This Woodville sign welcomes visitors to the former home of John and Presley Neville. Photo courtesy of Neville House Associates.
Community Spotlight—Woodville
The Community Spotlight series features the efforts of Rivers of Steel’s partner organizations, along with collaborative partnerships, that reflect the diversity and vibrancy of the communities within the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.
By Emma Michaud, Communications Intern
Woodville: Where the Chickens Call Home
They might not know it, but a flock of chickens residing at a National Historic Landmark in Bridgeville just had the view from their run upgraded. Their coop sits beside Woodville (aka the Neville House), which was built by John Neville who gained historic notoriety for his role in the Whiskey Rebellion. And the view from the run? Well, it overlooks a recently restored exterior porch.
Situated on two acres of former farmland, Woodville, which was constructed between 1774 and 1780, has been preserved by the Neville House Associates since the mid-1970s.
The Woodville property contains the John and Presley Neville house, a chicken coop, a demonstration kitchen garden, a shed, privy, a still house, and a recreated cabin. Photo courtesy of Neville House Associates.
“This place is such a gem,” said Susan O’Toole, who has served as the president of the Neville House Associates since 2019. “I’ve always felt this was very important—that Woodville should be cherished, preserved for people to learn our history.”
Susan began volunteering at Woodville in 1985. In time, she joined the board of directors and served as vice president before taking on her current role.
“It becomes a real passion for you, you know. Every year, I learn something new! Raising my kids, I would take them there and they didn’t get the bug from me . . . but they would help out sometimes,” she said with a laugh.
Susan and her other volunteers with the Neville House Associates work to recreate life in southwestern Pennsylvania from 1780 to 1820. The Woodville property contains the John and Presley Neville house, a chicken coop, a demonstration kitchen garden, a shed, privy, a still house, and a recreated cabin. Woodville is the oldest house open for tours in Western Pennsylvania and it is mostly in its original condition.
“There’s a lot to learn from history,” Susan wisely said.
Woodville, as seen from the interior of the property.
One of Woodville’s stories overlaps with John Neville’s role in the Whiskey Rebellion.
Having previously served as a general the American Revolution, John Neville had amassed considerable acreage in the Chartiers Valley including approximately 1,200 acres of land that housed his primary residence, Bower Hill, which was situated just up the hill from Woodville. He had also earned an appointment as the local tax collector.
In the years after the American Revolution, the government created an excise tax on whiskey to help pay back debt from the war. To the farmers in Western Pennsylvania, the new whiskey tax that Neville was charged with collecting was unfair for a variety of reasons, and they began to organize in protest.
On July 17, 1794, Major James McFarlane led hundreds of militiamen to Bower Hill, with the intent of forcing Neville to resign from his position and turn over the tax records. Following a day long battle, they burned Neville’s house on Bower Hill, as well as the other outbuildings.
Fortunately, Woodville was spared, as it was occupied by Neville’s son Presley at the time of the incident. In the ensuing years, the home was occupied by only two additional families.
Some of the chickens at Woodville.
During a visit to Woodville, you can learn more about the history of the home, its role in the Whiskey Rebellion, and the story of its preservation and restoration . . . which brings us back to those chickens and the new porch.
The Neville House Associates recently received a Mini Grant from Rivers of Steel to help with the restoration of Woodville’s wraparound porch. Prior to this year, the original covered wooden structure was showing its age. Now restored using more durable modern materials, the porch retains its original appearance and should stand the test of time. With the continued preservation, the Neville House will remain an indoor/outdoor historical museum for people to experience and learn about for years to come.
Additional support for the porch was provided by Colcom Foundation, Schoonmaker Foundation BNY Mellon, Americana Corner, National Association of Colonial Dames of America Allegheny County Chapter, and Roman Family Charitable Trust.
The restored porch faces the road and wraps around one side of the home.
Programming at Woodville includes Whiskey Rebellion Day, cooking demonstrations and workshops, educational events for students, self-guided tours, and more, including the upcoming the Twelve Days of Christmas event on Sunday, December 15, 2024. To begin the evening, guests are welcome to join the Annual Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Old St. Luke’s Church free of charge. Afterward, at Woodville, experience how the Twelve Days of Christmas were historically celebrated by touring the site by candlelight from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. Tours are $10 for adults and $5 for children. No need to register in advance.
Rivers of Steel’s Mini-Grant Program assists heritage-related sites and organizations as well as municipalities within the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area to develop new and innovative programs, partnerships, exhibits, tours, and other initiatives. Funded projects support heritage tourism, enhance preservation efforts, involve the stewardship of natural resources, encourage outdoor recreation, and include collaborative partnerships. Through these efforts, Rivers of Steel seeks to identify, conserve, promote, and interpret the industrial and cultural heritage that defines southwestern Pennsylvania.
The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is one of twelve supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Funding is provided via DCNR’s Community Conservation Partnerships Program and the Environmental Stewardship Fund to Rivers of Steel, which administers the Mini-Grant Program.
Join writer Sherrie Flick, pictured above, for a conversation about her new book Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist that explores a sense of place in southwestern Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of Sherrie Flick.
Homing—Exploring a Sense of Place in Southwestern Pennsylvania
On Thursday, October 24, Rivers of Steel will host writer Sherrie Flick at the Pump House for a conversation that explores her journey away from—and back to—southwestern Pennsylvania.
Her latest publication, Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist, is a collection of autobiographical essays that traces her journey from her hometown of Beaver Falls to her cultivated home on the South Side Slopes, with time spent living on the East Coast, West Coast, and a significant stop in between. While reflecting on the experiences that shaped her, Flick offers insights on culture, characters, and place—with a special emphasis on the fabric of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Guiding the conversation with Flick is Amy Camp, who as a trails and tourism consultant is a woman who knows how to explore a sense of place. Also an author and fellow Beaver County native, Camp describes herself as having come up “a town and a decade apart” from Flick. From the boom and bust of a steel town adolescence to the vibrant communities these women help to shape today, Rivers of Steel explores perspectives of life in the Rust Belt.
In anticipation of this event, Lynne Squilla chatted with both women to learn a bit more about what to expect.
By Lynne Squilla, Contributing Writer
Sherrie Flick and Amy Camp will reflect on a sense of place as reference in Sherrie’s book Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist.
Considering How Place Shapes Us
What does it mean to have a sense of place? Rivers of Steel invites two dynamic female authors and creators to delve into this multilayered subject that plays into all of our lives.
Writer Sherrie Flick has visited and lived in many places, from her birthplace in the former mill town of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, to her current garden-terraced home on Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes, with much time spent on the East and West Coasts and points in between. She questioned why she wanted so desperately to leave home and to travel, and why it is that she ultimately returned to this Rust Belt roost. The result is a collection of autobiographical essays in her new book, Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist.
“I wanted to examine how memory works, to think about the ways in which memory connects to history and to lived experience. Some of the essays in the collection circle around questions and ideas about what it means to leave and what it means to stay in a place you don’t fully understand.”
Flick is the featured author for Rivers of Steel’s evening of conversation at the Pump House on October 24: Homing—Exploring a Sense of Place In Southwestern Pennsylvania. She will read from her essays, which explore how place has shaped her sensibilities as a writer, feminist, educator, and human being, with a special focus on the strange and wonderful area that is Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania.
“Southwestern Pennsylvania can be hard to understand, even if you’ve lived here a while. There is something here that draws people in; it’s that quality of the unknown. The idea of a mystery. There are the common tropes of sports town, mills, and labor, of course. But there is more to this place.”
Flick’s essays delve into these other elements, weaving stories that touch on intriguingly diverse topics such as faith, whiskey, grief, eight ball, and gardening, as well as Andy Warhol, the poet Peter Oresick, her father, and her older brother’s telltale dialect. Flick noted that place has a big impact on each of us, whether or not we are fully aware of it, whether we leave or stay.
“Warhol is a great example of someone who grew up here, sucked in a bunch of ideas and influences, and left to New York to make it big. He didn’t come back here until he died,” she notes wryly.
Amy Camp, author, trails consultant, and fellow Beaver County native, will guide the conversation with Sherrie Flick. Photo courtesy of Amy Camp.
Factoring in Culture, Heritage, and Nature
Guiding the Pump House conversation with Flick will be Amy Camp, an author herself and a trails and tourism consultant whose career has focused on sense of place. As founder of Cycle Forward, Camp was instrumental in launching the nationally recognized Trail Town Program® in 2007. She works with local leaders and communities to create a more robust outdoor recreation economy in areas hit by industrial collapse. She initially settled in Pittsburgh in 1999 and watched as the empty steel mill sites grew into housing and retail shops.
“There was already a lot of change. It was no longer the Smoky City,” said Camp. “There were already some riverfront trails in place. In my work now, I’m often thinking of culture and heritage and what makes the area special. When you step off the trail into a community, what is that place all about?”
Nature likewise creates a sense of place. Camp likes the idea that the area’s natural surroundings—the rivers and valleys and resources that caused industry to take hold here—are “homing” back to their natural state. She spoke about recently hearing a talk about returning to returning to a nature-positive, carbon-neutral world. “We need to continue to strive to live in better harmony with nature, and this place can be that.”
Camp’s book, Deciding on Trails, gives the backstory of the Trail Town movement and outlines best practices for trail communities. When questioned why she is attracted to Pittsburgh, Camp muses, “I learned recently that my great-grandmother went right from Ellis Island to Hazelwood. So I’m asking, ‘Hmmm, did it have something to do with her? Something deeper than our conscious knowing?’”
Sherrie Flick’s home on Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes overlooks the community below and the Oakland neighborhood across the Monongahela River. Photo courtesy of Sherrie Flick.
Choosing a Place / Staying or Going
Flick says the Pump House discussion and Q&A with Camp and her will examine the why of choosing to live in a certain place. The audience will be invited to weigh in, too.
“Amy is also from the same Beaver Falls region as me,” Flick says, “and also lives on the South Side, but is younger than me. She has very different opinions about Pittsburgh than I do. So I think we can look at generational layers there. Depending on age and how you experienced a time in history, you’ll have a different conceptual understanding of a place.”
Flick’s parents chose to settle in Beaver Falls at a time when industry was booming. By the time Flick reached high school, the mills had largely shut down.
“The mill town was dying as I graduated high school. Disappearing before my eyes, because of this its history wasn’t written yet. There was no easy way to talk about the region in the mid-80s.”
“People choose ‘place’ for many reasons Flick continued. “My parents ended up in Beaver Falls to have a better life for their kids. Their decision was based in employment. I did the opposite of my parents. I knew for sure I had to leave and I knew I wanted to explore for exploring’s sake. I lived in New England, San Francisco, and Nebraska. I traveled all over the country.”
Sherrie Flick’s backyard garden, featured in the essays “Cultivation” and “Caretaker, Murderer, Undertaker,” helps define her relationship with the place where she settled. Photo courtesy of Sherrie Flick.
The Give and Take of Place
Sherrie Flick’s travels gained her degrees in English literature from the University of New Hampshire and University of Nebraska and fueled her many books and articles, which have appeared in such publications as the Wall Street Journal and New England Review. She has also garnered numerous fellowships and awards, including a 2023 Creative Development Award from The Heinz Endowments, a Golden Quill, and PA Partners in the Arts grants.
But this prodigal daughter eventually returned to postindustrial Pittsburgh, becoming more involved and aware of the character, history, and community of the area. Among her first creative endeavors from 2001 through 2010 was as co-founder and artistic director of the Gist Street Reading Series. Housed in an artist’s studio on Gist Street in Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood, the freewheeling, monthly event featured local writers and poets, as well as national authors.
Flick also worked at the Frick Art & Historical Center, The Heinz History Center, and has created programming for the Carnegie Museum of Art, Silver Eye Center for Photography, and, most recently, Shiftworks, as part of their Creative Corps. Her Walk & Write programs take small groups through area neighborhoods and unlikely public spaces to observe and write. She is hoping to do one of these sessions at the Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark. Flick is currently a lecturer at Chatham University and will serve as the 2025 Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Davidson College.
