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Mar 23 2022
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The riverboat is passing under a bridge with the Pittsburgh skyline.

Rivers of Steel is Hiring for the Explorer Riverboat

By Press Room

Join the Team!

Rivers of Steel is excited to announce that we are hiring an additional part-time captain and deckhands for the Explorer riverboat!

Riverboat Captain – Do you have your USCG 100 ton Master’s License? Do you enjoy working with the public? Apply today to be a part-time captain on Rivers of Steel’s Explorer riverboat!
Deckhands – Deckhands are responsible for assisting the captain with deck operations. Qualified candidates should be comfortable working within a hierarchical structure and possess strong verbal communication skills.

Application Instructions

Please review the individual job listing for specific application instructions.

Rivers of Steel is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring, transferring, promoting, terminating, paying, training, benefits or any other actions affecting employees. Rivers of Steel does not make any personnel decisions based on an employee’s race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, ancestry, marital status, veteran’s status, non-job related disability or handicap, or other prohibited criteria as these terms are used under applicable law. Rivers of Steel abides by applicable federal, state, and local laws that govern human rights in the employment process.

Mar 19 2022
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Rivers of Steel Announces Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grants

By Press Room

Rivers of Steel Announces Folk Arts Grant Opportunity

Call for applications for the 2022 – 2023 Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

 

Homestead, PA (March 19, 2022)—Rivers of Steel is excited to announce the official call for applications for the 2022 – 2023 Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Open to folk and traditional artists from across the state of Pennsylvania, these grants provide funding over a one-year period to a partnership between a master artist and a qualified apprentice, enabling them to work together for in-depth learning that encompasses the acquisition of techniques and artistry as well as the context of the culture. Apprenticeships are offered annually in both performing and craft traditions.

Interested artists can read more about the grants guidelines and download an application here. All applications must be submitted to Dana Payne at danpayne@pa.gov by April 18, 2022.

As the Folk and Traditional Arts Partner Organization representing PA Region 14, Rivers of Steel is happy to work with artists residing in Allegheny, Beaver, Greene, or Washington counties who are interested in submitting an application for this program. Artists living in counties outside of this region can find their representing organization here.

Rivers of Steel has been a PA Folk Arts partner for nearly two decades, helping to celebrate and conserve this region’s diverse cultural heritage. This system of local and regional organizations convened under the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts forms a mutually supportive network specializing in folk and traditional arts.

Current partnership organizations, including Rivers of Steel, collectively serve 40 counties by promoting the creation and documentation of folk art; engaging the public in understanding the quality, breadth, and diversity of folk and traditional arts across the state; conducting critical discovery fieldwork in under-represented communities; and providing technical assistance for folk and traditional artists through workshops and gatherings.

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 through its historical and 21st-century attractions―offering unique experiences via tours, workshops, exhibitions, festivals, and more. Behind the scenes, Rivers of Steel supports economic revitalization—working at the grassroots level to deepen community partnerships, promote heritage tourism, and preserve local recreational and cultural resources for future generations.

Contact Carly McCoy at 412.464.4020, ext. 243 or by emailing cmccoy@riversofsteel.com.

Rivers of Steel   |   The Bost Building, 623 East Eighth Ave, Homestead PA 15120

riversofsteel.com

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Mar 11 2022
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A Literary Look: Jane Swisshelm’s Autobiography

By A Literary Look, Blog

A detail Jane Grey Swisshelm’s Self-Portrait, circa 1840-1845 / Senator John Heinz History Center, Courtesy of N.N. Moore.

Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm’s Autobiography, Half a Century

A Literary Look is a recent series that features recommended reads from the Rivers of Steel. For Women’s History Month, Dr. Kirsten L. Paine, our site management coordinator and interpretive specialist, reflects on one of her favorite historic Pittsburghers—Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm.  Working as a reporter, newspaper publisher, women’s rights advocate, and abolitionist throughout the nineteenth century, Swisshelm was a woman ahead of her time. Using her autobiography as a starting point, Dr. Paine leans on her own expertise in literature from that era to provide context for understanding this pioneering woman.

By Dr. Kirsten L. Paine

Tucked behind and rolling away from the Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark is land that once belonged to somewhat of a Pittsburgh legend: Jane Swisshelm. Some locals might hear her name and recall the blue historical marker near the corner of Braddock and Greendale Avenues in Edgewood. Other folks might know a bit about the newspapers she ran, or that she is credited as the first woman reporter to sit in the senate press gallery in Washington, D.C. Perhaps others are aware that she advocated for women’s rights.

