o.b5z.neto.b5z.net/i/u/10124182/f/African_America_Heritage_Tour... · Web viewis a neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s south city area. It is known for its steep hill overlooking the Pittsburgh

AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE TOUR

(Begin boarding the bus at the Conference door entrance at 9:15; exit hotel parking lot at 9:30; continue past hotel and make a left onto Anderson Drive; continue to the bottom of the hill; make a left onto Mansfield Avenue; continue through light at Poplar Street to Green Tree Road; make left onto Green Tree Road; then continue down Green Tree Road; make right at the bottom of the hill onto Woodville Avenue; continue on Woodville; then make left across the little bridge onto Minnotte Street. Make a right on Wabash Street (do not go up the hill) turn right onto 51 and follow 51 to turn around on right; cross over Rt. 51 at the light onto Woodruff Street and continue up the hill in the left lane).

(Point to left hillside going up Woodruff St. and state the following):

No. 1 – Bigham House, 655 Penridge St., Mt. Washington

Beyond this hillside is the Bigham House which was built in 1849. It was the former home of abolitionist, Thomas James Bigham, and was purportedly used as a station on the Underground Railroad.

(At the top of the hill, make a left onto Merrimac Street. Continue across Virginia Avenue and up the hill; make a right on Grandview Avenue).

STOP NO. 1 - Mt. Washington is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s south city area. It is known for its steep hill overlooking the Pittsburgh skyline, which was rated the second most beautiful vista in America.

DEBARK – (near overlook; check out view) RE-BOARD THE BUS(The bus will continue down Grandview Avenue; then make right onto Shiloh Street; continue down Shiloh Street; then make right onto Virginia Avenue. Continue down Virginia Avenue past Co-Go’s; then make right onto Merrimac Street; Continue thru light on Grandview Avenue down McArdle Roadway. Make left at the bottom of the hill onto the Liberty Bridge; stay in right lane; then make right onto the Boulevard of the Allies).

(Point out Duquesne University on left; mention that Dr. John Ball’s Hospital was reputedly a stop on the Underground Railroad on the campus. Continue down the Boulevard of the Allies; take the Oakland exit onto Forbes Avenue; continue thru Oakland; point out the University of Pittsburgh campus; make left onto Bigelow Blvd.; cross Fifth Avenue and turn into parking area alongside Soldiers & Sailors on Bigelow).

STOP NO. 2 – Sailors and Soldiers Memorial Hall and Museum

Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum is the nation’s only military museum dedicated to honoring the men and women of all branches of service, and in all capacities (Active, Reserve, Guard). The historic building was designed by renowned architect Henry Hornbostel and has exhibits covering all of America’s conflicts. The museum offers a unique look into American history by telling the stories of the individuals that served our country through military equipment and personal mementos.

DEBARK (bus should be facing Fifth Avenue)RE-BOARD THE BUS(Continue down Bigelow Blvd. toward the University of Pittsburgh; make left onto Forbes Avenue; continue down Forbes toward the Carnegie Museum; then make right at Craig Street into Museum; drive to the entrance of the museum).

STOP NO. 3 – Carnegie Museum of Natural History

DEBARK – Museum entranceRACE: Are we so different is a groundbreaking exploration of the experience of living with race in America. The exhibition weaves together personal stories of living with race along with expert discussions of the history of race as a concept, the role that science has played in that history, and emerging research that challenges the foundations of what we perceive as race. It is the first nationally traveling exhibit to tell the story of race from biological, cultural, and historic points of view.

(Guests will be eat lunch in the museum cafeteria from 11:00 – 11:45).RE-BOARD THE BUS – Museum entrance (Exit museum parking lot and make left onto Forbes Avenue; then make right onto Bellefield Avenue and continue up to Fifth Avenue; make left onto Fifth Avenue; continue down Fifth Avenue).

No. 5 – Fifth Avenue High School, 1800 Fifth Avenue

Fifth Avenue High School, the second public high school in Pittsburgh, built in 1894, closed in 1976, served the lower Hill District. It was the first fireproof school in Pennsylvania and was the home of the Alpha Chapter of the National Honor Society. Beginning in 2009, it was converted to loft apartments. Among the notable African Americans to teach at Fifth Avenue was Dr. Helen Faison, the first female high school principal and the first African American high school principal in Pittsburgh.