Flick strongly credits this once-industrial region with forging her feminist viewpoint: “I realized that my feminism was a mix of not just learning theory in a class, but also formed from the idea of labor, of effort, the strength of the body that is a focal point in mill towns.”
She continues, reflecting on her hometown of Beaver Falls: “It was a very macho place, and a person is informed by that growing up as a woman. You notice sexism that’s in your face, but sometimes you can process that to your advantage.”
After years of wandering and more than 20 years of living in Pittsburgh, Flick thinks she’s uncovered some of the draws to this region: “This is not a place that gives in to trends; sure, it’s hipper than it once was. Pittsburgh is settled-in, not pretentious, and bragging won’t get you anywhere. That’s appealing to me.”
Flick added, “You can start things here. It’s a great place for innovation . . . and historically always was. People can make their own way, try things out,” she explained. “Also, because of the hilly geography you often literally stumble on things that are surprising and fun and unusual, so you feel a constant sense of discovery.”
Two sets of Pittsburgh’s infamous steps that are referenced in Sherrie Flicks essays help to define both the physical character of the South Side Slopes and reflect its industrial heritage. Photos courtesy of Sherrie Flick.
Exploring the Postindustrial
The Carrie Blast Furnaces, the Pump House, and the Bost Building are among the kinds of unusual discoveries to be made in the Pittsburgh area. Both Flick and Camp feel a connection with Rivers of Steel when it comes to defining place and helping historic sites preserve their history and their significance for future generations: “I wish I had seen all the industry that was here, and at the same time, I’m glad that I didn’t.” Camp said. “This region experienced trauma, and it’s a natural inclination to want to wipe away all that trauma. But the fact that some of it is still standing helps tell the story of this place. I mean, what if there was no Carrie Furnace?”
One of Camp’s favorite quotes about place is from Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute. “He said, ‘A sense of place is that which makes our physical surroundings worth caring about.’”
To Camp, Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania’s former industrial communities have an endearing quirk factor worth preserving. Organizations like Rivers of Steel play a major part in that effort, as well as in tying nature, trails, arts, and culture to the story of labor and industry in the region.
“Part of our charge as a National Heritage Area is to engage in storytelling that helps explore and define a sense of place,” said Carly McCoy, director of communications for Rivers of Steel. “We do this throughout all of our programming and the content we share, but our conversation with Sherrie and Amy is an exciting opportunity to really dig in on the topic . . . to have an exchange about what it means to be from southwestern Pennsylvania and even how that varies from person to person. I’m really looking forward to it!”
Like Camp, Flick appreciates this Rust Belt region for its natural features. For the past 20 years, Flick has been happy in her “place,” hiding high atop a hillside in the South Side Slopes, with her many flower and vegetable gardens. “I am addicted to the view. The vista. It makes my world so much bigger to see the whole city before me. But the garden is what grounded me in this place and made me stay here—the organic versus the old industrial.”
Camp sums it up: “This talk at the Pump House is a great opportunity to explore Sherrie’s relationship with the region and how this postindustrial place has informed who she is as a person. It is important to have these conversations around place.”
Sherrie Flick and Amy Camp in Conversation
There are two upcoming opportunities to join in the conversation with Sherrie Flick and Amy Camp. If you can’t make Rivers of Steel’s event on October 24, make your way to Beaver for the next event on November 9. See the details below.
Homing—Exploring a Sense of Place in Southwestern Pennsylvania
Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, Munhall PA 15120
Thursday, October 24, 2024, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Presented by Rivers of Steel, this is an evening in conversation with writer Sherrie Flick, guided by trails and tourism consultant Amy Camp. From the boom and bust of a steel town adolescence to the vibrant communities these women help to shape today, Rivers of Steel explores perspectives of life in the Rust Belt. The evening will include excerpted readings from Flick, a cumulative Q&A with both women, and the opportunity to pick up a copy of Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist.
Rustbelt Reflections: A Evening of Written Word & Art
The Baby Bello, 2200 9th Avenue, Beaver Falls, PA 15010
Saturday, November 9, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
If you are unable to attend the event at the Pump House, we recommend this opportunity to hear another conversation with Flick and Camp in Beaver Falls, which also highlights community artist Kit Miller.
Lynne Squilla is a skilled and creative storyteller. She honed her craft as a writer and producer / director of original scripts, documentaries, articles, web content, stage, and other live presentations. While her work has taken her across the globe, she’s rooted in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and has a passion for sharing stories about our region’s past.
Creating Legends: Graffiti Writers of the Past, Present, and Future
By Jordan Snowden
At the Carrie Blast Furnaces, energy and creativity have replaced molten iron as the leading commodities supporting their surrounding communities with the help of Rivers of Steel and local and non-local artists through festivals, events, and educational programming.
For the heritage nonprofit’s latest upcoming project, Creating Legends: Graffiti Writers of the Past, Present, and Future, graffiti artists from around the world will mix and mingle with one another and with residents of Pittsburgh and Mon Valley communities. The project is presented by Rivers of Steel in partnership with Hemispheric Conversations Urban Arts Project (HCUAP).
Running from October 14 – 20, this multilayered, community-based program serves as a weeklong residency for select artists to engage with youth, create new murals, and participate in free public events at The Warhol and Carrie Blast Furnaces.
Or, as Scott Brozovich, Rivers of Steel’s graffiti coordinator and teaching artist, put it: “Creating Legends serves as a way to work with legends—like New York graffiti writer pioneers and United Graffiti Artists, aka UGA, founding members Henry 161 and Mike 171—to create new legends.
“I think the part that gets slept on a little bit is the ‘creating,’” says Brozovich. “You know, because we’re bringing legends out, but that’s not the purpose of the program. The program, in my eyes, is to use people like Henry and Mike to inspire others to become legends themselves.”
Chris McGinnis, Rivers of Steel’s senior director of programs & regional partnerships, understands the excitement of bringing famous artists to the region and the impact it can make on youth but also acknowledges what programs like this can do for the communities over time.
“Our graffiti arts programs are anchored in the legacy of our region’s postindustrial past,” said McGinnis. “Not unlike a moth to a flame, creatives of all types have been lured by the Carrie Blast Furnaces, including the graf writers in the 1980s and ’90s. But more importantly, our program is also centered on our region’s future. By working with youth and partnering with an array of collaborators—HCUAP, individual artists, community centers including Rankin Christian Center and Dragon’s Den—we can build skills, create confidence, and spark interest among our communities’ youngest artists, while also crafting something beautiful for everyone whose eyes rest on the murals.”
The 2024 Program at a Glance
Creating Legends kicks off on Monday, October 14, with a community event during Rankin Christian Center’s Fall Festival. All of the Creating Legends artists—from the Netherlands’ hip-hop-leaning graphic muralist Mr. June to local artists working with HCUAP, including Shane Pilster who helped develop Rivers of Steel’s graffiti arts program—will be available for a meet and greet, as well as a live community painting session. Alongside music and food options are pumpkin carving, games, and a portrait mural session.
Come Wednesday, Mike 171 and Henry 161, known worldwide as The Boys from the Heights, join self-taught multimedia Venezuelan-American artist Ally Grimm at Homestead’s Dragon’s Den to speak with students about the artists’ backgrounds in the graffiti medium.
Front-runners of style-writing graffiti, The Boys from the Heights helped launch the graphic art form as a global cultural phenomenon and were some of the first graffiti artists to be written about in The New York Times during the 1970s. Grimm, meanwhile, will offer a more modern take on graffiti, as over the years her signature monochromatic style has evolved from paper to canvas, and now murals and digital installations found in cities across America, as well as the virtual world with augmented reality and non-fungible tokens.
That same day, across the river at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Creativity, Roberto Seminario aka Sef, a graffiti artist from Peru whose realistic aesthetic focuses on themes of innocence and purity, and renowned Parisian street artist REVER will share their stories while creating accompanying live paintings.
Thursday, Creating Legends offers another student-focused educational leg, when Sef, REVER, Mr. June, and Grimm visit associate professor of communication Caitlin Bruce’s class at the University of Pittsburgh to share their stories, followed by a Q&A session.
Creating Legends opens back up to the public on Friday at The Andy Warhol Museum’s theater for a Q&A panel discussion featuring all of the artists involved, moderated by Emma Riva, a member of HCUAP. Riva is an art writer based in Pittsburgh. Her work has appeared in Artforum, The Art Newspaper, Newcity, The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, Belt Magazine, and more. She also serves as the managing editor of UP Magazine—an international graffiti and street art publication—and is the online editor of Pittsburgh’s TABLE Magazine.
Henry 161
Riva, who grew up in New York’s Washington Heights—where The Boys from the Heights did—is looking forward to the event. “I’ve done a couple of combinations at this point with different panelists, but this is the third discussion I’ve moderated with Mike [171] and Henry [161], so I feel like I know them pretty well, and they’re really fun people to talk to that have super inspiring stories.
“They’re both sweet people and positive examples of masculinity that are at a point in their lives where they want to share their stories with the world because they were some of the first graffiti writers in the U.S.,” says Riva. “They are some of the originators of the movement, and we’re lucky in Pittsburgh—in any of these arts institutions—that they speak and we get to be near them, to hear from them, while they’re still around.
Mike 171
“I’m always really excited to speak with people in the graffiti community because they are always such big personalities and take some elitism out of being creative,” says Riva.
Saturday, the fun moves to Carrie Blast Furnaces, where the artists will hang out and work on creating new pieces. Mr. June and Grimm are set to paint solo murals, while Sef and REVER are set to paint together. Meanwhile, The Boys from the Heights will lead a special version of the Hands-On Graffiti Tour before turning the spray cans over to guests, offering a chance to paint with the legends themselves.
Closing out the week on Sunday is a paint party at Trace Brewing’s Clement Way legal wall, featuring snacks, drinks, music, live painting, and murals by Dejouir Brown and Juliandra Jones, both of whom currently work with Brozovich to lead Rivers of Steel’s graffiti arts student programs.
For Brozovich, youth engagement is an essential element of the program. “This really means something to me because I didn’t get chances like this as a kid,” says Brozovich. “No one came into my school and was like, ‘Hey, you don’t have to go work in the local factory . . . you could do something else.’ That’s a big part of what the program is—showing youth that you can be something more than just your average worker; you can be a legend.”
Artworks by Michael Walsh (left) and Carlos Mare (right) created during the Industrial Grit and Graffiti program in 2022.
The Foundation for Creating Legends
In 2022, Rivers of Steel launched Industrial Grit and Graffiti, a program held at the Carrie Blast Furnaces that was dedicated to exploring the intersection between metal arts and graffiti.
For one week that summer, graffiti arts pioneers Carlos Mare, né Rodriguez, (aka Mare139) and Pittsburgh’s own Michael Walsh joined three local artists to collaborate, learn from one another, and push their personal boundaries and intersections of graffiti sculpture art. Some of those works, including Mare’s sculpture showcasing the movement of breakdancing, are still on display at the Carrie Blast Furnaces.
The program also connected with residents in the nearby communities in the Monongahela Valley—places shaped by both their industrial and postindustrial heritage—for interactive events, ranging from tours and workshops to internships and residencies. These activities, dubbed the Community Learning Series, also culminated with an artists’ talk at The Warhol Museum in December of 2022.
“What’s really nice about the organization is that it’s preserving this whole industrial space for artists to come look at it, be inspired by it, and then go make art,” said Mare in a 2023 video about Industrial Grit and Graffiti. “The opportunities that Rivers of Steel offers someone like me and Michael, who believe very strongly in the ethos of hard work, smart work, forward-thinking work, work that does not come easy—this is a place for people like us.”
