1870s – 1880s: Negley Run encroached upon by rapid settlement, begins to smell from unregulated waste disposal practices

1860s: Union stockyards developed along railroad (map from 1872); post-civil war settlement and migration from the south drive neighborhood development

A HISTORY OF SILVER LAKE

1850s: Pennsylvania Railroad construction includes earliest culvert of the stream under the railroad

1902: Brilliant Cutoff Viaduct built by Pennsylvania Railroad Co.

1910: Construction of Meadow St. Bridge connecting Highland Park and Larimer

1910: Construction of Larimer Avenue Bridge, longest concrete span in the world at the time

1939: Silver Lake last shown on maps; pavement now covers the site next to present day Silver Lake Drive

2011: Flash flood on Washington Boulevard kills four

1868: East End Gas Company formed and located in the valley between Lincoln and Larimer Avenues

1895: City Council authorizes funds to extend Fifth Avenue toward Highland Park and became part of Beechwood Boulevard

1930s: Parcels along the Boulevard (now called Washington) were sold to small business, machine shops, and others to create the commercial landscape visible today

1949: The Silver Lake Drive-in opens

1969: The Urban Redevelopment Authority purchases the Sliver Lake Drive-in property

1882: George Finley publishes a book on how to maintain an artificial lake fishery based on his experiences with Silver Lake

1900s: The Finley family sells property to build the Pittsburgh Hospital

1816: Alexander’s son Jacob, who laid out East Liberty, establishes a steam flour mill, first of its kind west of the Alleghenies, along the stream

1778:Revolutionary War veteran Alexander Negley is among the first permanent settlers of the East End. His family eventually acquired over 1,500 acres and utilized Negley’s Run, which took its name from his family

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It is often said that to find your way around Pittsburgh, you need to be able to navigate by landmarks that are no longer there. To get to your destination, you may have to “turn right at the old bakery” or other extinct landmark. Though maddening to newcomers, these phantom places may remain in the collective memory for years and can be meaningful connections to a community’s past.

What happens when no one remembers a major ecological landmark, like say, a

stream? Negley Run, like most of the streams in the City of Pittsburgh, is

invisible to us today. The stream once connected Squirrel Hill to

the Allegheny River, but today there is no collective memory of the stream and very few clues in our urban fabric. Change was unavoidable in Negley Run –located on a relatively flat area east of

the city, the East End was farmed and later urbanized.

The incoming waves of residents

considered the water as a resource or a nuisance that had to be controlled and, beginning in the early 1800’s, the stream was systematically rerouted, straightened, channeled, and covered.

Negley Run Was Here is an effort to discover the traces of Negley Run and to understand how it shaped our community in the past and to speculate on what it could mean today. Negley Run Was Here is a project of Living Waters Of Larimer.

LIVING WATERS OF LARIMER is a community development project that will demonstrate how green infrastructure can be artfully integrated into the urban spaces, cultural life, and economic infrastructure of a

community.

Living Waters of Larimer is a project of

The Kingsley Association, Larimer Green Team,

and Larimer Consensus Group

NEGLEY RUN WAS HERE!

Negley Run, like most of the streams

in the City of Pittsburgh, is invisible to us

today.

By 1872, maps show that George Finley had diverted the streams around Silver Lake to prevent regular flooding, and was using the lake to produce carp for resale. Later maps show evidence of some early sewers, probably installed by Finley.

The City was busy building new sewers throughout the first decade of the 20th century, including much of the Negley Run valley as well as Larimer and Homewood. As early as 1887, Judge Thomas Mellon and other “Negley Runites” were active in trying to prevent planning of the sewer within the run proper. “This run in cases

of heavy rains is turned into a raging torrent, which an 8½ foot sewer cannot

carry off. If the run is improved at all it should be an open sewer.”

In 1949 the Silver Lake Drive-In opened for business. The lake had been filled in the 1930s to hide the pollution and accumulated rubbish that neglect had created. The Drive-In

closed in 1968 and was replaced by light industry intended to create new

jobs for African-American residents of Homewood.

Nine Mile Run Watershed

What is a Watershed?The drainage area of a river or stream is called a watershed. For example, the topography around Negley Run causes rainwater to flow down slopes and into the stream.