Jane Swisshelm’s life drifts in and out of public knowledge, and the legacy she left behind is complicated and filled with interesting contradictions. We will explore the ins and outs of her complexities in a companion piece to this article later this month. But for now, let us take a look at a fascinating piece of writing: Swisshelm’s autobiography. Half a Century was first published in 1880, and in it, Swisshelm sets out to tell the story of her early life.

A painting of a younger Swisshelm paired with a photo of her decades later which show remarkable similiarity.

Two portraits, about twenty years apart. Left: Self-Portrait, Jane Grey Swisshelm, 1840-1845 / Senator John Heinz History Center, Courtesy of N.N. Moore. Right: Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm, journalist, activist, and Civil War nurse, Joel E. Whitney, photographer / Whitney’s Gallery, St. Paul. United States, ca. 1865. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Swisshelm’s narrative voice is engaging and witty. It is sharp, idiosyncratic, and can feel personable. Readers who enjoy memoirs, biographies, autoethnographies, and other forms of life writing might enjoy delving into this volume to get to know this interesting life of local lore. History buffs might enjoy the personal perspective on a galvanizing time in the American women’s rights movement, Civil War nursing, and Pittsburgh’s urban growth. There are many ways to read Half a Century. As March is Women’s History Month, consider reading it to understand what it means for a woman born in 1815 to tell her own story, in her own voice, and on her own terms in the nineteenth century.

Most people who know me know I am a scholar who specializes in American literary culture between 1790 and 1900 with a particular focus on women’s life writing from that time period. I love spending time with stories by and about women who challenge a world that is often inhospitable to their aspirations and ideas. Nineteenth-century women’s life writing has certain hallmarks. The writing can feel intensely personal even though the writer may not reveal much. Writers blur boundaries between public and private spaces and frequently indulge public scrutiny that might come with it. I enjoy investigating the purposes and limitations of this genre of literature.

So when I use the term “life writing,” I am taking it from two sources. In her 1992 book, American Women’s Autobiography, Margo Culley considers the term “autobiography” as three parts: “auto (self) / bio (life) / graphy (writing).” Then I combine that with James Olney’s perspective on the expansiveness of what “autobiography” can be. Life writing is autobiography, but it is also memoirs, journals, correspondence, scrapbooks, and other forms of composing the self.

Life writing is also intensely literary. Half a Century is a wonderful example of how a middle-class white woman in the nineteenth century uses rich simile, metaphor, and symbolism to make sense of the world in which she lives. She also has a strong sense of place. For example, she writes about her birth: “I was born on the 6th of December, 1815, in Pittsburg, on the bank of the Monongahela, near its confluence with the Allegheny” (10). In 2022, the building is long demolished, but it is still possible to trace the pathways of Swisshelm’s life in Pittsburgh by following her from the burgeoning little city out to the fresh air of Wilkinsburg and Braddock, then down the Ohio River to Cincinnati and Louisville, Kentucky. For the majority of her life, Jane Swisshelm did not stray far from one of the rivers that could, and would, eventually bring her back to Pittsburgh.

An illustration of the confluence of Pittsburgh's three rivers.

Pittsburgh during Jane Swisshelm’s era. View of Pittsburgh & Allegheny, Otto Krebs, Lithogrpaher.  Pittsburgh Pennsylvania United States, ca. 1874. / Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In Pittsburgh and everywhere else in the United States, the church played a critical role in people’s lives, no matter the denomination. Publicly accounting for one’s own spiritual journey is a key feature in autobiographies like Swisshelm’s. It is typical, then, for a writer like Swisshelm to lean heavily on religion as the lens through which she considers her life. She makes her spiritual journey central to how she understands her place in the world and why that place might not be enough for her. She was born to Covenantor parents, and the strict adherence to God’s authority over one’s every thought and action meant that Swisshelm had few opportunities to question or challenge that authority.

