USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Fifteen years of civic history. Civic club of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. October, 1895-December, 1910 > Part 4
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In August, 1909, the building and its equipment was complete (with the exception of the plunge-which is still unfinished) and opened to the public.
It is a beautiful cream-colored brick and terra cotta building, fronting three stories on Fifth Avenue, five stories in the rear, and with an added entrance from Forbes Street. The first floor contains 40 showers and 4 tubs, men's and women's waiting rooms and toilet rooms; the second floor comprising a living apartment for the Superintendent, a Director's room, and a large assembly hall which is used for neighborhood entertain-
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ments. On the third floor are two apartments which may be used either as living rooms by the attendants or for settlement classes, adult reading rooms, and the like ; in the basement are two needle baths, twelve showers, two tubs for children, a public laundry for use by the women of the neighborhood who have no facilities for washing and drying their clothes at home, a private laun- dry for the use of the institution, and the boiler room ; the sub-basement contains the unfinished swimming pool, dressing rooms and lockers, constituting as a whole, one of the most complete bath houses in the country. The committee takes a most justifiable pride in the fact that it has been built and equipped at a cost much below that of similar houses in other cities. The plant comprises a large lot and two buildings; the new bath house and the frame settlement house-the cost and equipment of which, including the completion of the pool and consid- erable building of outside retaining walls, steps, fences, etc., yet to be done, will approximate $120,000. By way of comparison, it may be stated that New York in 1909 had seven municipal public baths, ranging in cost from $91,500 to $250,000, exclusive of the grounds, the aver- age cost of maintenance being given as $30,000 a year for each one.
Mr. Gibson D. Packer, the Chairman of the Build- ing Committee, to whom a special vote of appreciation is due for his generous contributions to the enterprise in the way of ability, time and money, submits the follow- ing report as to cost to date:
"The total cost of land, building and equipment was $113,856.80, distributed as follows :
Cost of land, $20,371.63
building, 84,055.90
equipment, 4,010.30
improvement Forbes Street entrance 533.60
Architect's commissions, .. 4,185.37
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Cost to secure release from tenants occupying second story pur- chased in ground rent, 700.00
Total, $113,856.80 Of the amount expended, the city contributed $65,- 000, a part of its appropriation ($5,000, made in February, 1910) having been used for maintenance. The balance was raised through the personal efforts of the Bath Board, by means of entertainments and contribu- tions from generous friends-in sums varying from $5.00 up to $10,000. Among the largest contributors of $500 and upwards were Andrew Carnegie, Jones and Laughlin, the National Tube Company, Mrs. C. L. Magee, H. C. Frick, Gibson D. Packer, Howard H. Mc- Clintic and wife, John B. Jackson, Mrs. William Thaw, Robert C. Hall and Norwood Johnston.
The finances of the enterprise were most capably handled by Mrs. Gilliford B. Sweeny, the Treasurer of the Bath Board, and so carefully husbanded that $2,288.56 was added thereto by way of interest on de- posits.
Of the present Board, the following have been ac- tive members since its organization : Mr. J. Boyd Duff (who was elected as Chairman in November, 1905), Mr. Gibson D. Packer, Chairman of Building Committee, Mr. Robert C. Hall, and Mrs. Gilliford B. Sweeny, Treasurer, Mrs. Franklin P. Iams, Secretary, Mrs. Alfred Long- more, Chairman of House Committee. Mrs. Samuel L. Seymour, Mrs. Enoch Rauh and Mrs. George B. Motheral, Mrs. William H. Carothers and Mrs. S. L. Fleishman also having been elected to the Board within a very short time after its organization, all of these, as well as several who have had to resign, and those who have come in to take their places from time to time, have been assiduous workers.
The Superintendent reports the following number
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of baths from date of entry, August 1, 1909, to Novem- ber 1, 1910.
Men, .
.38,422
Women, 1,623
Girls, 482
Boys,
1,630
Free,
3,359
Total Baths 45,536
Number of women using laundry, .581
Number of hours the laundry was used,. 2050
While the Civic Club wishes that it might have financed this enterprise without calling upon Councils after the first appropriation, and while it fully appre- ciates the way in which Councils have recognized the importance of the work by so cheerfully responding to every call made upon them, the Club has no apology to offer for making these calls. These appropriations were made to the city, not to the Civic Club, through whose efforts, aided by an enlightened Councils and by many generous, public spirited friends (to all of whom the Club and its Baths Committee hereby tender their sin- cere thanks), one more public bathing place has been added to the number it is hoped may soon be erected throughout the city.