(Continue down Fifth Avenue; turn right onto Washington Place (Consol Energy Center is on the right); continue up the hill and turn right at light onto Center Avenue headed towards the Hill District).

No. 6 – Consol Energy Center, 1001 Fifth Avenue

Consol Energy Center is the new home of the Pittsburgh Penquins, the local hockey team and hundreds of other events every year, including concerts, sporting events, family shows and the new Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League. To your left, is where their former home, the Civic Arena was located.

(Stay in far left lane and continue up Center Avenue).

No. 7 – Freedom Corner Memorial, the corner of Crawford & Center Avenues

Freedom Corner Memorial began as a protest site directly across from the St. Benedict the Moor Church the protest was spurred when in the 1950s the Downtown development encroached on the lower hill district, which is a traditional enclave; protestors posted signs at this corner which said, “No redevelopment beyond this point.”

(Point out St. Benedict the Moor Church on the left)

No. 8 – St. Benedict the Moor Church, 89 Crawford Street

St. Benedict the Moor Church first served primarily Irish and German parishioners. In 1889 the first National Congress of Black Catholics convened in Washington, D. C. to cry out for greater recognition and to demand an end to racism. Father Patrick McDermott of the Holy Ghost Order was inspired by this movement and thus encouraged his superiors to establish a black mission in Pittsburgh. Holy Ghost College, presently known as Duquesne University, responded by establishing Saint Benedict the Moor parish on July 28, 1889. It is a diverse, multinational and inter-cultural church where all are welcome.

(Continue on Center Avenue).

No. 9 – The Irene Kaufman House/Hill House, 1825 Center Avenue

The Irene Kaufmann House known as the Irene Kaufmann Settlement became the center of neighborhood life in the Hill District in 1911 and was one of the country’s largest and most successful settlement houses. Immigrant services, extensive healthcare programs, Americanization and enrichment classes, art, music, and sports were some of the many activities offered at the settlement house. By the end of World War II, Jews left the Hill and moved to Squirrel and the East End. The building was renamed the Hill House.

(Point out the new Shop N’ Save across from the Hill House). This is long-awaited full-scale grocery store in the Hill.

(Continue on Center Avenue past the No. 2 Police Station on the right).

No. 10 – The New Granada Theatre, 2007 Center Avenue

The New Granada Theatre was built in 1927 and 1928 and designed by an African American architect named Louis A. S. Belinger. The building originally was a Pythian Temple, a meeting place for the Knights of Pythias. In 1930, the building was turned into a movie theater as well as a place for live entertainment, music, and dancing. Jazz legends such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Cab Calloway performed at this location. Bellinger was the first black man to work as a city building inspector.

(Continue on Center Avenue).

No. 11 – The Thelma Lovette Y, 2114 Center Avenue

The Thelma Lovette Y is a new attraction on the Hill named for local civil rights leader and activist, Thelma Lovette Y. The original YMCA was part of the Hill for more than 100 years formerly at 2621 Center Avenue offering housing as well as health and food programs, youth development and career and workforce development.

*Freedom House Ambulance – 2015-17 Center Avenue

In the 1960s, calls for emergency medical services often went unanswered in the low-income and predominately African American Hill District of Pittsburgh. So in 1967, Freedom House began to train underemployed and unemployed men and women in the neighborhood as emergency medical technicians. Starting in Presbyterian and Mercy hospitals, in 1968, they became the first paramedics in the United States. They were reportedly the first paramedic service in the nation equipped with resuscitation equipment in a van-type vehicle, rather than a limousine-type ambulance.

*2044-2055 Center Avenue Doctor Franklin’s office – 2044-2055

Dr. William E. Franklin was one of the first black pharmacists in the region. He had an office in the Ellis Hotel.

(Continue on Center Avenue).