Walsh echoed that sentiment, saying, “I was somehow, in these abandoned sites, almost taken over by this industry and the ghost of its spirit. The amount of energy that was expelled here, if you think about that, is pretty hard to grapple with. I think it’s only appropriate that someone from a city like Pittsburgh would work in this medium and continue to.”
While one of the purposes of Industrial Grit and Graffiti was to show how graffiti art can extend to other mediums and opportunities, the format was also a hit with the creatives who participated.
“I want to make this available in the way of encouraging other graffiti artists to work in the industrial arts and work with their hands . . . and 3D art and also work in the ever-emerging and expanding digital realm,” says Walsh.
“Industrial Grit and Graffiti was Rivers of Steel’s second major initiative that used graffiti as an inspiration for creative placemaking and community building,” said McGinnis. “It was borne out of the Murals on a Mission project. Now, picking up where the 2022 program left off, Creating Legends embraces that momentum and features public murals, community-based collaborations, and culminating public events.”
A canvas painted during a Murals on a Mission community event.
McGinnis also acknowledged the support he received from muralist Ashley Hodder. “Ashley was essential in getting Creating Legends off the ground, from early-stage collaboration in drafting the grant requests to connecting us with participating artists and helping coordinate their murals and locations. It was great to have the opportunity to work with her again.”
Creating Legends was made possible through contributions from The McKinney Charitable Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, and the McElhattan Foundation.
Get Involved
Join Rivers of Steel & Hemispheric Conversations Urban Art Project for a panel discussion featuring nationally recognized muralists and graffiti artists Mr. June, Sef, Mike 171, and Henry 161 at The Warhol Museum on Friday, October 18. The conversation, moderated by Emma Riva, will reflect on how the project is bringing together local, national, and international muralists to celebrate the origins of graffiti and its influence across generations. It is co-presented with The Andy Warhol Museum. The event is free, but registration is required. Sign up here.
Also, don’t miss the opportunity to join the special version of the Hands-On Graffiti Tour at the Carrie Blast Furnaces on Saturday, October 19, led by Mike 171 and Henry 161—The Boys from the Heights. Register here.
So grab your spray paints or simply your listening ears, and come, learn, have fun, and who knows—you may just be the next graffiti legend!
Jordan Snowden is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh whose work has been published in The Seattle Times, Pittsburgh City Paper ,and elsewhere. She also runs @jord_reads_books, a book-focused Instagram account where she connects with other bookworms. In her free time, Jordan can be found with a book in her hand or DIYing something with her husband.
The chill snap of October, falling leaves, and spooky Halloween décor bring to mind autumn traditions. Leaf peeping and fall festivals are popular seasonal activities—and Rivers of Steel’s Festival of Combustion, presented by U.S. Steel, is a standout among them! It has become a must-do fall tradition for many.
This one-of-a-kind extravaganza, happening this year on Saturday, October 5, attracts thousands of visitors of all ages to the Carrie Blast Furnaces; it is an invitation to join in a celebration of industrial arts and American crafts through hands-on activities, trade demonstrations, tours, live music, fireworks, food, and more. This year, Rivers of Steel’s Festival of Combustion welcomes more than 50 collaborators for the annual all-day event.
By Julie Silverman, Contributing Writer
The Iron Pour and Metal Arts Crew
The spirit of the festival takes its inspiration from the iron-making legacy of this National Historic Landmark—embodied by a deftly orchestrated iron pour featuring Rivers of Steel’s metal arts crew.
“The iron pour is the heart of the festival,” said Chris McGinnis, senior director of programs & regional partnerships. “It’s quite a sight to see! And artists from all over the world come to this National Historic Landmark site to participate in the iron pour. They arrive at the beginning of the week to create the molds that are cast during the festival. The process uses a cupola-style furnace, which is a scaled-down version of the process that had been used to produce iron by the hulking Carrie Blast Furnaces.”
Insider Tip: Make sure to arrive before 6:00 p.m. to guarantee that you’ll see part of the iron pour. The event may extend past 6:00 p.m., but they could finish their work early!
“Our largest operating furnace is capable of tapping up to 1,000 pounds of iron each tap. Our metal arts staff, who lead the iron pour, are skilled metal artists and craftsmen with a combined 40+ years of experience in foundry work. Our iron pours require 20 to 30 participants to manage all aspects of the operation,” McGinnis said.
“The metal-casting community nationwide is a close-knit group of enthusiasts,” McGinnis continued. “They often travel to numerous locations each year to participate in iron-casting projects, large and small. As the program has grown at Rivers of Steel, the Carrie Furnaces have become one of those destinations, joining established metal-casting hubs like Sloss Furnaces in Alabama; Salem Art Works in Salem, New York; and the Metal Museum in Memphis; among others.”
One of the artists joining in is Jay Elias. Elias runs the Evolution Arts Studio in Detroit, Michigan—a studio that uses the metal-casting process as a form of therapy, focusing on veterans and formerly incarcerated individuals. As a veteran, Elias struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and found a recovery process through art and metal working. He interned with Rivers of Steel this past summer and developed work focused on his experiences battling PTSD. His studio thrives on the holistic approach of art and therapy and offers free workshops for veterans. Be sure to check out his newly installed sculpture “Unfinished Business” located in the Iron Garden this year!
For those enticed by hot metal who would like to have a more personal experience, aluminum pours will also take place. As part of their Festival of Combustion experience, event-goers can carve a scratch mold, which is then cast—transformed into a glistening square of aluminum art! Guests spend a few minutes carving a creative design and then watch as molten aluminum is poured into the molds. After it cools, they have an artistic souvenir to take home. Insider Tip: The aluminum pours happen between 1:00 and 6:00 p.m., or until the scratch molds are gone, so stop by earlier in the day!
Insider Tip: Don’t miss out on a walk through the Iron Garden. Stop in before 6:00 p.m.—Penn State Master Gardeners, interpretive iron plaques, and text panels for the sculptures all offer ways to learn more about the natural garden.
Casting the Iron Garden
In October of 2014, something momentous happened. For the first time in more than 30 years, iron was created at the Carrie Blast Furnaces. The event was called Casting the Iron Garden, and now, ten years on, Rivers of Steel is celebrating this anniversary as part of the Festival of Combustion.
The Iron Garden, as it’s now known, is an area along the eastern border of the landmark site. During the active years of the mill, it housed a structure and additional ore yard. During the intervening decades, after the building was demolished and before Rivers of Steel began managing the site, this area began to be reclaimed by nature, and seeds sprouted from the holes that remained from the removed foundation. Rivers of Steel’s approach was to apply a light touch in cultivating the site and to provide interpretation of the space. The project grew through a partnership with landscape ethicist Rick Darke and the Penn State Master Gardeners. (Read Growing the Iron Garden for the full origin story.)
Then, ten years ago, this creative collaboration of gentle gardening expanded with the addition of gardener Addy Smith-Reiman and her sculptor-husband Josh Reiman to the project. The two artists shared Rivers of Steel’s desire to honor the resiliency of nature as it reclaimed the land in a postindustrial habitat.
Addy Smith-Reiman, with her background in landscape architecture, has been engaging in creative projects celebrating local identities and shared histories for more than 20 years. Josh Reiman’s work has been exhibited worldwide; he’s known for sculpture, film, video, and photography.
Collaborating with Rivers of Steel and Penn State Master Gardeners, Smith-Reiman and Reiman designed and cast iron podiums to be placed along the walking trail through the garden space. Each iron installation revealed a raised drawing of some variety of plant or animal life that resides in the shadow of Carrie Blast Furnaces. As the first items cast on-site since the closing of the furnace in 1982, they represent a significant first step in bringing iron casting back to Carrie.
Visitors to the 2023 Festival of Combustion read from the cast iron interpretive podium created in 2014.
Addy Smith-Reiman reflected, “Carrie is an inspiration for many: artists, historians, and even gardeners. Ten years ago, it was fertile ground (pun intended) for a Master Gardener class to learn about ruderal vegetation and the urban wilds that consumed the landscape. Working from Rick Darke’s initial survey of the site, ten volunteers surveyed over months the ephemeral and opportunistic plants around the Carrie Furnace grounds. To have this data materialize in the plaques, utilizing the historic material of site (iron), and catalyzing the metal arts program to produce the work, the project aptly materialized as The Iron Garden.”
“It is exciting to return, ten years later, to see how the vegetation has changed and how the shift in programming allows plants to now share space with the growing sculpture garden,” she continued.
To mark the anniversary, the Master Gardeners will be stationed throughout the Iron Garden during the festival to help interpret the space, while Smith-Reiman and Reiman will help lead the iron-casting workshop offered by Rivers of Steel in the week leading up to the Festival of Combustion and will participate in the big pour the day of.
Insider Tip: Self-guided tours are available throughout the earlier part of the day, so plan your tour time around other timed activities that you are looking to do.
Tours of the Carrie Blast Furnaces
In addition to the self-guided tours of the Iron Garden, this year Rivers of Steel is also offering self-guided Industrial Tours. This self-paced tour route through the landmark site will include tour guides stationed at various locations, allowing guests to engage with them along the way. As guided tours have always quickly sold out in the past, this new format will accommodate as many event-goers as are interested, in addition to giving them more flexibility in how they spend their day. Additionally, an Ask a Tour Guide information tent will be located near the hub of the activities.
A crew with the Center for Metal Arts in Johnstown work together using a large power hammer.
Industrial Arts Demonstrations
Beyond the iron pour and tours, the demonstrations are always a crowd favorite at the Festival of Combustion. This year new participants include the Center for Metal Arts and artist Talon Smith.
The Center for Metal Arts is an educational program housed at the historic Cambria Iron & Steel forge shop in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Their mission is to renovate and refurbish historic power hammers and tooling to make them available to be seen by the greater forging community and used by qualified professional blacksmiths—and they will bring a power hammer to the festival! Although it won’t be as large as the one in the photo above, it will certainly make an impression.
This year will bring a bonus demonstration—by twilight, ceramic artist Talon Smith will partake in a performative wood firing. The performance centers around a small wood kiln. Attendees of the event are invited to engage with the artist and their crew to ask questions about the process as it takes place and witness its glowing result revealed at dusk.
Smith—who identifies as a native Yinzer, has a studio in Polish Hill and a wood kiln in Ligonier, Pennsylvania—describes this wood firing as a performance that celebrates the narratives of our environments and how they change over time. In the context of Carrie, the landscape where the former iron mill is situated has witnessed extreme changes. Over eons, the slow erosion of the Allegheny Plateau created the Mon Valley. The molten years stretched for nearly a century, and the now-silent sentinel hovers as a reminder of generations of workers.
The artist Talon Smith is illuminated from the glow of their kiln.
“Wood firing is a process that demonstrates the combined efforts of individuals working towards a common goal,” Smith said. “Throughout the duration of the Festival of Combustion, a small wood kiln containing one sculpture will be fired and brought to temperature. At peak temperature—around 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit—the petals of the kiln will be opened to reveal a glowing sculpture of an arch. The arch mimics the landscape; it is a monolith left behind representing the narratives of our environments.”
Beyond the symbolism, the warm glow of the revealed sculpture will light up for the crowd just prior to the annual fireworks show.
In addition to the new demonstrations, perennial favorites will return, including glassblowing with The Pittsburgh Glass Center, welding with Patrick Camut Fabrication, and numerous blacksmiths working alongside Rivers of Steel staff.
Insider Tip: Don’t let the hands-on activities be just for the kids. Carve a scratch mold or make your own penny pendant!
American Crafts
If you desire to create your own crafts, wind your way through an assortment of hands-on activities. Mosaics with The Ruins Project, jewelry making with Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media, raku-fired ceramics with Ton Pottery, STEAM crafts with Assemble PGH, Guild on the Go with Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, and a Punk Rock Corner all vie for creative exploration.
“The Punk Rock Corner is a collaboration between LIGHT Educational Initiative and Rivers of Steel’s Graffiti Arts program,” said Chris McGinnis. “We’re excited to offer hands-on activities, including graffiti art, patches, zines, and pin making.”