A report of the activities of this Bath Committee would not be complete without mention of the work .done by those members of the original joint committee who were not made members of the Board that had the new building in charge, and who turned their energies to establishing in the old building a Settlement House for neighborhood uses. Among the earlier workers here, in addition to Mesdames Seymour and Longmore, of the Bath Board, were Mesdames George Porter (the first chairman), Dallas Albert, Jane Hall, L. O. Livingstone, Vitallius Matthews, James C. Dick, (Resident Secre- tary), Rufus Martin, Anna R. Stratton and J. D. Arnold (at first the Secretary, later Chairman) ; some of whom
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had to give up the service for various reasons, but a number of whom have worked untiringly for all these years and have been joined by other able volunteers such as Mesdames W. M. Carothers, Louis C. Sands, J. Boyd Duff, E. P. Clark, A. B. Shaw, J. F. Shaffer, and Emily Keating. This is a most prolific field for settle- ment work, and these volunteer workers are already reaping a harvest from their arduous labors, which cover a wide range of endeavor.
A children's branch of the Carnegie Library is lo- cated in this building, and numerous classes for boys, girls and women are conducted. This settlement work is not under the auspices of the Civic Club further than the contribution of the use of the building therefor; but the Club bespeaks for it a generous support.
BLOCK HOUSE The threatened removal or destruc- 1902 tion of the Block House in 1902, against which the Pittsburgh Chap- ter of Daughters of the American Revolution waged a most vigorous and successful campaign, aroused the in- dignation of the various patriotic and local organiza- tions, and the Civic Club among them protested against the commercial inroads designed to obliterate the city's most historical relic. This monument was later donated by the owner of the property, Mrs. Mary E. Schenley, to the Daughters of the American Revolution, and will be preserved to the people of Pittsburgh for all time.
RAILROAD ORDINANCES A great effort was 1902 made to prevent the passage of special rail- road ordinances permitting the erection of freight sta- tions and terminals at the "Point", followed a year later
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by a spirited encounter with Councils upon the passage of the ordinances permitting the erection of tracks on Duquesne Way. These protests were entered, not only for the purpose of preventing further congestion in this portion of the city, but because it would forever destroy any plan that might at some future date be adopted to beautify the wharves and to utilize them as public breathing spots for down-town residents, remote from the public parks. Utilitarian considerations, complicated by questions of expediency in the "compromise" with the Pennsylvania Railroad whereby the latter's tracks were forever removed from the disfigurement of Liberty Avenue, nullified this agitation. (See Trains on Liberty Street, 1904.)
LECTURES IN
With the beginning of the year PUBLIC SCHOOLS 1902, the Department of Educa- 1902
tion, Mrs. George H. Wilson, Chairman, arranged a course of lectures in the evenings in the public schools, most of them illustrated by stereopticon slides. Following a lec- ture by Prof. Charles Zeublin in March,a series of fifteen were given, under the direction of Dr. Francis H. Wade. These lectures were delivered in five schools, the 3rd Ward, Allegheny, Thaddeus Stevens, Friendship, Wool- slair, and Bane, in a series of one or more for three weeks in each school. The great success of this under- taking was due to the interesting subjects and the valu- able services of Dr. Wade, with Prof. Brashear, Dr. Hol- land, Dr. McAllister and Rev. T. J. Leak.
LECTURES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 1903 The enthusiasm and popular de- mand for a repetition of the series of lectures given the year previous in the public schools prompted the Educational Department, with Mrs. J. J.
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Covert, Chairman of the Committee, to give eighteen more lectures during 1903. Dr. F. H. Wade, Mr. Fred- erick S. Webster, Dr. Breed, Mr. Robert McGonnigle, Drs. Holmes Miller and G. W. Allyn, most efficiently contributed to this course which was arranged in groups of six schools-the Franklin, Soho, Woolslair, Bane, Allen and the 5th Ward, Allegheny, with three lectures in each school. The Civic Club and the various School Directors were highly gratified with the results of the lectures, the attendance, character of the people and evi- dent pleasure of the auditors. This work was discon- tinued after the second year, but in 1909 was again re- sumed in connection with the social center work of the Pittsburgh Playgrounds Association.