*Johnson’s Photography Studio/Treble Clef Choir Rehearsal Hall, 2115 Center

Johnson’s Photography was one of three black-owned photo studios in the Hill a black women’s choral group started in 1959 which performed in the Carnegie Institute Lecture Hall

*Lee’s Florist, 2117 Center Avenue

Lee’s Florist was the first black florist on the Hill. The store became an integral part of black business life in the Hill from the 1920s to the 1950s.

(Point of the Terrace Hotel on the left and mention that entertainers were not allowed to stay downtown and would often be put up in hotels like the Terrace and the Ellmore Hotel on Webster Avenue, one of a number of hotels owned by blacks which housed blacks who were not permitted to stay downtown during the 1920s through the 1950s).

*Teenie Harris Photography Studio, 2128 Center Avenue

This was one of three photography studios located along the bustling business district of Center avenue during the 1960s. Teenie Harris was the most popular black photographer of black life in the Hill, taking thousands of pictures for the Pittsburgh Courier. He played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords baseball team when they started and was an excellent basketball player as well.

(Continue on Center Avenue).

No. 12 - K. Leroy Irvis Marker, 2170 Center Avenue

K. Leroy Irvis was the first African American to serve as Speaker of the House in any state legislature in the United States and since Reconstruction. Mr. Irvis, a Democrat, represented Pittsburgh in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1958-1988. He was also the first African American assistant district attorney of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. In 1947, he led the a demonstration against Jim Crow employment discrimination by Pittsburgh department stores, the first demonstration of its kind in American history.

No. 13 – Pryor Furs, 2435 Center Avenue

The building on the left that currently houses Pryor Furs was constructed between 1920 and 1930; in 1930 it became the Ella-Reen Beauty School, the first black beauty school in Pittsburgh. In 1957, Pryor Furs moved in and has been there ever since.

(Bear left and continue on Center Avenue).

*2312 Center Avenue Savoy Ballroom (now the Olivet Baptist Church) served multiple purposes as a roller-skating rink, a theater and ballroom where Duke Ellington played. It later moved to the second floor of the New Granada Theater. This was an important site for blacks’ leisure and social life when Downtown and Oakland were typically off-limits to blacks.

No. 14 – Robert L. Vann marker, 2621 Center Avenue

Robert L. Vann, a lawyer, was the editor and publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper, one of the most influential newspapers in the country, from 1912 until his death in 1940. He served as Special Assistant to U. S. Attorney General Homer Cummings from 1933 to 1935.

No. 15 – Frank E. Bolden marker, 2621 Center Avenue

Frank E. Bolden was one of the first two African Americans accredited correspondents during World War II. As a member of both The Negro Press and the National Negro Publishers Association, Bolden wrote stories that received national circulation in the Courier, the Norfolk Journal and Guide, and other African American and some mainstream newspapers.

No. 16 – Center Avenue YMCA, 2621 Center Avenue

Center Avenue YMCA built in 1922 opened on September 24, 1923, this was a very popular gathering place, especially from the 1920s through the 1950s. Black and white students came here to see nationally famous black speakers and entertainers perform and lecture. Black college students who were restricted from living in Oakland or any part of downtown Pittsburgh, would eat, sleep, and study at the YMCA. James Dorsey, Sr., a prominent figure in the Hill’s black community, became the YMCA’s first educator.

(Continue down Center Avenue to light; make left onto Herron Avenue and point out John Wesley A. M. E. Church on right).

(Point out 2628, the former Home of the Pittsburgh Courier).

No. 17 – John Wesley A. M. E. Church – 594 Herron Avenue

John Wesley A. M. E. Church was founded in 1836 following a series of prayer meetings and preaching services. It was one of the first black congregations organized in 1836. It was one of the first sites in the Hill that united and strengthened the black community.

(Point out that the street that we are now on, had a movie named after it, called Wylie Avenue Days).

No. 18 – Jones Funeral Home, 2903 Wylie Avenue

Samuel L. Jones was the founder of this funeral home. The current owners are descendants of Cumberland Posey who owned the Homestead Grays Negro League Baseball team.

No. 19 – Monumental Baptist Church, 2240 Wylie Avenue and Central Baptist Church, corner of Wylie and Center Avenues

Monumental Baptist Church Central Baptist Church was organized in 1891 by members who broke ranks with Ebenezer Baptist Church. Constructed in 1945, this church became a center for spiritual and moral leadership in the Hill. It is now home to one of the largest Baptist congregations in Pittsburgh. Both churches provide spiritual and moral leadership to the African American community.