Early in her autobiography, Swisshelm writes about memorizing prayers and Bible verses at three years old, and alongside remembering preachers, sermons, and any religious education, she also writes about ghosts and cemeteries. At the beginning of one story Swisshelm recalls, “Grandmother took me sometimes to walk in these graveyards at night, and there talked to me about God and heaven and the angels” (15). Odd, yes? However, given the context of the early nineteenth century and the closeness people had with death, the graveyard is an ideal teaching tool for discussing mortality and the divine afterlife. Swisshelm muses, “I was sufficiently interested in these, but especially longed to see the ghost, and often went to look for them,” and sometimes she “went home to lie and brood over the unreliable nature of ghosts” (15). Her interests lie not solely in the dutiful contemplation of heaven and hell. She documents the fleeting, unprovable, weird parts of spiritual existence that, perhaps, cannot be learned by following all of the rules.

Swisshelm builds resistance to, and rejection of, authority throughout her narrative. It culminates in her methodical dismantling of marriage as an institution designed to subjugate her. The first chapter devoted to her doomed marriage to James Swisshelm is entitled, “Deliverer of the Dark Night.” In it, Swisshelm unleashes all of the ghosts that would continue to haunt her through her life. She writes about how “he had elected me as his wife some years before this evening, and had not kept it secret” (40). James Swisshelm pursued her for years, and by the acknowledgement of both her family and his, “he had been assured his choice was presumptuous, but came and took possession of his prospective property with the air of a man who understood his business” (40). Words like “possession,” “property,” and “business” highlight the transactional nature of marriage and her value as an object for sale. Small details like this lay a foundation for how she navigates the issues of women’s rights to property, to children, and to divorce, for the rest of her life.

In the nineteenth century, belief that women belonged at home regulated daily life for most people. Women largely relegated their influence to raising children and tending to domestic responsibilities. Laws barred women from voting and holding political office, and they were mostly prevented from pursuing higher education, training in professions, and owning businesses and property. In many ways, women were property, so there were very few opportunities to hold positions of public authority. However, Swisshelm rejects the expectations of the “woman’s sphere,” precisely because she cannot think of a woman who succeeded in escaping it. She “had never then heard the words, for no woman had gotten out of it, to be hounded back” (48). As so much of the narrative chronicles her journalism career and the public platforms she created in order to speak about issues that mattered to her, it is interesting to read about how she “had gotten out of it” and refused in every way imaginable “to be hounded back” (48).

The Civil War created many opportunities for women to leave their designated sphere. Jane Swisshelm was one of the hundreds of women who, through the United States Sanitary Commission and under the leadership of other women like Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton, nursed soldiers in ramshackle hospitals near every battlefield. This portion of Half a Century is of especial interest to me primarily because it is about Swisshelm’s service during the Civil War, but I also think it is a fascinating look at how a seasoned journalist tries to assemble fragments of memories that are all part of a great national trauma. Memoirs of female Civil War nurses abound, and Swisshelm fits hers well within the somewhat self-denying style and tradition of women writing about their service. On the surface of such narratives, a woman’s motivation is motherly devotion to the wounded nation. However, once a reader pushes beyond Swisshelm’s public assurance that she behaved herself and completed her duties without losing an ounce of femininity, they will start to see Swisshelm, yet again, pushing against the boundaries of an institution designed to slot her into a specific role.

She argued with Dorothea Dix over the “kind of women” who should be allowed to train as nurses and threatened to “apply to my friends Mrs. Abraham Lincoln and Secretary Stanton, and have your authority tested” (302). She recounts the horrors she witnessed in the aftermath of the battle of Fredericksburg. She cajoled doctors into pursuing better treatments, conversed with sick and dying soldiers as they looked to her as a refuge, and, by her own account in a chapter called “The Old Theater,” almost single-handedly saved an abandoned group of soldiers and cowering nurses (308–314). These chapters comprise most of the last third of the book and piece together Swisshelm’s movement from hospital to hospital.

Part of Swisshelm’s narrative provides the basis from which she discovers, and then defines, the parameters of her belief in abolition, which was, of course, the primary cause of the Civil War. It is important to remember that, as a white woman in the nineteenth century, Swisshelm’s ability to synthesize and discuss the institution of slavery is limited to the language available to her at the time. It is also important to remember that how she frames her belief in and work with abolitionist groups is always in relation to those with whom she speaks on a regular basis. Of course, that means the language she uses to discuss the institution of slavery is shockingly racist to contemporary audiences.

