The Murdoch Entrances

In its early years, Schenley Park was a rustic tract of rolling hills and ravines still being tamed by the City. Some folks in Squirrel Hill had to take a roundabout route to enjoy its tranquility because of the rugged layout until the Murdoch’s came to the rescue.

The Murdoch family, who were downtown florists with a thriving regional business, lived and grew their flowers in Squirrel Hill nurseries and greenhouses. They owned 60 acres that stretched from the park border to Wightman Street running between Forbes and Forward. The area is still known as Murdoch Farms today.

According to George Fleming’s 1894 “History of Pittsburgh and Environs,” John Murdoch had begun the operation in 1845 in Peebles Township (the area was unspecified; perhaps it was Prospect Hill), and it grew enough that by 1859, he bought some Oakland property, the Schenley Park nursery. It was located at Forbes and St. Pierre Street - today’s Schenley Plaza - and we believe it was absorbed in part by William Falconer, the park’s first horticulturist, for his massive parks nursery. Shortly thereafter, the family added their blooming Squirrel Hill nursery.

Murdoch Entrance 1924 (Polk Co "Progress in Pittsburgh")

The Murdoch clan was noted as community-spirited people, and when the park opened, they donated some property for use as a park entrances. The original and more noted Murdoch Entrance to Schenley Park was by the golf course, just below Aylesboro, connecting Forbes and Darlington Road. It was 3,000' long and 100' wide, lined with locust trees. Now it’s the tail end of Schenley Drive as it goes past the Golf Course parking lot. The entrance lasted for quite awhile; it’s specifically identified on both 1911 and 1939 maps and probably dates to the genesis of the Park.

Hopkins map 1911 (entrance top right above #17)

In addition, the January 23, 1911 edition of the Pittsburgh Times Gazette made a big to-do about a newer Murdoch entrance, this one connecting Beacon Street to the Park. It seems that the Murdochs had also generously donated a right-of-way to connect Beacon to the Park at Bartlett Street along with the site of the their golf course entrance. At the time, it was nothing more than a footpath, and eventually that was blocked off by a fence.

It seems the City had sat on its hands for a couple of decades for financial reasons before deciding to unwrap the Murdoch’s gift, when City Council voted to grade and add curbs to the lane. “Residents of the Squirrel Hill district are elated…” that the City decided to loosen their purse strings and open up the Park to them was the paper's lede that fine day. A few years later in 1923, the Boulevard of the Allies and then Panther Hollow Road opened, making the Beacon Street connection a big deal.

So remember to give the Murdoch family its just due in making the park accessible to Squirrel Hill. Their contributions may not be recalled by name today, but they played a big role in connecting the Park to the folk in the 14th Ward with links that still remain.

(Caveat emptor: this was put together using maps, an newspaper article, one citation from an old history and the odd detail or two from other sources. So we pieced it together, and think we have it right. If you have something to add or dispute, please give us a yell.)

George Westinghouse Memorial & the Lily Pond

This was where we were headed last post before taking a little side trip to the WW1 groves. But we made sure we stopped at the headline act before we headed home. Now it's time for a little bit of history, past and present, regarding the George Westinghouse Memorial and the equally renown Lily Pond.

Architects Henry Hornbostel and Eric Fisher Wood designed the monument and landscaping, including pond improvements, newly planted trees, and even the location of black granite benches. They chose sculptor Daniel Chester French (he also did the Abraham Lincoln Memorial statue) to design the sculptures, including the bronze “The Spirit of American Youth,” with the panels created by Paul Fjelde, who used them to illustrate Westinghouse’s achievements.

Masaniello Piccirilli’s name is included as one of the sculpture's artists on the back of the Memorial, along with French and Fjelde. The Piccirilli Family, father and six sons, were renowned artists who often collaborated with French. Exactly what part of the Westinghouse Memorial work was performed by Piccirilli isn’t known; their work records were lost when they closed their shop.

The Memorial is dazzling at sunset (photo via Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy)

The Memorial was was largely financed by small donations from over 55,000 Westinghouse employees. Located near the entrance to the Hollow's Steve Faloon Trail, the Memorial was dedicated on October 6th, 1930. On that day, nearly 15,000 people crowded the memorial site, entertained by the speeches and bands. There was also a banquet at the William Penn Hotel the night before to fete the movers and shakers who came to honor Westinghouse.

The keynote speaker was James Frances Burke, general counsel of the Republican National Committee. After Burke's address, the unveiling took place to the accompaniment of the combined Westinghouse bands, followed by the Westinghouse and Union Switch & Signal Company choruses belting out the “Star Spangled Banner” and “America.” The Right Rev. Alexander Mann, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, gave the invocation, per Westinghouse Memorial.org. US Rep James Beck also spoke, and messages from nabobs like Calvin Coolidge and Andrew Mellon were read as part of the ceremony. The entire affair was broadcast by KDKA and Westinghouse radio stations, carried on the air in Chicago and Boston.

The Memorial in its early days (1937 photo, Pittsburgh City Photographers Collection)

At the monument's dedication, all the bronze figures and reliefs had been covered in gold leaf. After the festivities, Hornbostel said that finishing touch, "will be enhanced by the smoky atmosphere of the city, [and] will endure for thousands of years, as is shown by traces of gold still to be seen on the monuments of the Roman Caesars." He was a better architect than seer. The work of vandals forced the removal of the gold leaf in 1941 according to the blog Above Bellefield.

Westinghouse came to the rescue once again in 2010. “American Youth” was tarnished and sprayed with graffiti, and WE came through with a grant to get the bronze burnished and shiny again; they sparkle like new now, along with the American Flag Memorial stone at the edge of the Lily Pond.

Before there was a Westinghouse Memorial, the site was the Lily Pond, a feeder for the Phipps Run stream on its way to Panther Hollow Lake. The memorial was built at the site of a wooden overlook bridge and the pond, fed entirely by the Phipps Run arm, became a sort of reflecting (and reflective) pool.

Lily Pond Postcard from 1909; the image is a colorized 1903 photograph.

The Lily Pond’s history dates back to 1896 as a feature designed by Schenley Park’s first horticulturist, William Falconer. By 1897 the lily pond was in full bloom and described as a gorgeous water garden full of white, pink and yellow waterlilies, while just above it a large garden of flowering shrubs and perennials was planted, per art historian Barry Hannegan of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

But frequent storms deteriorated the pond, so the stream was eventually piped beneath the pond (you can find the headwaters a few yards away in the ravine) and City water was used to fill the basin. Somewhere along the line, a fountain was installed to aerate the pond and prevent algae growth, flipping the pond from an entirely natural to artificial water feature.

The pond was drained in 2009 due to multiple malfunctions (both the piping system and the foundation sprung leaks) that required big-time repair, and the monument and its grounds were left desperately in need of restoration. The Parks Conservancy is working hand-in-hand with the City on a plan to restore the pond, landscaping, lighting, etc. The sculptures have been treated, but the fountain, pond and grove are still in need of some serious rehab.

The Lily Pond minus the lilies and pond (photo: Melissa McMasters/Pgh Parks Conservancy)

We've talked briefly with the Parks Conservancy about its condition, and they told us after they shake the money tree hard enough (and they hoped that would be soon) that they are looking at a two-prong water solution: they will continue the City feed to the pond because of the hit-and-miss flow of the natural stream (the original plan called for the stream to return to the Pond), but still want to daylight (return above ground) parts of the creek.

So that's were it all sits today. The monuments are still stunning, but the pond is waiting for a stream to call its own.