SILVER LAKE’S DEVELOPMENT

Negley Run – Washington

Branch

a

d

b

e

cfLARIMER

ALLEGHENY RIVER

Four Mile Run Watershed

Two Mile Run

Watershed

Negley Run Watershed

Heth’s Run Watershed

1882

1910

1950s - TODAY

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d

b

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f

building in 2010, they installed some innovative green infrastructure practices that receive and manage runoff from the rooftop. KBK Enterprise’s new Larimer Pointe scattered-site redevelopment is new housing and landscaping that is consistent with the Larimer Vision Plan’s goal to redevelop the neighborhood as an example of green and sustainable urban living. KBK has collaborated with the Larimer Consensus Group and LWOL demonstrating how developers and residents can work together to find mutually rewarding design solutions.

FINISH: Village Green413 Larimer Avenue

The Village Green is a city block of gardens and open space that has become the heart of

community activity. As vacant buildings were torn down, the community had a vision for a public gathering space and worked with the City and URA to gain access to the site. Currently there are over 40 raised beds in the Larimer Community Garden, a shelter, and a play area. Most visible are two shipping containers that will be transformed into solar pavilions that capture water and electricity for use on site. Many people and organizations contributed to establishing the site and continue to assist with its maintenance.

build and live collaboratively with common facilities and private living units. Cohousing communities share activities to varying degrees, but cohousing does not require the residents to share economic resources like other intentional communities.

Larimer PointCorner of Orphan and Lenora Streets

The northern tip of the Larimer plateau sits over the confluence of the east and west branches of Negley Run. During the most intense rain storms, the buried pipes that now carry Negley Run become overwhelmed and the stretch of Washington Boulevard to the north floods dangerously. In the 1950s, the last exposed length of Negley Run was culverted to build Negley Run Boulevard, and the hillside section known as Chianti was eliminated.

Today, Project 15206 and Pittsburgh Public Works are constructing a wetland garden at the bottom of Negley Run Blvd and a swale along the north side of the road to capture and manage stormwater. Living Waters of Larimer is proposing an ambitious stream restoration to receive runoff from the many new developments planned for the neighborhood, and to create a publicly accessible wetland park. When built, Little Negley Run will become a regional example of how to utilize our former streams and valleys to slow the flow of stormwater while also enhancing habitat and sustaining new natural amenities.

Mike’s Auto Body+KBKCorner of Lenora and Meadow Streets

Mike’s Auto Body has been a committed to Larimer for decades. They partner with CCAC to offer in-house courses on body repair and, when they erected the new

Urban Agricultural ZoneCorner of Winslow Street and Paulson Avenue

Shetland Avenue (formerly Spring Street) creates a modern artificial edge for an urban agriculture vision proposed by the Larimer Community to Vision to Action Plan. The plateau was among the earliest farming areas that served the young city. The soils were conducive to bumper crops for the early settlers and western travelers. Little is known about how the original native residents used the area.

Historical maps of Larimer indicate that early order streams flowed from near Shetland Avenue down the hill to the Negley Run valley. Walking Larimer streets reveals the generally sloping gradients toward the neighborhood edge.

All of these reasons give credence to the Larimer Vision-to-Action designation of this area as an urban agriculture district. And now with a Community Land Trust exploratory committee, the Larimer Consensus Group is identifying priority parcels and developing an implementable business plan for food and plant production.

Cohousing+SchoolCorner of Larimer Avenue and Shetland Street

People from Larimer and other communities have come together to explore cohousing in Larimer. The community vision is for a cooperative, ecologically responsible, and diverse neighborhood of 25-30 households, representing a variety of ages, professions, family structures, and ethnic, cultural, and spiritual backgrounds. Cohousing is type of intentional community where people design,

the Allegheny. Edward Bigelow developed the road a continuation of Beechwood Boulevard to create a promenade connecting Downtown with the City’s grand parks…Schenley and Highland.

By 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the City began to construct the Brilliant Cutoff and Viaduct and the Lincoln Avenue Bridge to decrease rail congestion, connect communities, and to honor the “City Beautiful’ planning that inspired Bigelow’s vision

Thompson EstatesCorner of Winslow and Winfield Streets

This area of vacant lots tells the story of the ebb and flow of people in Larimer. The area bounded by Meadow, Paulson, Turret and Shetland Streets was one of the last open space areas on the plateau. In fact, Paulson Street was once called Park Street, suggesting that the property at the “intersection of Meadow and Park” may have served as an informal park for the growing neighborhood.