Language in nineteenth-century autobiography challenges modern readers precisely because it puts present-day understandings of how and why words and phrases are weaponized to hurt people over top of archaic models of storytelling. However, with Swisshelm’s narrative as an example, readers can consider how she commands a gut-level emotional response by cultivating sympathy. She does not sweep violence away to make it more palatable for people. Rather, the violence embedded in her language and in her descriptions of violent acts are there to provoke anger, outrage, and even perhaps a little disbelief. After all, she writes about her first encounters with enslaved people while trying to reckon with the haunting scenes of violence that seemingly called her to action.

Those moments in her autobiography are bitter and deeply unpleasant, even as those same moments help readers understand how nineteenth-century people lived and wrote about their society, environments, and experiences—but proceed with caution.

A concrete relief sculpture of a woman's progfile set into a brick wall.

Photographer’s note: “This is one of four small, hard-to-spot stone reliefs built into a brick wall in the Coffee Way alley downtown, c. 1865. The artist is unknown. Exactly whom this relief represents is not recorded; it is speculated that it Mary Croghan Schlenley, a noted Pittsburgh philanthropist of the day; or Jane Grey Swisshelm, an American journalist and abolitionist.” One of dozens of examples of exemplary public art and architecture, some old, some new, in the venerable “Steel City” of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, 2019. Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Of course, Half a Century delves into Jane Swisshelm’s journalism career. She details every paper she ever started, discusses in detail her approach to reporting and editing, and wields the power of the press to advocate for sweeping political, social, and economic advancements for marginalized groups of people. Readers who know Swisshelm’s extensive body of work in this arena will not be disappointed by the stories she tells.

I plan to use this part of the book as a pivot point for a companion piece about Swisshelm’s activism via the press. While it might reference Half a Century, the next piece on Jane Swisshelm will not be about her autobiography. It is a deeper dive into her journalism career as it relates to causes that eventually impact labor in the late nineteenth century.

Physical copies of Half a Century might be difficult to find because it is out of print, but it is easy to access online. Search for the book title and author on archive.org and enjoy one of the high-quality digitized copies located there.

Bibliography

Culley, Margo.  American Women’s Autobiography: Fea(s)ts of Memory.  University of Wisconsin Press, 1992.

Olney, James.  Memory and Narrative: The Weave of Life-Writing.  University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Swisshelm, Jane.  Half a Century.  Jansen, McClurg & Company, 1880.

Image Credits

In order of appearance:

Swisshelm, Jane Grey, painter. Self-Portrait. Ca. 1840 – 1845, painting. / Senator John Heinz History Center, courtesy of N.N. Moore.

Whitney, Joel E, photographer. Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm, journalist, activist, and Civil War nurse / Whitney’s Gallery, St. Paul. United States, ca. 1865. [St. Paul, Minnesota: Whitney’s Gallery] Photograph. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Krebs, Otto, Lithographer. View of Pittsburgh & Allegheny / Otto Krebs lith., Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Pennsylvania United States, ca. 1874. Photograph. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. One of dozens of examples of exemplary public art and architecture, some old, some new, in the venerable “Steel City” of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Allegheny County United States, 2019. -07-05. Photograph. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Enjoy Dr. Kirsten L. Paine’s article? Read another story from the A Literary Look series. 

Mar 10 2022
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A two story clapboard house with five windows on the upper level, and four on the bottom with an offset door to the left.

Community Spotlight—The Ambridge Bicentennial House

By Blog, Community Spotlight

An early rendering of the Bicentennial House by Cochran Associates Architects. Courtesy of AHEDEC.

Community Spotlight

The Community Spotlight series features the efforts 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 Gita Michulka, Contributing Writer

The Ambridge Bicentennial House: A Community Preservation Project

A historic building nearly condemned to demolition is now on the path to preservation. Located at 284 13th Street in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the almost two-hundred-year-old house is one of the earliest residential Harmonist buildings, part of a religious community built on the banks of the Ohio River north of Pittsburgh. Dubbed the Bicentennial House, the structure is now a registered National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“Looking into the Bicentennial House, what we’ve determined from digging out records that are housed at Old Economy Village, we found that it was built in the summer of 1824 and is one of the Harmonist’s first six buildings,” says Carl Sutherland, project coordinator for the restoration project. “We don’t know if it’s the first or the sixth, but it was built to house the advance group of Harmonists, the carpenters and masons and finishers who were the first people to land to build structures for the rest of the party as they came to Ökonomie (now Ambridge).”