TENEMENT HOUSE REFORM 1903 While the Civic Club almost from its inception had been deeply interested in, and seek- ing a solution of, the problem of the tenement dweller that is presented in all large com- munity centers and especially in Pittsburgh, it was not until December of 1902 that the first practical remedial step was taken by the Club Tenement Committee, of which Mrs. Franklin P. Iams was at that time made Chairman, by the decision to strike at the root of the evil and make it imperative that all tenement buildings conform to certain specified sanitary requirements.
Philadelphia already had a meagre tenement law, passed in 1895, which it was thought desirable not to tamper with at that time. It was therefore deemed ad- visable to present a Tenement House Bill relating to cities of the second class only-prominent Philadel- phians undertaking to enlist the legislative support of their members, which they did.
With the comprehensive tenement laws of New York and Chicago and the invaluable suggestions of
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'Mr. Lawrence Vieller and Mr. Hector McIntosh of Philadelphia, (a very active member of the Octavia Hill Tenement Association who for many months was in active correspondence with the Club Chairman) as guides, the Committee consisting of Mrs. Iams, Mr. E. Z. Smith, and Hon. S. S. Mehard drew up two measures which now, as supplemented by one or two ordinances, constitute Pittsburgh's Tenement House Laws. It was deemed wise to make these Bills amendments to the Bureaus of Health and Building Inspection laws, and two Bills were therefore prepared, one relating to each Bureau. These Bills were presented simultaneously in the Senate by William A. Magee and in the House by J. P. Moore, in February, 1903, and so expeditiously pressed that they were passed in March, and signed by the Governor in April.
Immediately following the signing of the Bills, the Committee secured the passage of a councilmanic ordi- nance providing two Tenement House Inspectors, this small number being requested because it was after the annual appropriation had been made and only a limited amount of money was available for salaries.
In recognition of the work of the Club, Mayor Hays requested it to name one of these two Inspectors, and it was fortunate in being able to name Dr. Luba N. Robin, who was made Chief Inspector by Director of Public Safety Harry Moore, and by him sent to New York to study its system of tenement inspection. As that city had a tenement house force approximating two hundred, and she had but one assistant, Dr. Robin could naturally make small headway toward establish- ing a similiar system. She, however, accomplished very wonderful results in the way of developing a plan, in- specting and listing in the first year over 3,200 houses, of which 250 were found to be tenements under the law (i. e., a house in which three or more families live and cook on the premises), most of them violating the pro- visions thereof.
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At approximately the same time as the passage of the Pittsburgh ordinance for the appointment of two inspectors, the committee had a similar ordinance passed in Allegheny, which ordinance was most unexpectedly accompanied by a resolution stipulating that the Civic Club should name the inspectors, which, however, it did not do. This gave to what is now Greater Pitts- burgh four such officers-an absurdly small number for so large a territory.
At the beginning of 1904 the Club committee asked the Committee on Appropriations to provide for ten more inspectors, later modifying the request to two, but lacking the support of both Mayor Hays and Director Moore, the request was not granted.
In 1905 Director Moore urged the Club not to pre- sent an ordinance for more inspectors, stating that out of the appropriations asked for by him that year he would be able to pay two more inspectors, which he deemed sufficient at that time. The Club reluctantly yielded the point, and did not itself present an ordinance asking for more inspectors until after the failure of the Finance Committee of Councils to recommend a specific sum therefor in the appropriation for 1905. Following this, early in the same year, the Club asked for three additional inspectors and in March an ordinance was passed providing for two; which ordinance Mayor Hays-still unconvinced that Pittsburgh's tenement dis- tricts needed inspecting-promptly vetoed. It was now necessary to present the ordinance again to the new Councils, which was done and the ordinance was again passed in the early summer of 1906, thus giv- ing to what is now Greater Pittsburgh six inspectors.