No. 20 – West Funeral Home, 2215 Wylie Avenue

West Funeral Home was one of the first black funeral homes in the Hill, started by Thomas L. West in 1932, along with Poole, Payne, and Davis all of which closed in the 1950s and 1960s. West is now the oldest remaining. Its first location was at Soho and Center, then at 2215 Center, before the current location on Wylie Avenue. Mr. West made an agreement with Greenwood Cemetery in O’Hara Township to bury the first African American in that cemetery which led to the opening for all other black-owned funeral homes to follow suit. Greenwood may arguably have the largest and oldest African American burial site in Pittsburgh.

(Point out that Poole Funeral Home was located at 2161 Wylie Avenue).

No. 21 – The Crawford Grill No. 2, 2141 Wylie Avenue

The Crawford Grill was a renowned jazz club in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. It served as the epicenter of jazz music from 1930s to through the 1950s. The original Crawford Grill on Wylie Avenue in the Hill District was nearly a full city block in length. The Crawford Girl was part of the social, cultural and political landscape of Pittsburgh. All politicians, black and white, would stop in at the Crawford Grill to have meetings and make themselves known. Not only people from Pittsburgh visited; so did Ethel Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Whenever celebrities came to town, they stopped at the Crawford Grill. Nearly every great jazz musician since the 1940s has played or visited here.

No. 22 – Ebenezer Baptist Church, 2001 Wylie Avenue

Ebenezer Baptist Church was organized in August 1875. Ebenezer Baptist was the first black Baptist congregation in Western Pennsylvania to own a church building.

No. 23 – The First Muslim Mosque, 1911 Wylie Avenue

First Muslim Mosque of Pittsburgh, built in 1899, was a former Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. This is where the playwright August Wilson received his first library card at the age of 5.

(Point out the housing-redevelopment that has taken place. 1301 Wylie and Fullerton Streets was the home of Jennings and Brown Pharmacy, later Good Pharmacy. Mr. Jennings and Mr. Brown owned the second black-run drug store in Pennsylvania, started in 1907, at 1010 Wylie Avenue.

505 Wylie Avenue site of the first Urban league headquarters in Pittsburgh started in 1918 by John Clark mainly out of the need to address problems created by the massive influx of black migrants during the Great Migration).

(Turn right at the bottom of Wylie onto Crawford Street and check marker on right).

No. 24 – Local 471 American Federation of Musicians marker, Crawford Street between Wylie and Webster Avenues

Local 471 American Federation of Musicians organized in 1908, this local was one of the first African American musicians unions in Pennsylvania from 1940-1954. It merged with the white union local in 1960.

(Make right on onto Webster Avenue. Continue up Webster).

*2854 Webster Avenue Fire House, Webster Avenue Station neighborhood firehouse which employed many black firefighters.

*2524 Webster Avenue Watt Street Middle School now Robert L. Vann school; one of the first public schools for blacks and whites in the hill.

No. 25 – Daisy Lampkin Marker – 2519 Webster Avenue

Daisy Lampkin was one of the best known leaders of the NAACP, a tireless worker for women’s suffrage. During World War II, she raised over two million Liberty Bonds to help finance the war. A former vice-president of the Pittsburgh Courier, she was the first staff member elected to the national board of the NAACP and the first African American woman to be honored with a Pennsylvania historical marker.

(Continue up the street to Bethel A. M. E. Church).

No. 26 – Bethel A. M. E. Church, 2720 Webster Avenue

Bethel A. M. E. Church was originally located in Downtown Pittsburgh. It is the oldest church of color west of the Alleghenies and the oldest African American congregation in the City of Pittsburgh. Organized in a home on

Front Street in 1808 was first named “African Church” and chartered in 1818. Under the leadership of Lewis Woodson, a minister, as well as an Underground Railroad activities, started a school for Negro children in 1831 downtown between 3rd and 4th avenues. The church moved to Wylie and Elm Streets in the Hill District after the second church was burned in a fire in 1845. In 1906, a new structure was built but was torn down to make way for the Civic Arena. The current church was built in 1959.