A white clapboard two story house with a failing porch roof.

The Bicentennial House before work began. The building was dubbed the Bicentennial House by the Ambridge Historic District Economic Development Corporation in celebration of the 200-year anniversary of the Harmonist village in Ambridge that will occur in 2024. Courtesy of AHEDEC.

Sutherland is a key member of the Ambridge Historic District Economic Development Corporation (AHDEDC), a nonprofit whose mission is promoting the district and its economic viability, along with Steve Roberts, chair of AHDEDC, and Michael Knecht, AHDEDC board member and site administrator at Old Economy Village. A combination of their efforts can be credited for bringing this project to life.

“I guess you could say it’s my fault,” says Roberts, laughing. After working for years on revitalizing the Mexican War Street houses in Pittsburgh’s North Side, Roberts made the move to Ambridge, to a log cabin across the street from the Bicentennial House.

“When I came here, I saw this Harmonist house that most of the street said, ‘I wish they’d tear that down’,” notes Roberts, who is also a realter with Keller Williams. “It was just sitting empty. I looked it up and found out that it was owned by somebody out of state that had bought it at a tax sale. And I talked her into listing it and putting a sign up. And gradually that sort of started to change people’s minds—if something had value to sell, then maybe it’s, you know, something different.”

As time passed and no offers came in to purchase the home, Roberts began urging the other members of AHDEDC to take on the project. His efforts paid off, and the owner of the home agreed to donate it to the organization.

Momentum for preserving this piece of the community’s history grew from there. After Preservation Pennsylvania designated it as one of the seven most important historic buildings “at risk” in Pennsylvania, they granted AHDEDC $5,000 to have a feasibility study prepared. This allowed the group to then pursue additional funding.

In 2021 the organization was awarded funding through Rivers of Steel’s Mini-Grant Program to secure the building and remove exterior hazards, including a collapsing porch and rear addition. The grant allowed for in-kind volunteer hours as part of the required match, which Sutherland notes was critical to their progress.

“The one thing that’s wonderful about the Rivers of Steel grant is that inclusion of in-kind labor. We’ve got a lot of volunteer labor that can be utilized,” he notes. “We needed so many hours against the grant—we’re approaching double that at this point.”

“Carl has really worked hard to stabilize this building,” continues Roberts. “He’s done everything from coordinating weekly ‘work parties’ to unifying the volunteers, to literally cutting down trees and planing them to make the right-sized beam to go under part of [the house] that needed to be jacked up. We’re a small group, but it’s pretty cool to be doing this kind of work and seeing the progress.”

The same house with the porch roof removed and a new white picket fence.

Volunteers were essential in helping to complete the early stages of the work. Courtesy of AHEDEC.

The completion of the work funded by Rivers of Steel then led to a Keystone Historic Preservation Planning Grant, which the organization utilized to hire MCF Architects to develop final plan options and create specifications for restoration and renovation. These plans will allow AHDEDC to solicit bids to complete the work while simultaneously pursuing a larger fundraising campaign, both next steps on the path to a 2024 bicentennial celebration of the house and the Ambridge Historic District.

Additional funding and partners will be sought to finish the structural stabilization, restore the exterior of the house, complete the interior renovations, and finally to develop programming for its use. As they work through this list, Roberts hopes they can continue to grow momentum, both for this project and other community development projects in the area.

“I came from Pittsburgh and was involved with a community development corporation (CDC) And Pittsburgh was well supported with CDCs all over, in every neighborhood, that were funded through both the foundations and the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and they made a huge difference because they took on buildings and they redid them,” says Roberts. “A lot of that just doesn’t exist out here in Beaver County. The support we’ve gotten from Preservation Pennsylvania and Rivers of Steel is really sort of cracking a door open, because it’s something that really hasn’t been done.”

Knecht, who has also been involved with the project since the beginning, wholeheartedly agrees. “The Rivers of Steel grant was a major shot in the arm and boost to the entire project. The work that we’ve been able to accomplish with those funds really has raised awareness of the project in the community. They see work going on as a result of the grant, and it definitely has people talking about what’s going on with the house and asking what are your next steps and things like that.”

“We felt it was critical to show the community how, through creative partnerships and fundraising, and hard work and elbow grease, you can bring a house like this back to life and give it new meaning for hopefully another 200 years,” Knecht continues.