With the new city administration of 1906 came Dr. J. F. Edwards as Superintendent of the Bureau of Health, who, as soon as he grasped the full magnitude and the gravity of Pittsburgh's tenement problem, thor- oughly systematized the work (especially when given more inspectors) and inaugurated an aggressive cam-
.
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CIVIC CLUB OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
paign of betterment. He, however, quite earnestly op- posed the Club's urging Councils to provide for an in- cieaed force of inspectors in the appropriation for 1907.
The Club had been conducting a very energetic and comprehensive campaign of education as to the necessity for more inspectors and finally won Controller Larkin to its views and fully believed the time ripe for the attempt, and with the greatest reluctance refrained from asking it.
In the fall of that year, stirred to action by a start- lingly plain statement as to conditions in Pittsburgh's tenement districts by that most fearless and intrepid social worker, William H. Matthews, of Kingsley House, the Chamber of Commerce made a vigorous and successful campaign for more inspectors and in the win- ter (1907-8) the force was increased from six to thirteen and has since been further added to until it now num- bers seventeen, which is still considered inadequate, even though the tenement inspectors and sanitary in- spectors to a large extent co-operate in their work.
Reverting again to other efforts: the Committee made numerous attempts to secure the co-operation of other organizations, as well as the public at large, and in the spring of 1905 invited representatives of all the philanthropic associations and churches and a number of leading citizens to a conference with a two-fold purpose : firstly, to secure more inspectors to enforce the laws we already had (which were never intended by the Civic Club Committee as other than temporary or tentative), and secondly, to secure co-operation in securing proper data and preparing a code therefrom for submission to the next Legislature. The meeting was largely attended and apparently most enthusiastic, and resulted in the ap- pointment of two committees; one for the first named object, comprised principally of Civic Club members, which continued its campaign for more inspectors, the other composed of gentlemen so eminent and busy as to
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find it impossible to fulfill the duties of their appoint- ment.
In the fall of 1906, the Committee made another effort to secure co-operation, and arranged for a confer- ence between Mayor Guthrie and representatives from the Bureau of Health, Chamber of Commerce, Kingsley House, Columbian Council, Pittsburgh Playgrounds Association, Allegheny County Medical Association, the Civic Club and perhaps a few others. At this conference the Mayor was asked to advocate the appointment of a councilmanic commission to investigate tenement condi- tions and draw up a comprehensive bill for the Legisla- ture of 1907. The suggestion did not appeal to him, however, and the matter was dropped. But the Club Committee, consisting at that time of Mrs. Iams and Mr. E. Z. Smith, in consultation with Dr. Edwards of the Bureau of Health, Superintendent Dies, of the Bu- reau of Building Inspection, and Superintendent Carver, of the Bureau of Plumbing Inspection, revised the laws of 1903, adding such amendments thereto as their appli- cation had demonstrated as most desirable-one of the important additions requiring registration by owners of tenements of all such properties, together with name and address of the owner or his agent. This amended Bill was introduced in the Senate by Senator Langfitt on January 29th, 1907, quickly passed by that body and sent to the House, where no opposition was anticipated, but it was unexpectedly held up in the House Commit- tee, and, by the time the cause was ascertained and re- moved, the session was nearly over and the measure did not reach a vote. Some months afterward the city ad- ministration secured the passage of an ordinance requir- ing registration by owners, which has proven of great value in the work.
The attempt to secure amendments was not re- newed in 1909-it being deemed wise to wait the pas- sage of a general revision of the Building Laws of the city. But the Chairman of the Committee noted the in-
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troduction of a Bill modifying the requirement that all tenements over three stories high must be fireproof,- an amendment that did not strike the Superintendent of Building Inspection and some other city officials as dangerous, but which was declared by many leading con- tractors and builders who were interviewed to be a very decided backward step. Several of these men volun- teered to go to Harrisburg and oppose its passage, but quieter means were found to suppress the measure.
The Committee (Mr. Cornelius D. Scully acting as Chairman) in the winter of 1910 again called a confer- ence of interested associations with a view of drafting a Bill for the session of 1911, but learning that a Sanitary Code was in process of preparation by the city, which, if passed by Councils, might obviate the necessity of further laws, postponed action until such Code should be presented to and acted upon by Councils.
