Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/99

PITTSBURG. handsome office buildings for which Pittsburg is noted is the Flick Building, at Fifth Avenue and Grant Street. It is of granite, 20 stories high, and finished throughout in marble and mahogany. It is one of the most luxurious public office buildings in the world. The Farmers' Deposit National Bank Building, 24 stories high, is little inferior. Among other handsome edifices of the ‘skyscraper’ type are the Carnegie, Park, Tradesmen's, Peoples' Bank for Savings, Arrott, and Empire. The Bank of Pittsburg and the Pittsburg Stock Exchange have artistic homes. Among the notable ecclesiastical structures are the new Saint Paul's Cathedral in Bellefield, Trinity Church (Protestant Episcopal), First and Third Presbyterian churches. Church of the Ascension (Protestant Episcopal), East Liberty Presbyterian, Christ Methodist Episcopal, Saint Augustine's (Roman Catholic), Sixth United Presbyterian, and Calvary (Protestant Episcopal). The finest hotels are the Schenley, Lincoln, and Henry.

Pittsburg's system of parks originated in 1890, when Mrs Mary E. Schenley deeded to the city more than 400 acres of land in the heart of the residential district. This was named in her honor. Since that time the city has acquired several other tracts of land for park purposes, and the system now includes 1000 acres, all within the city limits. Additions to Schenley Park have increased its size to 440 acres. It contains the Phipps Conservatory and the Hall of Botany, both gifts from Henry Phipps; a music pavilion, several fine bridges, a bronze statue of E. M. Bigelow, the ‘Father of the Parks,’ a notable pair of panthers in bronze, and three shelter-houses. Highland Park, one of the most picturesque parks in the country, has an area of 441 acres. It contains city reservoirs Nos. 1 and 2, zoölogical gardens, the gift of the late C. L. Magee, two shelter-houses, and several statues. The principal entrances at Highland and Stanton avenues are graced by handsome sculptures. The other parks, all small, are: Herron Hill, Central, Friendship, Holliday, West End, Grandview, McKinley, and Second Avenue. Connecting Schenley and Highland parks with the downtown district are Grant and Beechwood boulevards, 10½ miles long, and forming, with the roadways in the parks, a continuous drive of more than 20 miles in length.

Chief among the public institutions of the city are the Carnegie Free Library and the Carnegie Institute, situated at the Forbes Street entrance to Schenley Park. They were presented to the city by Andrew Carnegie. The first tender was made in 1881, but it was not until 1886 that Councils accepted the offer. The building, for which Mr. Carnegie gave $1,100,000, was completed in 1895. It contains the Central Free Library and the Carnegie Institute, the latter comprising a museum, gallery of fine arts, and music hall. The library and institute are affiliated, but not identical, the former being maintained by the city, while the latter has an endowment of $2,000,000 from Mr. Carnegie. The city appropriates $131,000 annually for the maintenance of the central and branch libraries. The central library contains 104,500 volumes, and five branches, in various parts of the city, have an aggregate of 55,500 volumes. In the gallery of fine arts are a permanent collection of 50 paintings, many of which

were bought at the annual exhibitions given there, 19 plaster casts of famous sculptures, and 170 reproductions of antique bronzes. The museum has a large collection of wide scope. In the music hall is a fine pipe organ, and here are given every week two free recitals. The hall is also the home of the Pittsburg Orchestra, which gives a course of concerts each winter. The music hall is self-supporting. The library and institute are to be much enlarged. The city has just acquired the necessary ground, and Mr. Carnegie has placed $5,000,000 at the disposal of the trustees. The building will cover three and one-half acres.

The Pittsburg Exposition Society has its headquarters between Duquesne Way and the Allegheny River, at the Point. Here a general exposition is held each autumn, lasting for several weeks. The largest general hospital in the city is the West Penn, on Twenty-eighth Street, which has a department for the insane at Dixmont. Other large hospitals are the Mercy, Homeopathic, Saint Margaret's Memorial, Passavant, Charity, South Side, and Eye, Ear, and Throat. All these, save the last named and Saint Margaret's, receive State aid. Among the charitable institutions are the Church Home (Protestant Episcopal), Saint Joseph's Protectory for Boys (Roman Catholic), Home for Incurables, Florence Crittenton Home, Home for the Aged (Roman Catholic), Free Dispensary, House of the Merciful Saviour, Saint Paul's Orphan Asylum (Roman Catholic), now located at Idlewood; Old Ladies' Home (United Presbyterian), at Wilkinsburg; Odd Fellows' Home for Widows and Orphans, at Ben Avon. The principal cemeteries are Allegheny, Homewood, and Southside (Protestant), and Saint Mary's and Calvary (Roman Catholic). The smaller burying-grounds are numerous, perhaps the most interesting being that surrounding Trinity Church, Sixth Avenue, where many of the prominent pioneers of the community repose.

Pittsburg has a well-equipped educational system, which includes 86 ward and three high schools. In 1903 the number of teachers and principals was 1044, and the total enrollment of pupils 40,868. The expenditures for educational purposes were $1,658,716. The control of the ward schools is vested in district school boards, the districts usually being coextensive with the wards. The Central Board of Education, composed of one representative from each district board, has direct control of the high schools and regulates the preparatory courses of study. Each district makes its own tax levy. The bonded indebtedness of the various school districts in 1903 was $1,957,000. The Central Board annually appropriates money for kindergartens and summer schools, which are partly supported by civic societies. The private educational institutions of the city include the Pittsburg Academy, Pittsburg College of the Holy Ghost (Roman Catholic), Academy of Our Lady of Mercy (Roman Catholic), for girls, Bishop Bowman Institute (Protestant Episcopal), Pennsylvania College for Women, Shadyside Academy, Kindergarten College, departments of law, medicine, dental surgery, and pharmacy of the Western University of Pennsylvania, Institution for the Blind, and, in the suburb of Edgewood, the Institute