Now in its third year, the Heritage Craft Tent, presented by West Overton Village, is a festival within the festival that explores American heritage traditions, including the tastiest of all heritage crafts: rye whiskey distilling!
“West Overton is excited to participate in the Festival of Combustion for a third year,” said Aaron Hollis, co-executive director of West Overton Village. “As the 2024 sponsoring partner for the Heritage Craft Tent, we look forward to offering engaging opportunities for visitors young and old.”
Insider Tip: For those who imbibe, make sure to try a sample of West Overton’s Monongahela Rye.
The historical organization’s educational distillery revived the tradition of making whiskey at West Overton Village for the first time since Prohibition. Their varieties of rye whiskeys, including a Monongahela Rye, will be available to adults for tastings. Adults can also learn about their new whiskey heritage center, while the younger set is engaged with interactive activities.
“We are grateful for another opportunity to continue our partnership with Rivers of Steel,” Hollis continued.
Other hands-on happenings under the Heritage Craft Tent include activities by Rivers of Steel’s other heritage partners: Touchstone Center for Crafts, the Bradford House Historical Association, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, and the Society for the Preservation of the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka.
Insider Tip: Get a head start on holiday shopping by supporting local makers.
Crafts are not limited to the hands-on variety at the Festival of Combustion; more than a dozen regional artisans are offering their creations in the makers’ marketplace. From ciders and sundries to upcycled car parts and art prints, there is a variety of wares to peruse!
Insider Tip: Check the event schedule if there is a specific performance that you don’t want to miss.
Live Music and Performances
And what would a festival be without entertainment? Beyond the metal pours, demonstrations, crafts, and shopping, there is even more to see.
On the music stage, Ames Harding and the Mirage, Tom Breiding and Union Railroad, and The Polkamaniacs will keep festival-goers entertained, in between sets by DJ Zombo.
A chronicler of small-town America, locally based Breiding said, “Union Railroad will play a set of music that pays homage to our region’s great industrial heritage. Rivers of Steel is such an important link to that heritage, and this festival is my favorite celebration of the year in Pittsburgh.” Breiding’s music lyrically lends understanding to the worlds of coalfields, mines, and mills.
Pop-up performances by Lovely Lady Lydia Artistry offer fire, flame, and other circus arts throughout the evening.
Insider Tip: The fireworks begin at 8:30 p.m. and end by 9:00 p.m.
Food, Finale, and More
If all of this has worked up an appetite, food trucks will tickle a variety of tastes. Farmer x Baker, Pita My Shawarma, Rogue BBQ, Street Fries 4ever, Tango Food Truck, and Taqueria El Pastorcito will be on-site. Craft beer, sponsored by Oskar Blues and Vecenies Distributing, and cocktails will be on hand to add a dash of flavor to this incredible ambiance. Plus, sales of beverages directly support Rivers of Steel and its programmatic and historical preservation efforts at the Carrie Blast Furnaces.
For the adventurous in the crowd, Xpogo will provide instruction and free-to-use pogo sticks for all skill levels and ages, and KSD Studios is offering affordable tattoos.
A day celebrating the innovation and artistry of our region can be capped only by the colorful combustion of a dazzling fireworks display. The fireworks finale takes place from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m., offering an epic end to a memorable day.
Presented By
The Festival of Combustion is simply an experience like no other, making it a spectacular autumn adventure. Plus, with an all-inclusive admission price of $20 for adults and no cost for kids under age 18, it is supremely affordable and family friendly. This is made possible by the financial and in-kind support from our sponsors.
“Rivers of Steel is grateful to our presenting sponsor, U.S. Steel, for their unwavering support of the Festival of Combustion and our broader community initiatives,” said Rivers of Steel’s CEO Augie Carlino. “Their investment plays a key role in preserving Pittsburgh’s rich history as the steel center of the world, ensuring that the story of our industrial legacy continues to inspire and educate. Together, we are celebrating the industrial heritage that forged Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania and helped shape the nation.”
Rivers of Steel is also grateful for the support of West Overton Village, sponsors of the Heritage Craft Tent, for their underwriting contributions for this event.
Rivers of Steel is thankful for NEXTpittsburgh, who is the exclusive media sponsor for the 2024 Festival of Combustion; Jackson Welding Supply Co., Inc.; Oscar Blues; and Vecenies Distributing—all of whom are additional fiscal sponsors, and TMS International who provides in-kind support.
Beyond these partners, Rivers of Steel recognizes the event would not be all that it is without the support of our programmatic collaborators.
“The Festival of Combustion has grown so much over the years, and we are particularly excited to welcome more than 50 collaborators in 2024,” said Chris McGinnis. “So much of what makes this event special comes from the many friends and partners who bring their unique and creative work to Carrie Blast Furnaces each year!”
That said, the magic of the day is contributed by the thousands of folks from southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond who join us to marvel in the fiery spectacles and immense talent of our region’s artists, makers, and builders. They truly make this a celebration of industrial arts and American crafts!
Insider Tip: Guests 21+ who are seeking to imbibe, should stop at the I.D. Check to get a bracelet before getting in line to purchase beverages.
Tickets and Information
The Festival of Combustion is hosted by Rivers of Steel at the Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark, located at 801 Carrie Furnace Blvd., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15218.
The event is from 1:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 5, 2024. Some hands-on activities and demonstrations conclude at 6:00 p.m., as activities shift from the Central Courtyard to the Western Courtyard and more performances begin. This year, no reservations are needed for tours, but folks looking to carve a scratch mold should participate earlier in the day, as supplies may run out. All tours and activities are included in the ticket price.
Food is available for purchase, and visitors may want to budget for marketplace discoveries. Also, those looking to purchase adult beverages will need to stop at the I.D. Check to receive a bracelet before going to the beer and cocktails tent. Festival of Combustion T-shirts and other commemorative merchandise are available from Rivers of Steel at the gift shop near the entrance gates.
General admission tickets can be purchased here for $20 in advance for adults. Kids are free; however, tickets must be reserved. Free parking is available on-site, with additional spaces reserved for those with limited mobility.
About Rivers of Steel
Founded on the principles of heritage development, community partnership, and a reverence for the region’s natural and shared resources, Rivers of Steel strengthens the economic and cultural fabric of western Pennsylvania by fostering dynamic initiatives and transformative experiences.
Rivers of Steel showcases the artistry and innovation of our region’s industrial and cultural heritage by offering unique experiences via tours, workshops, exhibitions, festivals, and more. Rivers of Steel supports economic revitalization throughout the eight counties of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area by working to deepen community partnerships, promote heritage tourism, and preserve local recreational and cultural resources for future generations.
Julie Silverman is a museum educator, tour facilitator, and storyteller of astronomy and history for various Pittsburgh-area organizations, including Rivers of Steel. A Chatham University 2020 MFA graduate, her writing is most often found under the byline of JL Silverman. Occasionally, under the name of Julia, she has been seen on TV.
Read her previous story about West Overton’s new Whiskey Heritage Center here.
The Community Spotlight series features the efforts of Rivers of Steel’s partner organizations, along with collaborative partnerships, that reflect the diversity and vibrancy of the communities within the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area. Today’s story explores the Gledaj! Sketching Workshops that capture the spirit behind the inspiration Maxo Vanka took from Pittsburgh’s vistas.
By Lynne Squilla, Contributing Writer
Visions of Carrie
On a hot, sunny day in late July 2024, a group of 30 people gathered at the towering Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark. Holding sketchbooks, easels, brushes, pencils, and pens, the group listened to some inspiration from local artists then quietly dispersed across the grounds, each looking around intently before settling down to create their own visions of this remarkable site.
This was the second Carrie Furnaces Gledaj! Sketching Session since 2023, conducted by the Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka (SPMMMV). It has become a happy collaboration between the Society and Rivers of Steel, sponsored in part by a Rivers of Steel Mini-Grant. The images these visitors created were diverse and breathtaking, capturing the power, beauty, and spirit of this National Historic Landmark. The experience tied together two of our area’s important industrial heritage sites, raising awareness of these treasures and their impact on the region and the world.
Sketching at Carrie. Photo by Anna Doering.
Croatian-born artist Maximilian “Maxo” Vanka was a classically trained artist who constantly sketched birds, animals, people, situations—and industrial structures. These Gledaj! sketching sessions were inspired by his bold murals emblazoned on the walls of St. Nicholas Croatian Church in Millvale.
“Maxo Vanka loved the grit and muscularity of Pittsburgh,” said Anna Doering, executive director of SPMMMV, pointing out that he first came here in 1935 and drew the dramatic landscape of factories and furnaces, as well as bridges, rivers, and the then newly constructed Cathedral of Learning.
Recruited by St. Nicholas’ priest, Father Albert Zagar, to fill the blank walls of his Croatian-Catholic church on a hill in Millvale, Vanka crafted 25 murals in two great bursts of energy in 1937 and 1941. They are a mix of religious imagery and poignant scenes of life for the Croatian immigrants who came to toil in Pittsburgh’s coal mines, iron furnaces, and steel mills.
“Look at The Immigrant Mother Gives Her Son for Industry, and there are blast furnaces in the background,” Doering reflected, referencing the murals. “Also in The Simple Family Meal. And Injustice: the flames at the feet of that figure [can be compared to] the flames of industry. Behind Father Zagar on the altar mural, you can see smokestacks and downtown Pittsburgh.”
Maxo Vanka’s mural showing Father Zagar, Croatian immigrants, and smokestacks of Pittsburgh. Courtesy of SPMMMV.
“So, tying the murals to Carrie and Rivers of Steel,” she continued, “the synergy is that both organizations are trying to preserve these parts of Pittsburgh’s history: its industry, its past, its workers. We’re telling very similar stories about the immigrant experience.”
The original concept for the sketching sessions came from a meeting between Doering and Pittsburgh-born architect John Martine, who traveled Europe drawing landmarks and landscapes. He also has a prestigious solo art career, along with connections to historical and preservation organizations. Martine remains involved in the sketching sessions that have featured other Pittsburgh sites and neighborhoods, with guidance from other local painters, architects, graffiti and mural artists, and educators.
Rick Landesberg, founder of Landesberg Design and retired faculty at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design, led the Carrie sketching session in 2023, and in 2024 he was joined by designer, artist, and CMU professor, Laura Vinchesi.
Rick Landesberg at the Carrie Blast Furnaces. Photo courtesy of Rick Landesberg.
“I have always kept a sketchbook,” says Landesberg. “It is an observational tool that helps you look. So, even if you only draw moderately well, it forces you to look carefully at things. The energy of observing goes to the page. How often do you really look at something for six minutes? You sure do when you’re drawing. You own it!”
This concept of intense observation closely parallels Vanka’s approach. His mantra was the Croatian word Gledaj!, which translates to Look! See! The term became the theme for SPMMMV’s sketching sessions, as well as the title of a past collaboration with Rivers of Steel at its Bost Building in 2023: Gledaj! The Gaze of Maxo Vanka. More than 130 of Vanka’s early drawings and preparatory sketches for the murals were on display.
In particular, Vanka’s views of Pittsburgh’s rivers, bridges, and industry seemed appropriately placed in the Bost Building, which received National Historic Landmark recognition for its role in the1892 labor lockout and strike most commonly referred to as the Battle of Homestead.
Landesberg was impressed by how the Carrie sketch participants, who had a range of skill levels, took Vanka’s Gledaj! message to heart, keenly studying the sights before drawing them.
For Shaun Slifer, a multidisciplinary artist, founder of Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, and creative director for the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, it was his first visit to Carrie, though he had been aware of it and had visited the Vanka murals multiple times.
“I was doing a lot of Gledaj-ing,” he laughed. “It was a great way to spend a Sunday. I had no idea what any of the structures were for, not having grown up here with the mills. I drew this high-up room with corrugated walls, like a tree house. It did make me want to take a tour of the site to learn more!”