Again chronologically reverting: Dr. Robin, the first Chief Inspector named by the Club was married in March, 1905, and the Club was requested by Director Moore to name her successor, and Mrs. Samuel W. Har- per was appointed and served efficiently for two years, when she resigned. The Civic Club was again asked to suggest a chief inspector-this time by Director Ridge- way, who had succeeded Director Moore. For several months Mrs. Iams endeavored to find a suitable party for the position (every applicant being referred by the Department to her), but was unable unqualifiedly to recommend anyone who was willing to accept the place at the salary paid-$100 a month-and so reported to the department, whereupon Mr. Steineck, who had proven a very capable inspector and had been acting as temporary chief during the effort to find another, was made chief inspector in the late summer of 1907, which position he still fills.
During the four years that the office was held by the appointee suggested by the Civic Club, the chief inspector was in almost daily conference with the Chair-
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man of the Club Committee, and full statements of the progress of the work were made monthly to the Board. After the resignation of Mrs. Harper, the Club did not keep in such close touch with the administration of the law, and it was no longer necessary that it should-the system being by that time well established and under the personal supervision of Dr. Edwards, who, however, continued of his own accord to make full reports to the Club at frequent intervals. After the change of the city administration in the spring of 1909 and the transfer- ence of Dr. Edwards to another Bureau, no reports have been sent to the Club, doubtless because the requests therefor have not been strongly pressed. It is, however, certainly due to the public that frequent reports of the work of this and other city departments be printed and distributed-a duty in which the City of Pittsburgh is and always has been singularly and inexcusably remiss.
Pittsburgh still has a tenement problem-a problem that is particularly difficult because of the thousands of old buildings that should be demolished; a problem in which one and two family houses figure as largely as those legally termed "tenements"; a problem in which both landlords and tenants are factors, and that demands the help of men and women of wisdom for its solution. That Pittsburgh has laws that would, if fully enforced, go far toward the solution of that problem is due, more than to any other thing, to the practical foresight, the patience, tact and perserverance of Mrs. Iams, who for five or six years gave so unstintedly of her time and strength to this work, and whose interest in and desire for further and more radical betterment is unabated ; and the Club desires to here record its appreciation of her service in this cause.
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TRAVELING LIBRARIES In 1903 and 1904 an 1903
effort was made by a committee under Mrs. S. M. B. Hooker to establish Traveling Libraries for the use of citizens in small towns. Every effort was made to have the small towns apply for the libraries, letters were sent to representative citizens in the endeavor to interest them and to invite them to attend the meetings, held once every three weeks. Through Mrs. W. L. Davis, a member of the committee, 50 volumes were se- cured from the State Library at Harrisburg for Glen- shaw, Pa. This library was located at the public school, and books distributed to the children at the discretion of the principal and teachers. At the end of six months the library was returned to Harrisburg. The next fall a public library, which at this date numbers 1000, was started by and continues under the jurisdiction of the Glenshaw Civic Club.
FORESTRY The Forestry Committee under the De- 1904 partment of Art has been, since its in- ception as part of the Civic Club work in 1904, under the Chairmanship of Miss Helen Grimes. It has been difficult and uphill work, its very beginning overshadowed by the enormous amount of work that could be done, and the lack of funds with which to start it. Frequent reminders were sent by the Chairman to the departments of both cities to enforce the law fining drivers for permitting horses to injure the bark of trees and urging them to employ some one to look after the trees planted in the streets, protecting them from insect pests and other enemies. In 1905 a number of very in- teresting illustrated articles were written by Miss Grimes and published in the daily and weekly news- papers, showing not only how Pittsburg could be beau- tified by trees planted in the streets, but also directing
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attention to the incongruous planting and the manner in which street trees were pruned.
The Chairman of this committee has most per- sistenly preached the gospel of tree-planting and pres- ervation, and encouraged the women's clubs to hold yearly tree-plantings with appropriate ceremonies as educative measures.
TRAINS ON LIBERTY STREET 1904
A report of the number and time of trains crossing Liberty Avenue, at Market and Sixth, from January 4th to 31st, 1904, gives evidence that the Civic Club was taking part in the agitation that led to the removal of the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks from Liberty Avenue. The record shows that seventy-five trains passed the above mentioned cor- ner between the hours of 8.15 A. M. and 6.15 P. M. dur- ing that month.
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