(Continue up the street point out St. Benedict the Moor School’s former building).

(Continue to bottom of hill; swing out and make left onto Bedford Avenue).

No. 27 – Greenlee Field, Bedford Avenue between Chauncey and Duff Streets

Greenlee Field was first African American built and owned stadium in the Negro league, the home of Gus Greenlee’s Pittsburgh Crawfords baseball team, 1935 Negro champs with players Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige. The Pittsburgh Steelers used the field for in-season practices during the 1930s. The park was torn down in 1938 and was later purchased by the City of Pittsburgh and turned into a housing project.

No. 28 – Bedford Dwellings, 2305 Bedford Avenue

Bedford Dwellings, built in 1940, was among the first public housing projects in the nation, built at a cost of $2,500,000, and could accommodate 1,700 people. Prior to Bedford Dwellings’ construction, Greenlee Field occupied the land from 1932 to 1938 and served as a major playing field for the Negro League baseball sandlot teams. Prior to that, it was the site of Lincoln Memorial Cemetery (c 1830s). Lincoln Cemetery was one of the largest and most popular burial sites in the county, and included graves of both blacks and whites.

(Continue down Bedford Avenue).

No. 29 – Macedonia Baptist Church, 2225 Bedford Avenue

Macedonia Baptist Church was founded on Schaffer Street in 1903. Over the years the church has taken pride in the fact that the entire building was designed by the first black woman architect in Pennsylvania. Moreover the church is proud that the building was completely financed and constructed by black people. All of this was done during a time in which black churches were almost dependent upon whites for architectural work and financing.

No. 30 – Josh Gibson Marker, 2217 Bedford Avenue

Josh Gibson was the greatest hitter who ever lived. He was dubbed the “Black Babe Ruth.” Hailed as the Negro League’s “greatest slugger,” Gibson hit some 800 home runs that began her at Ammon Field in 1929. He played for the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1930 to 1946 and was elected the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1872.

No. 31 – Ammon Recreational Center, 2217 Bedford Avenue

The Ammon Recreational Center, built in 1940, was one of the few centers in Pittsburgh built for blacks in the Hill District. Also used by whites, it is one of the oldest existing recreational centers for blacks in Pittsburgh and had one of the first public outdoor pools for blacks.

No. 32 – Miller African Centered Academy, 2055 Bedford Avenue

Miller African Centered Academy, was initially in the basement of Bethel A. M. E. Church and was the first school to admit African Americans. Miller was the first school for black students built from public funds.

No. 33 – August Wilson marker, 1727 Bedford Avenue

August Wilson was an American playwright whose work included ten plays. The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Each is set in a different decade, depicting the comic and tragic aspects of the African-American experience in the twentieth century. He co-founded the Black Horizon Theatre in the Hill District along with his friend, Rob Penny.

No. 34 – Connelley Skill Center/Old Central High School, 1501 Bedford

Constructed in 1920, with an addition in 1939, it opened in 1931 as a boys’ high school and vocational school for blacks. This school was one of the few of its kinds for blacks in Allegheny County during the 1930s and 1940s. Dr. John Glasgow Turfley, Allegheny County’s first black doctor, was among the first blacks to graduate from Old Central High School, the first public high school in Pittsburgh.

No. 35 – Boys Scouts of America building, 1275 Bedford Avenue

The Boys Scout Center was the former home of Washington Park, which was the first fully equipped playground and athletic field in the city.

(Continue down the hill in the left lane; take 7th street/Ft. Pitt exit; bear far left and make left onto Grant Street).

(Point out former U. S. Steel building on left, formerly the tallest building in Pittsburgh now UPMC).

(Stay in right lane down Grant Street. Before making right turn onto 3rd avenue point out the Courthouse/former jail/city county building. Continue down third and point out where John Vashon had his bath house and barber shop and in Market Square where John Peck had his Oyster House on 3rd and Marker; the Monongahela House on Water and Smithfield Streets. Turn left onto Smithfield Street; then turn right onto the Boulevard

of the Allies. Continue down the Boulevard of the Allies to Market; turn right onto Market. Point out Martin Delany marker).