A sketch by Sue Mals. Photo courtesy of Sue Mals.
Two-time sketching session participant and retired engineer Sue Mals added, “The more you quiet your mind, the more you see. While sketching, I did think about all of the many feet that trod before where I was seated to do my sketching. It was an interesting dichotomy that it was rather quiet with just some bird song in the air while I was sketching, whereas when the Carrie Blast Furnaces were operational, a loud cacophony of sounds would have been in the air.”
What emerged from the four-hour sessions were bold charcoal portraits of the furnaces, fine-lined ink pen renditions, soft watercolors and pastel visions, playful crayon depictions, and simple felt marker silhouettes. Some of the representations were even reminiscent of Vanka’s sketching technique.
“The styles that came out of it were quite broad,” noted Landesberg. “I was surprised at how many brought watercolors and brushes. Some folks really stretched their medium. The work of one artist—Gideon Kossoff’s charcoal drawings—were really loose, really active. He went at it with great energy, though he is, in person, a really soft-spoken guy.” Many of the participants focused on the behemoth Furnaces #6 and #7, while others like Slifer zeroed in on some small detail of a gear or bolt or tree nestled within the massive structures. In 2023, one of the artists even placed paper on the surface of one of the edifices and made a textured rubbing.
A sketch by Shaun Slifer. Photo courtesy of Shaun Slifer.
“I got interested in seeing the plants growing up through the slag and rust. I drew a crumbling wall,” Slifer explained. “The place was eerie but wonderful.”
Charles Lucas had worked in U.S. Steel’s Open Hearth #4 as a college student and currently takes commissions to paint religious icons. It was his second session at Carrie, and he felt a connection between the industrial remnants and Vanka’s images of workers: “There’s the image of the fallen worker and the women weeping for him. That’s the worker—the ‘grunt’—that’s who some would say worked at Carrie. But they weren’t. Those guys were amazing and knew how to do their jobs.”
“Carrie is a strange and magical place,” Landesberg said. “It’s peaceful now, like a cemetery, but a violent place when it was active. It has a drama to it, though now sitting still and silent. And just in sheer physical, graphic terms, it is an amazing place.”
A charcoal image of furnace #7 and the gas washer sketched by Gideon Kossoff. Photo by Lynne Squilla.
Just as Rivers of Steel has done with the Carrie Blast Furnaces, the Bost Building, and the Pump House, SPMMMV works to preserve the Vanka murals and their stories inside St. Nicholas Croatian Church in Millvale by constantly devising innovative programming that appeals to an ever-broadening audience. The partnership with Rivers of Steel has allowed both organizations to reach visitors who might not otherwise know about these sites or the Pittsburgh history and universal lessons they represent.
“With Gledaj! helped by the Mini-Grants, SPMMMV can launch new programs and ideas, test them out as outreach, which helps us to establish an idea and make it sustaining or find new support for these efforts,” Doering explained. “We can also reach out to other organizations, and having this matching component is always vital to show donors new reasons to give.”
Doering was pleased by how much the groups enjoyed the sessions in 2023 and 2024. “People loved getting out to places they’d previously never been to, getting together with new people with similar interests, and engaging around the Vanka murals’ stories. These timeless stories are a gift to every generation, connecting us to shared history and lived experiences that influence our region and our country today. Unique sites like these make Pittsburgh a one-of-a-kind destination.”
Slifer put it more simply: “I just thought it’s great that two organizations that I think are cool are doing something together!”
Carrie was just one location for SPMMMV’s Gledaj! Sketching Sessions. Since 2023, the program also brought groups to Pittsburgh’s South Side and Polish Hill neighborhoods, as well as Allegheny Cemetery. On September 8 there will be a session at Allegheny Commons in the North Side, and on October 6 inside St. Nicholas Croatian Church and Millvale environs to sketch from the murals themselves, along with the surrounding postindustrial neighborhood. For more information or to reserve a space in the sketching group, visit https://vankamurals.org/events-activities/sketching-sessions/.
About the Mini Grant Program
Rivers of Steel’s Mini-Grant Program assists heritage-related sites and organizations as well as municipalities within the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area to develop new and innovative programs, partnerships, exhibits, tours, and other initiatives. Funded projects support heritage tourism, enhance preservation efforts, involve the stewardship of natural resources, encourage outdoor recreation, and include collaborative partnerships. Through these efforts, Rivers of Steel seeks to identify, conserve, promote, and interpret the industrial and cultural heritage that defines southwestern Pennsylvania.
The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is one of twelve supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Funding is provided via DCNR’s Community Conservation Partnerships Program and the Environmental Stewardship Fund to Rivers of Steel, which administers the Mini-Grant Program.
Lynne Squilla is a skilled and creative storyteller. She honed her craft as a writer and producer / director of original scripts, documentaries, articles, web content, stage, and other live presentations. While her work has taken her across the globe, she’s rooted in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and has a passion for sharing stories about our region’s past.
Shiftworks’ Write the Rivers workshop with Sherrie Flick explored new ways of including the public in public art. Photo by Heather Mull.
Getting to Know: Shiftworks
The Getting to Know series helps you become better acquainted with some of Rivers of Steel’s partners throughout the eight-county Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area by featuring one of our community allies. For part two of the Shiftworks series, writer Jason Vrabel examines how Shiftworks Community + Public Arts serves its mission by creating opportunities for the public to engage in creating public art.
By Jason Vrabel, on behalf of Shiftworks
Expanding the Boundaries of Public Art
More than a dozen people fanned out across the Allegheny River shoreline in search of found objects—or in this case, more commonly known as trash. This area north of Pittsburgh is marsh-like near the delta of Plum Creek, but lush and forested farther inland. Aside from two fishermen, everyone there on a Saturday morning in June arrived by kayak, a 15-minute paddle from the 10.7 Marina in Verona.
They were there to create art with Monica Cervone McElwain, one of several artists commissioned by Shiftworks Community + Public Arts to design public art tours. Taking place between summer and fall, this program includes two different kayak journeys and multiple walking tours. Combined, the events share a common goal of educating people about what public art is, what it can be, and engaging them in the process of creating it.
A group of kayakers paddle towards the confluence of Plum Creek at Allegheny River in Oakmont. Photo by Ishara Henry.
Once everyone was on land, McElwain’s instructions to the group were intentionally vague: Go explore, and bring back anything you can reuse creatively
“This is a little bit of a choose your own adventure,” McElwain said. As a multimedia artist and art teacher, McElwain says the purpose of these events, now in their second year, is to create opportunities for art making, but also for adults to play.
As a regular visitor to this area, McElwain knows that her groups will mostly find bona fide trash—a lot of pop bottles and beer cans—but more interesting objects usually turn up, like decorative metal pieces of a stair railing, or a yo-yo. “I once found a beautifully preserved deer head . . . and, of course, I made something out of it,” she said.
The returning participants amassed a pile of human-made objects, like a rubber wheel and some river glass, as well as more natural discoveries like feathers and branches. One participant stayed out on the water and finally returned with two large sheets of crumpled metal, weathered by water and sun. To help with assembly, McElwain brought along fishing line, wire, and other art supplies.
Turtle Cove is only a few miles from the city border but feels much farther. Serene and pastoral, evidence of the built environment is scarce—except, that is, for River’s Edge, a new housing development on the other side of Plum Creek.
Most of the participants gravitated toward a sculpture McElwain had started previously, partially constructed with white PVC pipe. McElwain didn’t know for sure where the pipe came from but said it was “probably something that came from all that building across the creek.”
McElwain says trash is always present, but the inlet isn’t overrun with it. Even though cleaning up Turtle Cove is part of every trip she takes there (she hauls away as much as she can that is not “creatively exciting”), she isn’t heavy-handed about the environmental message. Instead, she wants her groups to pay attention to the natural environment and use it in their creative process.
“Seeing and hearing birds, and being in the sun with the wind hitting you helps pull in that natural environment when you’re creating,” McElwain said.
Monica Cervone McElwain creates an assemblage with found objects. Photo by Ishara Henry.
An Evolving Process
Previously known as the Office for Public Art, Shiftworks can be found where art intersects with civic design in the Pittsburgh region. The organization’s mission to catalyze change through civically engaged, artist-led projects in public spaces took on greater urgency during the pandemic. As social isolation was taking root, Shiftworks partnered with Riverlife (an organization whose mission is to activate Pittsburgh’s riverfronts) to encourage safe social gathering outdoors. The immediate result was a series of commissioned public art projects along the Allegheny River and Allegheny Landing.
This led to the formation of the Pittsburgh Creative Corps, a pool of local artists who can be called upon whenever new public art opportunities arise. More than 100 artists are now part of the Corps, some of whom have been invited by Shiftworks and its partners to propose and create their own projects.
Rachel Klipa, Shiftworks’ program manager for education, says these tours are educational and less intensive than many of the organization’s other programs, which often involve multiyear commitments between artists and the communities in which they work. These summer events are intended to engage artists who can create new opportunities for the public to participate in the making of art without a lot of constraints.
“We want to let people determine their own experience,” Klipa said. “We want to let them see what they want and create what they want.”
A Walk & Write with Sherrie Flick, (far right)/ Photo by Heather Mull Photography.
Walk & Write
Sherrie Flick is another member of the Corps who also curates experiential art events for Shiftworks. Her tours are by foot—mostly through parks and neighborhoods—and focus on the art of writing. Flick sometimes leads the tours herself but often collaborates with other writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
As an instructor at Chatham University and an accomplished author (with a novel and several short-story collections to her name), Flick designed the Walk & Write tours to spark creativity through movement and observation. Whether touring the built environment of downtown Pittsburgh or the natural landscape of Frick Park, participants are provided with writing prompts along the way. Tour guides may relay their own personal histories with the site or read from their own work to inspire writing within the group.
This summer, while exploring the physical space between the Ohio River and the shuttered Western Penitentiary, Flick’s co-host Sarah Shotland led participants along a trail adjacent to the neighborhoods of Manchester and Marshall-Shadeland. Officially known as State Correctional Institution—Pittsburgh, the penitentiary’s future has been a recent topic of debate. Those who see its historic architectural value want to preserve and reuse the structure, but others want to demolish a menacing symbol of incarceration and reuse only the land.
As an author who once taught writing to inmates inside Western Penitentiary, Shotland prompted participants to think about space—inside and outside. By juxtaposing the massive structure with the Ohio River just beyond the prison walls, tour participants moved through the space in between, while being prompted to consider the tension between confinement and freedom.
Many of us know how a short walk can help clear our minds. Beyond the scientific evidence that indicates we think differently when we are moving, Flick says we become better observers of our surroundings when we are passing through them. Flick teaches that good writing comes from keen observation, so to improve our writing, we must first improve our observing.
“Observation connects us to setting, which connects us to objects, which connects us to characters, and so on,” Flick said, noting that good observation skills are important to writers of any genre. Furthermore, “writing from a place of observation helps us write without judgment”—something that experienced and novice writers alike can learn over time.
“The main idea is you’re reacting to the observed world,” Flick said. By guiding people through a familiar place in a creative way, their perception of that place can change.
Walk & Write tours are designed for all kinds of writers at any level of ability, including those who don’t think of themselves as writers at all. Participants who have chosen to share their writing with their groups have written some great things, Flick says, but merely sharing observations about the places they visit can be just as valuable.
What is public art? How is it made, and by whom?
It’s generally understood that art, in a broad sense, includes music, dance, and other forms of creative expression, but people often associate public art with static objects such as sculptures and murals. While traditional forms of public art make valuable contributions to the public realm, broadening our collective understanding of what public art can be is part of Shiftworks’ mission.
“Public art is art that exists in the public realm, however briefly,” Klipa said. “Sometimes it may only be experienced by whoever is present at a particular place and moment in time.”
