Category: History || By

John Barna says he did it. Deane Mellander says he did it. It might even have been Derrick Brashear.

But one of them turned me onto the Penn Pilot website maintained by Penn State University, and I may never forgive them.

Penn Pilot (www.pennpilot.psu.edu) is an archive of old aerial photos taken for the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, and the database is being maintained through support of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Right now, all of the aerial photos taken for the 1937 and 1967 surveys are available online; the 1946 and 1956 surveys haven't been digitized yet.

Obviously, these photos were originally taken to aid cartographers (guys who draw maps n'at), and putting them online now should aid urban planners, geologists, environmentalists and others who want to track changes to the landscape over the last century.

On the other hand, for amateur historians like me, they're more fun than feathers in my underpants.

That top photo shows Our Fair City and Port Vue as they looked on Oct. 2, 1938 --- almost 70 years ago.

If we zoom in, we can see things like the old Third Avenue Suspension Bridge (built in 1884 and demolished circa 1960), the First Ward (an ethnic neighborhood comprised mainly of Eastern European immigrants), and Cycler Park, home of the McKeesport Tubers minor-league baseball team, a one-time farm club for the Boston Red Sox.

Also visible is the brand-new Jerome Avenue Bridge.

Keep your eye on that building in the red circle.

Here's roughly the same view, in a photo from May 26, 1967. The First Ward had been demolished about seven years earlier to make way for an expansion of U.S. Steel's National Works. A new electric-resistance weld pipe mill was constructed (it's still open today as Camp-Hill Corp.) and the shipping yards were relocated.

By 1967, the Municipal Authority of McKeesport's sewage treatment plant had taken the place of Cycler Park. Until the Pirates moved to PNC Park, it was the only recorded instance of a baseball stadium being filled with sewage. (Rimshot.)

The building in the red circle is still visible --- it was a Duquesne Light Co. substation that was spared from demolition when other buildings in the First Ward were torn down.

At the bottom of the photo, just underneath the Jerome Avenue Bridge, you see a barge anchored. That's the old Surfside 4 floating nightclub.

My memory is pretty shaky, but I think the Surfside burned in the early '70s. The wreckage remained at the foot of Fifth Avenue for years.

Here's a present-day image, taken from Google Maps' database of satellite photos.

Ta-da! The building is the red circle is still there, and it's still owned by Duquesne Light Co. Along with a small brick house that's adjacent to the ERW, it's the last remaining vestige of First Ward, and it's currently assessed by Allegheny County at $116,100.

Technically, I think Third Avenue is still a public street, and you can access it by going under the Jerome Avenue Bridge. Practically speaking, that's all private property back there, and you're probably better off keeping out of there.

Besides, as you can see from the picture, it's no architectural prize.

Also clearly visible is the McKees Point Marina, which is a darn sight better than the burned-out remnants of Surfside 4.

Here's a pastoral farming community pictured in the 1937 aerial survey. Look at the lovely, rolling meadows down in the lower right, and the small orchards.

Perhaps this is North Huntingdon or Union Township.

Bzzt! Wrong. That building in the yellow circle is a clue.

I overlaid a street grid from Google Maps to help you South Allegheny graduates recognize this neighborhood.

It's Liberty Borough before the post-war building boom that turned a bucolic community into a suburban housing development.

That's why Liberty Borough has an "Orchard Drive." It used to have real orchards.

The building in the yellow circle is the old Liberty Borough School, which later became Wilson Christian Academy and is now Liberty Manor, a personal-care home.

Take a look at the current view on Google Maps if you want to make a comparison.

I hope you get as big of a kick out of Penn Pilot as I do. But if your productivity suddenly plummets, don't blame me. Blame one of those guys that tipped me in the first place. Talk about feeding my addiction!