1897: Popular Bicycle Route No. 6 – Saxonburg, Freeport and Tarentum

During the first bike boom of the 1890s, the Pittsburg(h) Press produced a weekly Sunday series of popular bicycle routes around Pittsburgh. All are accompanied by a map, some images, and a description that provides a delightful snapshot into the pre-auto era Pittsburgh.

This route takes riders on some roads that are still, to this day, popular road cycling routes in Allegheny County. Freeport Rd, Saxonburg – any Pittsburgh roadie is intimately familiar with this route. Even the description of the weather hasn’t changed all that much:

“The great amount of bad weather there has been this spring has kept the country roads in poor condition longer than usual, but all the roads described in connection with this run can be ridden now except on rainy days.”

Leave it to Pittsburgh to be swept up in the world bicycle boom only to have the weather put a damper on it.

1979 Three Favorite Bike Trails, Pittsburgh Magazine

In 1979, people clearly didn’t know the difference between a bike trail and a bike route. Either way, this is a nice trip back in time to when Danny Chew, the million mile man and founder of the Dirty Dozen, was only 16 years old, and decided to quit riding his bike for the year when he hit 15,000 miles because he was afraid he’d “get bored.”

So many things in this article, in terms of Pittsburgh drivers, could have been written yesterday. Also, curious how different things could have gone if bicyclists in the 70s didn’t hate on bike infrastructure so much.

Thanks to the Pittsburgh History Pie twitter for digging up this map from a 1979 issue of Pittsburgh Magazine.

Map of a route through south west Pennsylvania from Fort Loudon, Franklin Co. to Fort Pitt, and the Ohio River to Fort Pitt Pittsburgh, 1763

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Another one from the Library of Congress.

I really love these map. It’s worth looking deeper into these.

If you want to view a higher res version of these maps to zoom in (recommended), check out the Library of Congress site and here.

The maps were originally published in the book: American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750 to 1789.

Sketch of the Monongahela, with the field of battle, 1755

Another map from the Library of Congress.

This is a wild one showing a battle during the French and Indian War, drawn by John Montrésor in 1755ish.  In this map the Ohio River is also applied to the Allegheny. The words “direction of” have been inserted in pencil between “By” and “an Indian.”

The map was originally published in the book: American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750 to 1789.

If you want to view a higher res version of this map to zoom in, check out the Library of Congress site.

Plan and perspective view of Pittsburgh, 1760?

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The Library of Congress site is a national treasure. They claim this map is from somewhere between 1760-1770.

If you want to check out a higher res version, go over to their site and zoom in.

Also, is that an island where it labels Birmingham Foundries?

This article claims that we used to have many more islands, and that some of them were dredged away, but others were simply filled in to become part of the mainland.

The map was originally published in the book: American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750 to 1789.

 

Where They Made the Metal: Dec. 5, 1990

A map created by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about all of the recently closed steel mills. This accompanied an article about the shuttering of a blast furnace on Neville Island.

1925, Inter-District Traffic Circuit banning vehicles from Downtown

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Via the Pittsburgh City Archives twitter account.

This was a proposed downtown traffic circuit from 1925.

The plan called for trolleys to be underground, bus and taxi stations around the perimeter of the circuit, and no vehicles inside the business district. (From a “Crosstown Thorofare” Preliminary Design Report, 1927).

Ironically, this is the direction that many cities, especially in Europe, are heading.

1897: Popular Bicycle Route No. 2 – De Haven and Bakerstown

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During the first bike boom of the 1890s, the Pittsburg(h) Press produced a weekly Sunday series of popular bicycle routes around Pittsburgh. All are accompanied by a map, some images, and a description that provides a delightful snapshot into the pre-auto era Pittsburgh.

According to this article, “the first country run that the new bicycle rider attempts is to Bakerstown, on the Butler plank…The Butler plank has been familiar to wheelmen ever since there was such a thing as wheelmen.”

This ride was apparently so popular that “there is not a bright day during the entire riding season that does not see anywhere from ten to two or three hundred wheelmen at the cozy hotel at Bakerstown for dinner.”

One of my favorite parts of this article, written on May 2, 1897, is this little phrase about the weather: “if the weather is fair enough, which seems doubtful at this writing.”

The struggle is real.

Also mentioned were several clubs such as the Lawrenceville Cyclers, the Allegheny Cyclers, and the Keystone Bicycle Club. The idea of the Lawrenceville Cyclers, in 1897, brings me much joy as one lazy way to make fun of the neighborhood today is to refer to the imaginary “bearded bicyclists in Lawrenceville.” Ironically, this is code for the newer residents from the older residents, but the even older residents formed bicycling clubs.

Since this one is pretty hard to read, I’ve left some of the local bicycle advertisements on the image for your pleasure.

This one includes the Duquesne Manufacturing Company with a bicycle factor on Third and Penn, and a retail location at 518 Wood St. Free riding lessons for all customers.

Pittsburgh 1889 – A Union Trust Company Map from 1939

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Here’s a beautiful full color hand drawn map of Pittsburgh in 1889, but created by the Union Trust Company in 1939.

Some notable things include a covered 9th St Bridge, a canal tunnel, and that Herron Hill was important enough to have a marker. Also, City Hall was on Smithfield St?

I find the orientation of the map interesting as well, as I’ve frequently heard that the Mon Wharf was considered the “front” or entrance to the City, as people often arrived via boat. When you think of it in this way, downtown’s grid makes more sense, with Penn and Liberty comprising the “back” of the City.

I really don’t have much more on this, but found it here.

1897: Popular Bicycle Route No. 12 – Pittsburg to Freeport and Indiana

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During the first bike boom of the 1890s, the Pittsburg(h) Press produced a weekly Sunday series of popular bicycle routes around Pittsburgh. All are accompanied by a map, some images, and a description that provides a delightful snapshot into the pre-auto era Pittsburgh.

Just a simple ride, published on July 18, 1897, out to Tarentum and Apollo to see the Kiski River. The article gives a description to avoid Sharpsburg, “about a mile and a half of the worst road in western Pennsylvania.”