A house built in Spite of a restrictive Land Deed

As you ride by the corner of Penn Ave and  N. Homewood Ave. in Pittsburgh's trendy Point Breeze neighborhood  you will notice on one corner the magnificent former home of the black hearted  Henry Clay Frick who was a Coke and Steel Robber Baron but on the opposite corner sits a small non descriptive home built of sand stone siding.
 Out of place in a community of big imposing houses it has become known as "The Spite House  "
In other words it was built out of spite to ignore and refute those who where trying to keep the corner open and un built.
Thou one full house today this was not always the case.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19350521&id=fSUbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jksEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3849,6021968

As the city council at the time would not allow the home to be built the owner William A. Miller got around them by building 3 small basically boxes about the size of a small tourist cabin   which he lived in and could be seen running back and forth from for many years  until the entire structure was enclosed  with the current sand stone exterior some time in early 60's   The  home now appears to be empty and possibly up for sale. and is enclosed in overgrown Pine Trees.  Thousands ride by this home everyday and have no idea the battle or significance of the little non descriptive home .I would not have known either except for story's told by my parents who got to see the house when it was 3 separate buildings.

Now overgrown with trees it was once fully visible


 

A message from God ? Strange case of lightning striking a church causing damage but not causing a power surge or fire .

It was a warm summer Sunday morning when the congregants where attending services at Christian Community Church  in  a former Presbyterian church when a fierce thunder storm came up  and there was a tremendously loud noise.
The 4 point  steeple on the church was struck by lightning and one of the points  was destroyed.
 and is in the process of being removed.

Miraculously there was no fire or power surge despite the fact the lightning tore a hole thru the roof of the steeple which contained plenty of old wood inside.It appears the water pouring in during the storm prevented any thing from catching fire and there was no physical damage to the structure holding up the spire ,
 although there was significant water damage it was confined mostly to the floor areas directly below the steeple.
In a weird kind of irony a Catholic Church up the street was struck by lightning a week later and its vast pipe organ damaged.

While plenty of jokes all in fun  have gone around  that God was sending a message he was not happy a non denominational church moved into a former Presbyterian church .It appears the church has been hit before even thou its not the highest point in the block.
Needless to say the current non denominational church plans on installing lightning arrestors as they have found out this is not the first time the church has been hit and with the arrestors hopefully it will be the last.

Unsolved Arson fire of Waltmire Pharmacy in Spring Garden section of Pittsburgh leaves more questions than answers

It happened earlier this spring 2 men force open a door and then catch a local pharmacy on fire they did not take anything just burned it down.Was it revenge  was its a dispute  or some one just trying to cause a ruckus in the neighborhood ? or was it something else?  thats the questions waiting to be answered  and will not be until the suspects are caught . Local news station KDKA TV 2 have released video images of the men and Pa Crime stoppers  is offering a $1000.00 reward and is asking for help in identifying the  men involved.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/10/15/crime-stoppers-offering-reward-in-spring-garden-pharmacy-arson/

The pharmacy has operated for many years in Spring Garden Valley neighborhood of Pittsburgh's North Side  serving young and old a like  and did not deserve to have this done to them. Luckily with help from the community they are making a come back and hopefully with a tip the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

A Workers Body in the concrete used to build the Westinghouse Bridge ?

One of what appears to be one of the longest running myths involving the George Westinghouse Bridge which carry's US 30  The Lincoln Highway over the town of East Pittsburgh  and the Turtle Creek Valley is that there are workers embedded with in the concrete who fell in during the massive concrete pour .I drive over the bridge every few weeks and looked into the story and
well it is nothing more than an Urban Myth . The bridge was done in many large pours  but not all at one time and no worker fell into the concrete and was entombed. In fact if this did happen  it would threaten the integrity of the concrete.  All work would stop and the section of concrete removed and re-poured  according to structural engineers . Penn Dot dept of engineering has come out on numerous occasions over the bridges many celebratory years and refuted any one being stuck in the concrete .

http://www.city-data.com/forum/pittsburgh/614587-urban-legends-pittsburgh-2.html

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/hoover.asp

http://pgdigs.tumblr.com/post/99612496911/1932-the-george-westinghouse-bridge-pittsburghs

But the rumor persists. Same for the Hoover Dam , Brooklyn Bridge etc. Now yes workers did get severely hurt and there was at least one possible death of a worker falling off the structure but falling into and remaining in the concrete ? No it did not happen. How ever the bridge has been the end point of many desperate people lives when they jumped the 200+ feet from and took their lives at least 30 body's have ended up below the bridge since it was built in 1932. and the bridge has had many  deadly vehicle accidents on it especially in winter time and many desperate actions of those attempting suicide have closed the bridge and played out as well.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19480117&id=6lsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H00EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3503,396844

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19890405&id=FrBRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_W0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5299,709843

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19640819&id=PtgNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5720,2263673

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20031105&id=recyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g3ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6668,4071475

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19470324&id=eXYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6561,3073839