 11, 2009
To Whom It Concerns:
Two historic buildings sit unoccupied and long-neglected on
Perrysville Avenue, in PittsburghÆs North Side. These are the 1880s home and
factory of John Alfred Brashear, world-renowned telescope and optics
maker. I am writing on behalf of the
Perry Hilltop Citizens Council and many others committed to the cause of stimulating
a community via its history, and to many more, all those interested in
history, science, and preservation.
THE HISTORY: The
two structures are emblematic of a forgotten chapter in PittsburghÆs history,
and the history of astronomy and aviation. For the hilltop land where Brashear resided
and worked was adjacent the campus of the Western University of PA, and Samuel
Pierpont Langley was BrashearÆs mentor and colleague, as well as director of
the original Allegheny Observatory.
Later to be titled æFather of AviationÆ when he went to the Smithsonian
Institute, Langley tested flight with his early
æwhirlybirdÆ experiments off the hilltop. When he discovered the genius lens-making of
humble working millwright Brashear, a collaboration was set in motion that
changed telescope-making forever, and soon had observatories across the
Atlantic calling on BrashearÆs precision work.
ôAllegheny Time,ö set for the nationÆs
first railroads, was established at the Observatory, which grew out of humble
beginnings due to laymen forming the Allegheny Telescope Society (this after
intense interest in the mid-century discovery of
DonatiÆs
Comet). The men, who lived on or had
association with this central peak of Allegheny City (the North SideÆs
origination) were quite a conglomerate-- common working men, others like
Washington McClintock whose country home was situate on the most prominent
bluff of the hill, and the ultra-wealthy William Thaw. The latter would end up becoming BrashearÆs
benefactor, having the beautiful Second Empire home (and rear brick factory) built
to accommodate his every need.
House and Factory are lone remnants of the
neighborhood now known as Perry HilltopÆs wondrous contribution to scientific
and educational history. The
Western University of PA relocated to Oakland, becoming the University of
Pittsburgh. But for a time before the
City of Pittsburgh would controversially annex Allegheny City, students would
ride trolley up and around the central ridge cut by Perrysville Avenue in the
1880s and 90s, and traverse a campus (where Triangle Tech now sits), studying
the stars at an Observatory visible just across river from downtown
Pittsburgh. Langley and Brashear, oft
working together, had a reputation for their down-to-earth teaching manners and
humanitarian ways. Whenever mishaps
occasionally occurred in the lens-making process, students were called to be
let out of LangleyÆs class to witness the teachable loss. As well, scientists from around the globe
gathered and mingled for dinner with students around the long table in the
later-added Arts & Crafts Board Room of BrashearÆs home.
THE NEED: I
am writing as the author of the best-selling Resurrecting Allegheny City: The Land, Structures & People of
PittsburghÆs North Side, and as an educator, creative artist and
community activist. I conducted
educational programming surrounding this neighborhoodÆs history last Fall,
funded by the Buhl Foundation and with culminating Community Showcase event
held at the Brashear properties. It
was a great success, one that opened the eyes of many to the hidden history of
this economically deprived neighborhood. Over the course of the Fall, junior high-aged
children from the nearby Northview Heights housing project studied and then
created artworks showing Brashear and Langley and great neighborhood maps,
incorporating new and old. Field trips
for children and adults also took place on cold Saturdays, awakening a new
sense of discovery about all of the greater North Side. Mentors, high school-aged, pondered and wrote
essays about civic responsibility, how to incorporate history with current
events, and how to preserve BrashearÆs legacy-- house, factory, and
humanitarianism. Information, articles
and photos of this work can be found on my website: www.lisamilesviolin.com
The Community Showcase took place in a house with no heat
and electricity, recently foreclosed upon.
With creativity, and the kindness of a realtor (as agent for the
bank-owner), the children and community ushered people in to see where so much
history stemmed from. Hot cocoa and a
ceramic fireplace out back were so positioned as to invite tour of the exterior
of the Factory (tax-delinquent, with inside disrepair but possessing an
original worktable and pulley-drop opening, but with owner unable to be yet
tracked down by the City.)
Despite the usual impediments-- costs of restoration / renovation--
Perry Hilltop Citizens Council and I, as well as the Allegheny City Society,
are determined to build upon the recent attention to try to get appropriate
owner for House and Factory, and even historic marker for hilltop-campus. Recent funding help has graciously come from
two City of Pittsburgh Councilwomen-- Tonya Payne and Darlene Harris. We
have been contacted by national historical and scientific societies with main
interest, as ours, in possibly making a museum of the two properties (of
BrashearÆs work, astronomy, LangleyÆs early work, and possibly early
University). Indeed Bart Fried,
Founder of the Antique Telescope Society, has pro-offered stocking the museum,
with the antique instruments themselves.
The House could be likely purchased for under the asking price; the
Factory for back taxes of $5,000. Historic Designation is under way. $1500 is needed for the House and perhaps
double that for the Factory. Perry
Hilltop Citizens Council can develop the properties (with City organizations
and contractors) if we have an interested buyer. Can you help in any way? Funding is needed, certainly. As well, connections made to any who could
offer other assistance in pulling together the necessary web of historians and
scientists who might take an interest in shepherding this project through to a
viable reality, so as to serve current-day purpose while honoring the old.
On behalf of all involved,
Thank You--
Lisa A. Miles