In 1872, this area was owned by Thomas Brown, who may have used it for farming. His two houses on Meadow Street remained some of the only structures for almost 30 years. That changed by 1900, when railroad yards and industry brought people to East Liberty. Descendants of Thomas Brown developed the “Enterprise Plan” of more than 110 mostly frame worker houses. When all the open space was filled, the large houses on Paulson were torn down and replaced with brick row houses, many of which remain today. The increase in density was quite dramatic--as many as 14 houses were built on a site where one house once stood!

NEGLEY RUN WAS

HERE finding silver lake

walking tour

FINDING SILVER LAKE WALKING TOUR

START: Westinghouse HS1101 N. Murtland Street

Westinghouse High School’s current building opened in 1924 to serve affluent families settling in the newly developed neighborhood of Homewood, and at its peak enrolled more than 1,500 students. Named for Pittsburgh inventor and engineer George Westinghouse, the school has produced a great number of famous and successful personalities, including Billy Strayhorn, Errol Garner, Maurice Stokes, Bill Nunn (Sr. and Jr.), Ahmad Jamal and Dakota Staton. Shifting economics and population patterns led to dramatic changes in the student body and today, the school is attended by about 500 students, 99% of which are African-American. Westinghouse (affectionately known as the ‘House) continues to be one of Pittsburgh Public Schools’ most impressive landmarks and facilities. The building was designed by the Pittsburgh firm Ingham & Boyd and, since 1986, has been on the National Register of Historic Places.

Silver Lake20 Silver Lake Drive

Silver Lake appears in some of the earliest maps of the area, filled by two streams that once drained much of Homewood and Lincoln-Larimer. The Lake covered about four acres, and functioned to regulate the wet-weather flows in Negley Run. It was a popular site for swimming, skating in the winter, and was also used as an “ice pond” where people would harvest blocks of ice to store in “ice houses” until it would be sold off in the summer. The entire area was owned since the 1850s by George Finley, who became known for his book about raising carp for food and tested his ideas at Silver Lake.

Before the construction of the Carnegie Library Music Hall in 1895, Silver Lake Grove was an important venue for Pittsburgh’s active music scene, and was the site of weekly concerts on summer evenings.

By the Great Depression, Silver Lake had degraded and was left to become an unsightly rubbish heap. Despite efforts to clean up the area, Lake was filled in the 1930’s and paved over, later becoming the site of the Silver Lake Drive-In. In 1968, the URA’s helped sponsor leasing the area for “Pittsburgh’s first industrial complex to be owned and managed by Negroes,” with the goal of job creation for residents of Homewood-Brushton.

Washington Boulevard+ The Brilliant ViaductLincoln Avenue Bridge, above Washington Blvd

Like many of western Pennsylvania’s stream valleys, Negley Run’s eastern branch served as an important infrastructure and transportation corridor. For two generations after the Civil War, the valley between Larimer and Lincoln Avenues was the site of the East End Gas Company, a company that provided infrastructure for street lights and founded by early industrial settlers of the region, including Judge Thomas Mellon.

In 1895, the road now known as Washington Boulevard was extended, connecting Fifth Avenue through the Gas Company and to River Avenue, on

HOMEWOOD

EAST LIBERTY

LARIMER

SHADYSIDE

TargetMellon Park

Approximate flow of

historic stream

Former site of Silver Lake

Living Waters of Larimer is a project ofThe Kingsley Association, Larimer Green Team, and

Larimer Consensus Group, supported by The Heinz Endowments

evolveEApowered by

NEGLEY RUN WAS HERE!

www.LivingWatersPgh.org

Contact John Stephen:412.606.7149 or jwsdi@yahoo.com

@LivingWatersPgh

The tour is approximately 1.5 miles total walking distance

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Pennsylvania Hospital

MUST HAVE PERMISSION TO PASSAlternative Route from Hermitage Street and Murtland Street1. Walk along Murtland Street and make a right onto Frankstown Avenue2. Turn left onto Washington Boulevard 3. Continue on Washington Boulevard until you arrive on Silver Lake Drive

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