Shiftworks’ civically engaged art programs have supported artists whose work expands the boundaries of public art, often through ephemeral and experiential elements. Social gatherings, yoga sessions, theatrical performances, sewing, and cooking have all been foundational to Shiftworks-supported projects throughout the years. Because that kind of work requires deep community engagement and extensive training, and provides opportunities to only a limited number of artists, Klipa wanted the summer series to present opportunities for new audiences and artists to work in the public realm on a short-term basis.
“Public art doesn’t have to be an object,” Flick said. “The art ends up being all the written pieces the participants have drafted. I’m the conduit. They’re creating these little pieces that they can carry on and continue with.”
While the works of art made during McElwain’s kayak tours are objects, they’re ephemeral ones. The artists can no longer see their work after they’ve left the island, and because the inlet occasionally floods, the work will be washed away eventually.
In addition to creating more opportunities for the public to make art, Shiftworks has been equally committed to the ongoing development of the artists, by moving away from traditional public art walking tours to commissioning artists to design experiences in the public realm. To promote more artist-designed projects, Klipa says that Pittsburgh Creative Corps artists (even those with little to significant public engagement experience) are candidates for future tour commissions.
McElwain’s project was born from her own family kayak trips to Turtle Cove. (“Turtle Cove” isn’t an official place, but a made-up name given by an acquaintance of McElwain.) She had recently painted a mural at the 10.7 Marina when she got the idea to take the traditional art walking tour concept out into the rivers. Walk & Write’s origin was similar. Flick had been involved with Shiftworks tours of public art and architecture downtown since 2017; they were educational, but the overall experience was limited to discussions about existing art created by someone else.
Since then, Flick has allowed the Walk & Write tours to evolve into the participatory form they take today, and she appreciates the freedom she has to design or modify each one. “They’re different every time and not done by rote,” she said.
Sometimes they’re different in unexpected ways. Last year, a tour in Frick Park that didn’t account for early nightfall nearly had to be rescheduled until Flick proposed going forward in the dark—with headlamps. Klipa said this was a “great solution” and an example of both Shiftworks’ flexibility and the artist’s ability to adapt. Flick said the “night hike” was such a great experience, that this year’s park tour in September will not begin until dark.
Erin Mallea’s Sycamore Island tour. Photo by Ishara Henry.
No Beginning or End
The summer public art series embodies Shiftworks’ goal of helping our region understand the value of public art and the unique contributions of artists who work in the public realm. For McElwain, tours to Turtle Cove don’t really have a beginning or end, and the artwork her groups create will likely change by the time she returns. Because it’s not uncommon for visitors to alter the art, her next group will inherit whatever is there.
Already thinking ahead to next year, McElwain is considering ways to engage with other visitors—possibly through signage, notebooks, or QR codes—but doesn’t want to dictate what others do with whatever they find there.
“You may not understand it, but just be respectful” is the message she wants to convey to those who happen upon the artwork. After all, McElwain remarked with a laugh, she doesn’t interfere with fire pits left behind by “the kids who make their bonfires.” But she does recycle their beer cans.
Beyond whoever commissions or creates it, the most intriguing aspect of public art is who it belongs to.
Getting Involved
This year, Shiftworks’ public art events will continue through October. Artist Erin Mallea will lead two more kayak tours—to Sycamore Island, one of the few currently undeveloped islands in Allegheny County. There will also be three more Walk & Write events. A writing tour led by Nancy Krygowski will take place in Greenfield, and Flick will lead the September “night hike” in Schenley Park. Flick has also collaborated with local archivist and historian Jennie Benford to design a Walk & Write tour of Homewood Cemetery, which will occur later in October. An event schedule and registration information can be found here.
Derek Reese, Shiftworks’ manager of artist services, holds open office hours twice a week. Artists interested in working in the public realm can schedule in-person or virtual appointments through Shiftworks’ events page.
About Shiftworks
Shiftworks Community + Public Arts envisions a region in which the creative practices of artists are fully engaged to collaboratively shape the public realm and catalyze community-led change. Shiftworks builds capacity for this work through civically engaged public art, artist resources, public programming, and technical assistance.
Barney Terrell traces the origins of Carrie Furnaces’ baseballs teams from the earliest mention in 1895 through their final season in 1923 in this article about the players and the recreational culture that supported them.
The Carrie Nine & the Industrial Baseball Leagues
In the 1890s and the first decade of the 1900s, baseball was everywhere in the United States. Between 1876 and 1901, no fewer than six major leagues fielded teams. “Fast” minor leagues with high-quality teams proliferated to feed the increasing hunger for recreation and competition. Every town had its own ball club, and many business owners sponsored teams of amateur players. Industrial leagues were common in the Monongahela River Valley, serving not only as a source of pride for the mills, but also as a source of recreation and release in a time of brutal working conditions.
The Carrie Furnaces were no exception. June 22, 1895, saw the first mention of a Carrie Furnace ball club in local newspapers in a 17 – 14 defeat at the hands of the Consolidated Steel and Wire team. This Carrie Nine—a name referencing the number of players in the starting lineup—was likely brought together for weekend games to play against nearby mills in Braddock and amateur nines from Rankin and Swissvale.
The Pittsburgh Press, June 24, 1895 pg. 9
Between 1895 and 1907, the Carrie Furnaces likely had a team every summer. These teams scheduled games themselves and sometimes passed a hat through the crowd to take up a collection for the players. While not a part of established leagues, these teams served to promote athleticism, public goodwill, and comradery among industries, their employees, and rapidly expanding cities. Baseball was a sport where an individual could excel, but the outcome of a game was usually decided by the efforts of the team. Even the most uneducated, poorest, or least experienced players could make their mark by superior play. The Homestead Steel Works operated its own baseball league, occasionally supporting a dozen teams, each from a different part of the mill.
The Carrie Furnace Baseball Club & the Twilight League
In 1908, the Carrie Furnace club burst back onto the amateur scene in Pittsburgh, posting a 16 – 5 record between May and October. The team was dubbed The Millers in honor of their starting center fielder, H.V. Miller, who was a member of the chemical division at Carrie and performed testing on metal samples and gas. As the caption of the following picture points out, most of the club was drawn from the offices and chemical division at Carrie. The club played on Friday and Saturday afternoons, generally tracing the schedule of the Homestead Business Men’s League. This league was a “twilight” league for several years, fielding teams of grocers, plumbers, city employees, and office workers from the Homestead Works. Games were played at 5:30 p.m., meaning that all of the players were professionals during regular business hours. The majority of the workers at Carrie or Homestead worked six-day weeks of 72 hours or more and could perhaps catch a few innings of the games after their shift ended. Club backers, such as chief clerk Thomas Kenney, supplied uniforms and equipment and split scheduling duties with Theodore Hirsch, the assistant superintendent at Carrie. Hirsch’s son, Theodore Jr., was a student at Pitt as well as an apprentice in the electrical department at the Homestead Works.
The Millers were led on the field by two players: their namesake, Miller, and Fred Hosmer. Miller was a strong-hitting and superb center fielder. Fred Hosmer split his time between the outfield and third base. In three games for which box scores exist, Hosmer handled 15 chances at third base without an error—an exceptional defensive performance!
Gloves were common in baseball for over a decade by 1908, but most games were played on poorly kept fields and often extended into near darkness. Those factors, combined with the discoloration of the single ball used throughout the game, reflect the challenges in the game that one might not consider as factors today.
The Pittsburgh Press, October 11, 1908 page 22
At least two in Carrie’s club played college-level baseball before working at the iron mill and were the strength of the club. Hosmer played while studying chemistry in Maine. In the above photo, Philip Marks is mentioned as “formerly with Washington-Jefferson College team.” To be a truly competitive team in this time period, the most important positions were the pitcher and catcher. A pitcher who could throw quality curve balls and off-speed pitches (variously called in/out shoots and drops) gave a team a leg up. If one of those pitchers was on the team, however, you needed a catcher who could handle the speed and movement of the pitches. With Hosmer and Marks, Carrie had both. In Joseph Watters, they even had an extra catcher as good as Hosmer.
The next season, however, Marks left to take a job at National Tube in McKeesport, where he managed a team in the West Penn Amateur League. Watters also did not play for Carrie the next year, and the Carrie team disbanded in late August after having difficulty scheduling games.
The career of Philip Marks did not end at National Tube, however. He decided to go into medicine and spent nearly 30 years as the director of Pittsburgh’s Bureau of Infectious Diseases.
Pittsburgh Press, Feb 20, 1955 Page 10
A Return to the Amateur Scene with the Tri-Borough League
Carrie team baseball returned for a third time to the amateur scene in 1919. That year, teams from Braddock, Rankin, and Homestead formed the Tri-borough League. “Tri-borough” was a commonly used name for any amateur league in the Pittsburgh district—and the 1919 edition was at least the fourth since 1900. Pittsburgh, like much of the United States, saw an explosion of amateur and semipro teams in the years following World War I. By 1925, according to Rob Ruck in Sandlot Seasons, Pittsburgh featured more than 200 semipro and amateur teams in dozens of leagues.
The 1919 team was one of the strongest teams in the Tri-borough League. Ross Calihan, a chemist, played for both the 1908 Carrie team and the 1919 edition. He was about 35 years old in 1919 and appeared in only five games. The leader on the field for the team was Eddie Brannagan. Eddie and his brother Joe played for Carrie, while one of their other brothers, Tom, played for North Braddock. Eddie was a fast runner and good fielder, and led the Tri-borough League in stolen bases in 1919.
Pittsburgh Daily Post, July 27, 1919 page 21.
The Brannagans also performed in musicals and plays at the Carnegie Theatre in Braddock, while Joe was also a member of the Braddock Men’s Chorus. Their father played baseball in the 1880s and served as an umpire in the Oil and Iron League, where he likely saw the rise of Hall-of-Famer Rube Waddell. (George Edward “Rube” Waddell was from Butler County and played for several teams, including the Homestead Athletic Club and the Pittsburgh Pirates, in a peripatetic career. While an outstanding pitcher for six years for the Philadelphia A’s and St. Louis Browns, he is better known for chasing fire engines and appearing in vaudeville acts, according to legendary tales shared by his manager, Connie Mack.)
Besides Eddie Brannagan, Ernest Morgan was the best hitter on the team and is recorded as one of the fastest men in the league. Levi “Larry” Kilbury was called the team’s “Iron Man” by The Pittsburgh Press. On days that he was not pitching, Larry played catcher and corner outfield. Jess Cook, a machinist at Carrie, was the other main pitcher for the team. Their manager was Jim Lose, a mechanical engineer at the Furnaces who was originally from Kansas. Lose worked at Carrie for nearly 15 years and later served as executive vice president at U.S. Steel before his retirement in 1956. Larry Kilbury and Braddock’s Jess Scott were talented enough pitchers to get invitations to try out for minor league teams in Western Pennsylvania.
The Carrie Furnace club finished third in the Tri-borough League in 1919 and was invited back to play in 1920. However, Carrie lost its best pitcher in Jess Cook In their first game, Eddie Brannagan took the mound against McClintic Marshall and was torched for 11 runs. (McClintic Marshall was a large independent steel company involved in the construction of the Gulf Tower in Pittsburgh and the Panama Canal locks, among other projects. Located on land adjacent to the Carrie Furnaces, it was founded in 1900 by H.H. McClintic and Charles D. Marshall with funding from Andrew Mellon.)
The 1920 Tri-borough season was short for the Carrie Furnace club. On June 18, 1920, the league cut four teams to improve the quality of play; Carrie Furnace, St. Josephs, the Swissvale Windsors, and the Korch Crescents were dropped from the league. Between them, the teams had a record of 4 wins and 15 losses. The Carrie Furnace club lost its first five games. Only one of their players, Eddie Brannigan, was snapped up by another club—the same McClintic Marshall team that hit him hard in the opening game of the season. During the next five years, the Carrie Furnace team still played games against amateur clubs on the weekends but never got back into an established amateur league. Larry Kilbury was the captain of the club in 1922 and 1923 and scheduled games for the team.
