Providing a framework for connecting sites, stories, and people along the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail (PHNST) corridor
Friday, October 31, 2014
Since we don't have our website up yet, this is just to note my reason for attending. I just purchased the 1889 Mansion in North Braddock PA. The first of "Steel King" Charles Schwab's mansions, it is located essentially at the end of the trail, on a portion of the grounds of the Braddock Battlefield (just up the street from the first Carnegie Library in the US and over the hill from the Braddock Battlefield Museum). Schwab was president, in succession, of Carnegie Steel, US Steel, and Bethlehem Steel. He introduced the wide-flange I-beam into mass production, and headed US shipbuilding efforts in WWI for President Wilson. In the process, he became fabulously wealthy (but died in debt in 1939).
We're now formally calling the place the Schwab-Dixon Mansion (aka, my preference, Schwixon), in tribute to Galen's friend, former classmate and colleague, Bruce W Dixon, who was head of the Allegheny Co Health Dept. I purchased the place from Bruce's estate, and Galen was instrumental in getting this to happen. There's much restoration to be done, but we're tackling things roughly three at a time (and here, we refers to me, my daughter and son-in-law who are living there, and my son who plans to open his law office there). Beyond that, and after the restoration has proceeded further, we are entertaining various plans for the place that may tie into the trail and I'd like to get thoughts about. For now, if anyone's interested, there's a slideshow embedded here, showing the parts of the place that Bruce had restored at time the piece ran in 2007. (What the story doesn't say is that by that time, forward progress had stopped. We're now picking things up from that point. -John Hempel
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Im onboard and looking forward to great things.
Cassandra Vivian
Cassandra Vivian
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Welcome to the Potomac-Allegheny Heritage Corridor!
The initial meeting will involve a “core group” of interested leaders for a moderated round table discussion on Wed and Thurs, Nov 5/6. We will be considering how interests from the region along the Potomac Heritage
National Scenic Trail could form a “Potomac-Allegheny Cultural Alliance.”
The meeting on Nov 5/6 will be conducted at historic West Overton Village
beginning at 10 AM on Wed and conclude at 4 PM on Thurs. We will also have a Tues PM
reception and Wed AM breakfast for those arriving early. Each participant is
responsible for their own expenses.
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