No. 36 – Martin Delany Marker, 3rd Avenue and Market Street

A promoter of African American nationalism, Mr. Delany published a newspaper for blacks, The Mystery, at an office near here. He attended Harvard Medical School, practiced medicine in Pittsburgh, and was commissioned as a major in the Civil War, the first African American to become an officer in the Civil War. He was an abolitionist and participant in the Underground Railroad.

(Make right at light onto Stanwix street; Continue on Stanwix past Forbes; stay in right lane and make right onto Liberty Avenue; stay in left lane and continue down Liberty Avenue. Point out Heinz Hall on left).

No. 37 – August Wilson Center, 980 Liberty Avenue

The August Wilson Center is one of only two major arts institutions named for Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright and Pittsburgh native August Wilson, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture engages regional and national audiences in its mission of preserving, presenting, interpreting, celebrating and shaping the art, culture and history of African Americans utilizing the rich history, legacy and culture of African Americans from Western Pennsylvania as a foundation.

(Point out Convention Center on far left and the Westin Hotel; point out the FBI building on the right).

(Make left onto Liberty Avenue; stay in far left lane; turn left onto 11th street in front of the Greyhound Bus Terminal; cross Penn Avenue and continue on 11th street to Smallman; make a right onto Smallman street; continue on Smallman to Heinz History Center; park alongside the building;

STOP NO. 4 – The Senator John H. Heinz History Center, Smallman Sttreet

DEBARK - REBOARD(Re-board the bus; continue down Smallman street; turn right onto 21st street onto Penn Avenue to 16th street; turn right onto 16th street across the bridge to the North Side; continue down Chestnut street; make left onto E. Ohio Street; point out Avery and Nash streets on left where A. M. E. Zion church was formerly located. Continue down E. Ohio Street make right at Cedar Avenue; point to the right where marker for Avery College is located. Make left onto North Avenue. Continue on North and make left onto Federal Street. Go around circle point out Allegheny School).

No. 38 – Avery College, 619 E. Ohio Street

In 1849, Charles Avery, a Pittsburgh abolitionist, established the Avery

Allegheny Institute and Mission Church north of Pittsburgh, with the aim of offering elementary and advanced education to qualified African-American students without regard to sex. Both the racial and the coeducational features of the program were controversial, and the school's connection to Pittsburgh's A.M.E. Zion Church assured a strong religious influence in the officially nonsectarian institute. (Religious affiliation was not to be a consideration in admission decisions, but instructors were expected to be professing Christians.)

A three-story brick structure was erected according to Avery’s specifications, with the top floor reserved for Christian education. Legend has it the basement was used as a station on the Underground Railroad. The same year Charles Avery died (1858) the Allegheny Institute became Avery College, with the intention of offering a liberal arts education “in the various branches of science, literature, and ancient and modern languages.”

Avery College operated for barely two decades providing educational opportunities for free persons of color.

No. 39 – Allegheny School, 810 Arch Street

Allegheny High School/Public School for Colored Children was the only high school on the North Side during the 1930s, 40s and 50s This site also marks the former site of the Public School for Colored Children organized in the basement of a Baptist church on Robinson Street in 1837.

(Point out Children’s Museum on left. Make right onto North Commons; point out Aviary; make right at Ridge and then a right onto Western Avenue. Continue down Western to West End Bridge. Cross the West End Bridge (stay in right lane) and continue around circle onto Steuben Street. Point out Jerusalem Baptist Church on left).

No. 40 – Jerusalem Baptist Church, 123 Steuben Street

Organized in 1901, this institution united blacks in the West End and provided social and spiritual leadership. In 1945, the congregation was moved to its current location at 129 Steuben Street by its former pastor, A. B. Barnes.

Continue down Steuben Street; then make left to Wabash Street continue around corner and up Green Tree Road; make right at Mansfield Avenue; crossover Poplar Street continue down the hill and up the hill on Mansfield Avenue toward the DoubleTree Hotel.

(That concludes the African American Heritage Tour of Pittsburgh)

(GUESTS DEBARK AT HOTEL ENTRANCE).