The population of Pittsburgh more than doubled between 1890 and 1920 to 588,000. Baseball was, for immigrant workers in the mills and rural migrants coming into the cities, a common touch point—an introduction of the “American Pastime” and industrialized society. The Carrie Furnace teams between 1895 and 1925 featured immigrants, men from Pittsburgh: doctors, scientists, machinists, and railway engineers. While the “golden age” of Carrie Baseball was short, it is a great reminder that each individual who worked on the site has a story all their own.
Barney Terrell is a tour guide, historian, and researcher for Rivers of Steel and is a tour facilitator at The Frick Pittsburgh. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, a true crime author, and a trivia host.
The exhibition Safety First is on view at the Bost Building through November 15. Recently, Carly McCoy, Rivers of Steel’s communications director, sat down with Ron Baraff, the exhibition’s curator and the director of historic resources and facilities, to learn more about the culture and influence of the “safety first” mantra.
Safety First Q&A
Carly McCoy: Thanks, Ron, for sitting down with us today to chat about the new Safety First exhibition at the Bost Building in Homestead. I understand this installation is a new look at a topic visited by Rivers of Steel about 15 years ago for an exhibition. How is this display different, and why was it important to you to revisit this theme?
Ron Baraff: We went into the wayback machine for this one! The original installation was a great success and an exhibition that we hated to take down, so this seemed like an opportune time to revisit it. Working under the belief that repetition is the best way to enforce a message, “safety first” was and still is the mantra at all iron and steel facilities. Workers must always be on their guard, for their lives and livelihood depend upon their safety. Reminders are found at every turn—from the locker room to the work floor, and from the meeting hall to the boardroom. Safety is paramount. Safety means success for all.
CM: As you alluded to in your response, “safety first” is a phrase that is ubiquitous in this region—and I imagine other places with steel heritage. It’s embedded in our region’s culture. Would you say it crossed over into America’s collective consciousness?
RB: The term “safety first” is truly ubiquitous—not just in this region but worldwide. It is part of the common vernacular not just in industry, but for everyone. It has been used in marketing campaigns for anything from baby strollers to driving schools and video games. Hollywood has embraced the slogan, using it as a title for movies and television series. Why, Harold Lloyd, the great silent-film comedian, based arguably his most well-known film Safety Last as a play on the slogan. It is everywhere and eminently identifiable.
CM: What types of artifacts can people expect to encounter, and how did they come to be part of Rivers of Steel’s archival collections?
RB: The Safety First exhibition incorporates manuals, posters, signs, personal protection devices, and artifacts from our collections that allow visitors to see and experience what workers were exposed to on a daily basis to ensure their safety and promote an accident-free environment in the workplace.
CM: When you consider this exhibition, how are individual workers represented as compared to the collective “worker”?
RB: Throughout the twentieth century, measures were instituted by management, workers, and unions alike to lessen the dangers of the industrial workplace and maintain steady production rates. The culture of safety was ingrained into the everyday work practices of the mill through training classes, films, manuals, posters, signs, personal protection devices, and tools. Many of these daily reminders of Safety First made their way into the personal belongings of the workers. Rivers of Steel has been fortunate to be the repository of the keepsakes from the closets and attics of area steelworkers and their families. These artifacts didn’t come from the corporations, but rather from the workers themselves. They were an integral part of their everyday lives, ensured their survival and success and, thereafter, their memories of the workplace.
CM: You could argue that signage is at the heart of this exhibit, as it is the medium through which the safety messaging was communicated. What’s intriguing to me about signs is how the typography and images are so very reflective of the time and place in which they were created. What do the signs in the show say to you about the context in which they were created?
RB: One of the most effective means of delivery for the message of “safety first” was through posters and banners. Many of the posters used vivid and often humorous graphics and catch phrases to convey their message. Among the best of these posters are from the Jack Boot collection, which are dominant within the exhibition. They are so strikingly of their era—the 1960s and early 1970s. They are relatable, bright, and kitschy. Their message stays with you through their appeal and imagery.
CM: Tell us more about the Jack Boot series.
RB: Jack Boot was a graphic designer and printer from Munhall who made many of the most memorable posters in our collections. They use humor, vivid colors, striking imagery, and catchy phrasing to make their point. Jack’s widow donated the collection to Rivers of Steel several years ago, and they still stand as one of my personal favorites. They are memorable and creative but stay on point to ensure that the workplace culture always puts the emphasis on safety first!
CM: When’s a good time for people to view the Safety First exhibition?
RB: The exhibition is on view Mondays through Fridays, from 10:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m. through November 15, 2024 at the Bost Building in Homestead. Visitors are welcome to stop by, but it is helpful if tickets are purchased in advance—just so we know you will be visiting us!
If folks are not familiar with the Bost Building, it is a National Historic Landmark owned and managed by Rivers of Steel, designated so for its role in the Homestead Lockout and Strike in 1982. Today it serves as the visitors center for the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, in addition to offering permanent and temporary exhibitions in its galleries. It is also the headquarters for Rivers of Steel and the home to our archival collections.
Carly V. McCoy is the director of marketing and communications for Rivers of Steel.
With a passion for lifelong learning, Carly’s role as director of marketing & communications for Rivers of Steel allows her to draw from her experiences, both professional and personal, to amplify the many assets of the Pittsburgh region—celebrating its history, heritage, artistry, and innovation of its residents to encourage heritage tourism, community engagement, and economic revitalization.
Patrons gather with Sam Komlenic, right, whose donated collection contributed to West Overton’s new Pennsylvania Whiskey Heritage Center. Photo by Savannah Butler.
Community Spotlight—West Overton’s James B. Beam Pennsylvania Whiskey Heritage Center
The Community Spotlight series features the efforts of Rivers of Steel’s partner organizations, along with collaborative partnerships, that reflect the diversity and vibrancy of the communities within the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.
By Julie Silverman, Contributing Writer
A New Era for West Overton
Rye whiskey is making a comeback, and so is our way of telling stories about it. Surrounded by the agricultural countryside of Westmoreland County, you’ll find the town of West Overton, the birthplace of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. West Overton Village & Museum is also the ancestral home of the longest standing American whiskey brand, Overholt™—or Old Overholt as it’s known colloquially. This iconic brand has endured in an unbroken chain of production since 1810.
The land and home of Abraham Overholt, the founder of the brand, was preserved due to the efforts of Helen Clay Frick who purchased and conserved the site to honor her father. As early as 1928, she turned the family’s homestead, which includes a five-and-a-half story building that once housed the Overholt distillery and gristmill, into a museum.
Patrons celebrate the opening of a new exhibition space at West Overton. Photo by Savannah Butler.
The James B. Beam Pennsylvania Whiskey Heritage Center
This summer, the celebrated historic site is offering a brand-new experience. In collaboration with Suntory Global Spirits, the museum’s reimagined and updated second floor was recently unveiled. A key piece of this partnership’s purpose is to celebrate the history and legacy of Western Pennsylvania’s rye whiskey industry. Opening the James B. Beam Pennsylvania Whiskey Heritage Center is a watershed moment in presenting the storied history of Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey, also known as Monongahela Rye.
Aaron Hollis, the co-executive director of West Overton Village, shared, “There’s nowhere else that has this type of exhibit and story about Pennsylvania’s whiskey industry. A historical society or museum could have a few bottles from a local distillery, but this is the largest publicly displayed collection of Pennsylvania whiskey history anywhere.”
Pam Curtin, the museum’s director of visitor engagement, added, “The breadth of the collection is really remarkable. We think of Pennsylvania industry as coal and steel and agriculture, but the whiskey industry was significant to Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Rye was known around the country. Many brands were known around the world, and a lot of that history has been lost. There’s not really a place, other than right here, where you can go and see that.”
The centerpiece of the Heritage Center is the Sam Komlenic Gallery. Displayed inside this gallery are more than 450 objects dedicated to Pennsylvania’s rye whiskey production. “There are bottles, advertisements, crates, memorabilia, barrels, labels, and all sorts of different artifacts related to the industry,” Hollis said.
Collector and donor Sam Komlenic in the gallery named after him. Photo by Savannah Butler.
The heart of the gallery is a wall of bottles. Floating glass shelves hold more than 260 whiskey bottles from Pennsylvania distilleries, including bottles from when Overholt™ was produced in Broad Ford (or Broadford), Pennsylvania, from the era after production ended at West Overton. About 40 historic distilleries are represented of the more than 70 that were present in Pennsylvania in 1900. Names such as Dillinger, Gibson, and Schenley join Overholt as some of the most successful companies in the industry.
Curtin said, “It’s amazing that some of these bottles were able to survive. We also have memorabilia, from special-edition bottles to matchsticks and playing cards, which gets into how they were branding themselves. One wall of the gallery has high-resolution images of whiskey labels. Vinyl art pieces on the wall show the artistic branding that companies started to do, and that display resonates with people as well.”
One climate-controlled collections room is dedicated to viewing fragile objects that are part of a sampling of the museum’s 96 years of collecting. Textile artifacts share a space in the collection as well as more unique items, including a two-headed taxidermy calf, a 1940s X-ray machine, and a desk from the Frick office building.
Artifacts tell stories. They bring to light life in the region that goes beyond the whiskey industry itself. “We’ll be using the space for children’s programs, for field trips, taking student groups through there. We’ll use these objects as an opportunity to talk about life in the past and what the museum does, how a museum preserves objects. It’s a nice space for people to see what a collection looks like, how we store things, and how we preserve them,” Curtin said.
The new classroom in the Heritage Center is intended to be a multipurpose room. Biergarten-style tables fill the classroom that connects to the collections room. The education space connects both to the collections, and to a vintage-inspired, handcrafted bar and lounge.
“The Overholt Stateroom has got to be one of the most beautiful bars in the county,” Hollis said. “People go in there and say, ‘Man, I want to smoke a cigar and drink a whiskey in here,’ and that’s really the vibe that it gives.” It’s a top-notch, fully functioning bar decked out in Overholt’s artwork, including a line drawing of Abraham Overholt on the wall. The bar and lounge are a space that people can rent out for special private events with the added use of the attached classroom as part of the space.
The Overholt Stateroom. Photo by Cole Wilson.
A Resurgence for Rye Whiskey
Rye whiskey’s resurgence is benefitting tourism and the economy as the legendary drink is returning to the limelight. Following the region’s whiskey trail—including sites related to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794—has been enticing new connoisseurs who are interested in a taste of Pennsylvania’s history.
“You can follow the whiskey trail all through Washington County and back around to West Overton in Westmoreland County and Broadford in Fayette,” said Jaimie Hanson, Rivers of Steel’s director of tourism. “Putting together this new exhibition is a great way to bring in people who are interested in history, tasting, and education. Not only will having the facility bring more people to see West Overton, but also the draw of the varied programming that they already have there.”
“In the past decade, there’s been a growing interest and curiosity among whiskey enthusiasts for Monongahela rye whiskey,” said Lisa Belczyk of The Fizzy Coupe, which offers cocktail experiences and spirits education. “Rye offers a spicy, peppery, and assertive set of flavors that are exciting. The combination of big, bold flavors tied to a storied rebellious legacy has made Monongahela rye whiskey the basis for a complex cocktail of local flavors and history in a glass.”
Why is Western Pennsylvania a rye whiskey hub? “The distillers coming out here may have just had a really great taste for making whiskey,” Curtin said. “There’s a lot of factors that we’re still trying to understand that made Monongahela Rye so unique. What did people think about it, and what did it mean to them back then? We don’t have recipes as you might imagine, so there’s a lot of research being done to understand what somebody in 1850 would have defined as a Monongahela Rye. It’s nice to see a resurgence of interest in distilling today and a lot of the craft distillers wanting to recreate rye of their own.”
