Coal Fleets

For those who don't know, Pittsburgh was founded at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela River, forming the Ohio.  The area where they come together is known as either the golden triangle or the point.  From the original photo, it's impossible to tell whether this is an up or down river view.  The coal barges on the three rivers fed the steel mills and iron foundries that made Pittsburgh's air so bad that street lights were needed at mid-day.

This is another divided back card that was used,  It was sent to "Miss Elizabeth L'Hommedieu, Cuyahoga Falls, O."  The rather sad message, "All alone.  Busy all the time. Love to the kid. Geo. S."  And finally, the postmark, "PITTSBURGH, PA JUN 5 11 PM 1912."  There's also a separate mark, EAST LIBERTY STA."  When I lived in Pittsburgh, East Liberty was a downscale area, home to thrift stores and the Giant Eagle supermarket where I shopped for groceries.  I've heard that East Liberty has gentrified and the locals are now more likely to be tech types.

Allegheny City

I have to confess, I would have never bought this postcard if it hadn't been of Allegheny Park.  I grew up about fifty or so miles from Pittsburgh, lived there for a few years, and visited this park, and yes it's still there, hundreds of time.

Allegheny Park was opened in 1867, in Allegheny City, a community that was first laid out in 1788.  It was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907, and it was not voluntary.  One of the interesting things about this card is that it was mailed, and has a 1906 postmark, yet the park is identified as part of Pittsburgh, a year before the annexation became official.  Famous people born in Allegheny City; painter Mary Cassatt, dancer Martha Graham, poet Robinson Jeffers, Steeler founder Art Rooney, writer Gertrude Stein, and early film pioneer and director, Lois Weber.

The postmark is from Crafton, PA, "JUL 24, 10 AM, 1906,"  It was mailed to "Lillian Clark, Johnstown, Pa."  Think what the country was like when that was all that it took to deliver the mail.