If you have ever gotten off Pa 28 at the Blawnox Exit and gone thru town as soon as you get off you first encounter the remains of a very thick solid concrete wall as you enter town.
But what was it.?
Well until 1971 it served as the Allegheny County Work House and Anibereate Asylum basically a jail for low level offenders
Where inmates worked maintaining a farm and making brooms and brushes .
But the facility got old and worn down and it was decided to be closed due to rising costs to keep it open
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/US-PA-Allegheny/
I remember riding by with the family when it was still operating and even would later work at The bank center on Wood Street with the man who was the Stationary Engineer when prison was operating
he talked about the prisons one major downfall when Stanley Hoss got away and killed a Verona Police officer. which I wrote about in previous article.
They should have kept the jail going it would have helped when all the overcrowding started in 80s with the county jail downtown but as usual instead of trying to save something it gets torn down.
there is no respect for old structures and history in this area.
Now what what most people don't know is beside the prison once sat a Trolley Amusement Park
which only existed for a few years its still mostly and abandoned weed filled property and was known as valley park , national park and Harmarville Park
https://coastertalknobszone.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-former-valley-parknational.html
I have not been able to find much on the park or photos like many of the more than 50 Trolley Parks in the area at one time.
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