The museum at West Overton Village that houses the new Heritage Center.
A Legacy Intertwined—Rye Whiskey and America
Distilling in America dates to before the Revolutionary War. Once the country gave up rum during the revolution, rye whiskey became the taste of American spirits. Western Pennsylvania built a reputation for whiskey and a network of shipping that took the brand as far west as New Orleans. Abraham Overholt transformed whiskey distilling into a sophisticated industry.
“A lot of people think that whiskey distilling in Pennsylvania stopped after the Whiskey Rebellion,” said Aaron Hollis. “In reality, Pennsylvania had a huge industry of whiskey production that continued largely until Prohibition in 1920. Historically, the family that created West Overton moved here nearly ten years after the rebellion. The context for us is more about when this industry was born and what the state of distilling was.”
Even though rye whiskey distilling made Abraham Overholt a wealthy man, the rye whiskey flavor fell out of favor for many years. Although James B. Beam Distilling Co. has distilled Overholt™ since 1987, the allure of having an authentic experience with the place that created the iconic brand shaped the idea for the Whiskey Heritage Center.
It is rare to be able to visit the authentic home place of a whiskey brand. “It’s the spiritual home of a legacy whiskey,” said Hollis. “Suntory wanted people to have an authentic experience at the home place of that brand. The James B. Beam Pennsylvania Whiskey Heritage Center is the culmination of that partnership.”
(It’s helpful to understand the relationship between Suntory and Beam. The Japanese company Suntory Holdings acquired Beam Inc. in 2014 and became known as Beam Suntory; in May of 2024, the Beam Suntory company name was rebranded to Suntory Global Spirits.)
The homestead at West Overton.
Experience West Overton Village
“The unique part about West Overton is that Helen Clay Frick was able to preserve the site,” said Pam Curtin. “When we were researching some of the other distilleries, we saw how quickly they were closed or dismantled, or sold off to other companies to become something else. When Prohibition happened, Helen was able to preserve the distillery building as a museum. She helped make the site publicly accessible. That’s another rare dimension of this site: that the historic house and the whole collections building have been able to survive at all.”
The James B. Beam Pennsylvania Whiskey Heritage Center adds more depth to an already layered experience, one that begins with the historic legacy of Abraham Overholt, touches upon our region’s industrial history with Henry Clay Frick, and was preserved with the help of his daughter Helen. The compelling new display provides one more reason to visit the Village near Scottdale, Pennsylvania, adding a highlight to the already award-winning museum where guests follow the lives of 19th-century West Overton inhabitants. In 2020, the nonprofit opened its own Educational Distillery, producing its own brand of Monongahela Rye varieties. Three years later, its Forging Ahead and Falling Behind: Industrial Growth in a Rural Community exhibit was honored with the nationally prestigious Award of Excellence by the American Association for State and Local History.
West Overton Distilling Company Products
Stroll through the homestead of West Overton Village, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Regular site and museum visiting hours are May – October, Thursday through Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The lively history of West Overton Village will become a tactile experience for visitors who take part in the upcoming annual DIY History Weekendfestivities, on Saturday and Sunday, July 20 and 21. There will be an array of activities in which to participate, from history-inspired crafts to playing games that were popular in the 19th century. (Rivers of Steel will have a tent set up with samples and stories of steel industry and production, much of which was made possible by the manufacture of coke from the local area’s natural resources.)
Although the Whiskey Heritage Center will not be open for the DIY History Weekend, the Educational Distillery will be! Guests can stop by for rye whiskey samples, cocktails, and bottle purchases. Even for those who have visited West Overton before, there’s a whole new chapter to discover!
Julie Silverman is a museum educator, tour facilitator, and storyteller of astronomy and history for various Pittsburgh-area organizations, including Rivers of Steel. A Chatham University 2020 MFA graduate, her writing is most often found under the byline of JL Silverman. Occasionally, under the name of Julia, she has been seen on TV.
If you’d like to read our previous Community Spotlight story about West Overton, click here.
2023’s summer intern, Enrico DePetris, gives a thumbs-up after his first blacksmithing workshop.
The William Miller Summer Internship at the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop
By Lynne Squilla, Contributing Writer
The future of our region’s industrial history will be in the hands of the next generation.
That is a reality Rivers of Steel understands. Between its workforce development initiatives, public tours, demonstrations, and educational programs, Rivers of Steel is actively engaged in making sure that coming generations will be both interested and prepared for the challenges of preservation and interpretation at all of its historic sites. One of the most recent efforts is a unique internship at the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop in Greene County, a site Rivers of Steel has overseen since 2008.
T.J. Porfeli and George “Bly” Blystone, who help run and care for the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop.
“I am currently the youngest worker here,” says 42-year-old T.J. Porfeli, historic site coordinator for Young & Sons, which received National Historic Landmark status in 2017. “It was always my goal to bring younger generations in here to learn the historical aspects of this shop. If that means a 22-year-old takes my place who knows everything about it—that’s what I’d like to see!”
Porfeli’s vision got a boost in 2022 through a chance encounter with a local businessman, William Miller, who visited the machine shop for a tour.
“I was just telling him at one point that we’d like to keep the place alive by teaching younger people about it,” explains Porfeli. “This really struck a chord with him, and he said he also wants the place to continue to be here. So he asked what we hoped to accomplish and how he could help.”
The exterior of the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop, Rices Landing, PA. Photo by Richard Kelly Photography.
Soon after, Miller reached out to Rivers of Steel to brainstorm, and the result was a $50,000 endowment for an ongoing internship program to train Greene County youths in the machines, operations, history, and programs surrounding the foundry and machine shop.
Ron Baraff, Rivers of Steel’s director of historic resources and facilities recalled, “When Mr. Miller approached us about setting up a scholarship at the machine shop, we were ecstatic. He saw this as an opportunity to give back to the community in which he grew up and a fantastic opportunity to bring a new generation into the story—and we are so thankful for his generous donation.”
2023 saw the first student awarded the aptly named William Miller Summer Internship at the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop. Enrico DePetris, who goes by Ricky, was a 16-year-old student learning welding at Greene County Career & Technology Center, and he took the opportunity with energy and enthusiasm. Porfeli recalled a remarkable coincidence that occurred toward the end of the summer internship: “In August, Ricky was shadowing the tour guide and keeping an eye on the site. A guy shows up wanting a tour, so Ricky started explaining the machines and the history. And it was Bill Miller himself that wanted the tour! He got to see right there the fruits of his contribution.”
Ricky DePetris at the forge on a recent Sunday afternoon.
Porfeli continued, “I always said, if an intern walks in with the same feeling I have for this place, then that’s really what we’re looking for.”
Ricky remains involved at the site, returning to help with tours and special events.
The W.A. Young & Sons shop is located in the historic district of Rices Landing on the Monongahela River. It is a nearly 124-year-old facility where time stood still and its vintage machines remained intact. Its original owners, the Young family, and their workers kept the twenty-five belt-driven machines, such as lathes, drill presses, milling machines, and pipe and bolt threaders, running smoothly for decades, with few updates except replacing the power source, from steam to Bessemer gas to electricity. Currently, it’s powered by a tractor engine. The building also houses a small foundry with a blacksmithing forge.
The interior of the front shop, featuring the machines and the line shaft system. Image by Richard Kelly Photography.
Over the years, the shop’s talented machinists and pattern makers crafted parts to repair local factory and mine equipment as well as pieces for the paddleboats and steamboats that once docked along the banks of the nearby Monongahela River. When the doors were closed in 1965, local residents and volunteers watched over the site. For a while, it was stewarded by the Greene County Historical Society—that is, until Rivers of Steel took charge of it in 2008 and began securing funding for improvements. Restorations to the building and refurbishments to the machinery have since occurred. Regular tours and public events, like the annual Hammer-In Festival that features area blacksmiths, are becoming increasingly popular.
The site is a true industrial heritage gem and the only one of its kind in the nation, so it also provides an unmatched training ground for students who want to learn more about traditional machining, metal casting, and blacksmithing.
Kiera, the 2024 summer intern, works on a machine with Steve, a dedicated volunteer at W.A. Young & Sons.
This year’s summer intern, fifteen-year-old Kiera, is learning to become a machinist in trade school. Porfeli was impressed by her intense interest in everything: “Her very first day, she watched a volunteer oiling one of the machines and said, ‘Can I do that?’ Then she jumped in to learn how to cut and help install a damaged machine belt.”
Among the variety of machines these interns become familiar with are three different lathes, a milling machine, a shaper, a planer, a radial-arm drill press, belt-driven hacksaws, and a keyway cutter. The internship program teaches what each of these machines was used for and the kinds of parts they made. Interns also assist during the blacksmithing and small aluminum-casting demonstrations. Kiera will suit up and help pour molten aluminum, as well as learn how to hammer an iron hook, or hairpin.
Equally important to learning the nuts and bolts of the time-honored equipment and metalworking skills is the ability to tell the stories—to interact with the public and make history come alive.
Rivers of Steel’s director of education, Suzi Bloom, helped refine the application process and got the word out about the scholarship to high schools, trade-training centers, and youth groups, such as the Boy / Girl Scouts and 4-H clubs, across Greene County.
She described the additional benefits of this internship: “There’s a big focus now on career readiness, and this is a great opportunity for students to get those kinds of hands-on skills. That’s something not always thought of when you hear ‘preservation internship.’ They also get to do the tours, learning those ‘soft skills,’ like how to greet people, face them when you’re talking, projecting your voice in a room, and how to break down and explain the complex machines to anyone who walks in. Those are hard-to-get skills. Public speaking can be nerve wracking, so this is a nice small environment to learn those things.”
To apply for the internship, students are asked to share their personal interest in machinery and historic preservation, to describe why local history is important to them, and to relate how what they learn in this internship could benefit their education.
“It’s a good resume-builder,” said Bloom. “I have my position because someone gave me an opportunity to work and learn. It is important for us to reach into this rural community, which may not have as many experiences available for young people. It’s also important for them to learn about the ingenuity at W.A. Young & Sons. Some of what was done there was genius. There were no hardware stores to run to, so they had to make parts for whatever needed to be repaired.”
Rivers of Steel’s CEO August Carlino recognized Ricky DePetris at the 2024 Hammer-In Festival.
Porfeli is involved on a daily basis with the interns, and he believes that by the end of their internship, they will understand even more strongly how important it is to save these sites and traditional skills. “I want the legacy to be for future generations to come experience this site—there is not another like it without any modern-day machines at all. It was an art form what people did here. It will be lost—it’s going to be gone if new generations are not engaged to learn about it, care about it, and share the passion of it.”
Ron Baraff added, “We are always looking for ways to get people excited about our region and its rich history, especially at such a gem as the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop. Through projects such as the Miller internship, I feel confident that we can move the site into the future in capable and motivated hands!”
Lynne Squilla is a skilled and creative storyteller. She honed her craft as a writer and producer / director of original scripts, documentaries, articles, web content, stage, and other live presentations. While her work has taken her across the globe, she’s rooted in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and has a passion for sharing stories about our region’s past.
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Jordan Snowden is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh whose work has been published in The Seattle Times, Pittsburgh City Paper ,and elsewhere. She also runs @jord_reads_books, a book-focused Instagram account where she connects with other bookworms. In her free time, Jordan can be found with a book in her hand or DIYing something with her husband.
About Rivers of Steel
Julie Silverman is a museum educator, tour facilitator, and storyteller of astronomy and history for various Pittsburgh-area organizations, including Rivers of Steel. A Chatham University 2020 MFA graduate, her writing is most often found under the byline of JL Silverman. Occasionally, under the name of Julia, she has been seen on TV.
Barney Terrell is a tour guide, historian, and researcher for Rivers of Steel and is a tour facilitator at The Frick Pittsburgh. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, a true crime author, and a trivia host.
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