A new sign is displayed onsite detailing the historic designations and the work that is ongoing.

As they near this celebration of 200 years of history, Roberts sees potential for the future of the Ambridge Historic District. “Part of the whole point of all of this, in little towns like this that have hit sort of rock bottom after all the steel mills left, is a revitalization. And finding some hook that gets them to be a destination point. Old Economy Museum is not large enough by itself, because you really want a walking area and shops to go to, and so getting beyond that and making the whole area of the historic district a destination point, then it makes Ambridge more of a destination point.”

“Our little step on the Bicentennial House, and support for it from funding partners like Rivers of Steel, is really sort of an eye opener in a way, of what we need to do or maybe do on a bigger scale,” he continues. “So that we just don’t sit here and wait for things to happen or fall down or get torn down, but to actually make a difference.”

To learn more about the Ambridge Historic District and the Bicentennial House, visit ambridgehistoricdistrict.org or follow Ambridge Historic District Economic Development Corporation on Facebook.

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. The Ambridge Historic District is one of six organizations who received Mini-Grant funding through this program in 2021.

Gita Michulka is a Pittsburgh-based marketing and communications consultant with over 15 years of experience promoting our region’s arts, recreation, and nonprofit assets.  

If you’d like to know more about community projects supported by the Mini-Grant Program, read Gita’s recent article about the Josh Gibson Foundation’s collaboration with local teens to create an educational app.

Mar 10 2022
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Rivers of Steel Awards Round 26 Mini-Grants

By Press Room

Rivers of Steel Awards Eight Mini-Grants

Funding for local nonprofits provides $60,000 for heritage tourism,
community development, and placemaking initiatives

 

Homestead, PA (March 10, 2022)—Rivers of Steel recently awarded $60,000 to eight nonprofit organizations within the eight-county region of southwestern Pennsylvania that the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area represents.

Rivers of Steel Heritage Area’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.

Mini-Grants were awarded to:

Battle of Homestead Foundation, $4,881, for an archival project that includes the acquisition, digital conservation, and publication of the organization’s digital and physical assets to support community outreach.

Brownsville Perennial Project, $12,000, for the creation of a public greenspace in downtown Brownsville that supports recreation, community gathering, and a strengthened connection to businesses, historic tourist sites, and riverfront amenities.

Dragon’s Den, $6,500, for the restoration of an architectural model of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Homestead, crafted in 1895 by architect Frederick Sauer; the project will support heritage conservation and tourism efforts by showcasing the structure that was destroyed by fire in 1936.

Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy, $5,129, for a storytelling campaign that will capture first-person narratives among stakeholders in the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area and near the Great Allegheny Passage and will encourage tourists to explore the region’s recreational assets.

Kelly Strayhorn Theater, $6,490, for equipment upgrades and backstage renovations that will enhance the Producing Partners program, which supports local producers of diverse productions.

Fort Pitt Museum / Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, $5,000, for educational programming that is created in collaboration with federally recognized Indigenous American tribes historically present in western Pennsylvania to share their history and culture.

Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka, $10,000, to complete conservation of the St. Francis and St. Clare murals, further refine the treatment plan for the next seven murals, and increase public accessibility to these nationally significant artworks.

West Overton Village and Museums, $10,000, for wayfinding and wayside signage that will allow for a more interactive and educational experience for guests.

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.

As part of its ongoing diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion efforts, Rivers of Steel gave special consideration to black- or minority-led organizations and organizations that serve a majority BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color) audience and communities. Rivers of Steel is committed to working with organizations who share our long-held belief in diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion and is committed to fighting systemic racism and discrimination against people of color.

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 through its historical and 21st-century attractions―offering unique experiences via tours, workshops, exhibitions, festivals, and more. Behind the scenes, Rivers of Steel supports economic revitalization—working at the grassroots level to deepen community partnerships, promote heritage tourism, and preserve local recreational and cultural resources for future generations.

About the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area

This eight-county region is one of 55 National Heritage Areas designated by the U.S. Congress and one of 12 State Heritage Areas. A National Heritage Area is a place of national significance to America. For Rivers of Steel, Congress recognized the industrial and cultural heritage of southwestern Pennsylvania. Through a public-private partnership with the National Park Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Rivers of Steel supports heritage conservation, heritage tourism, and outdoor recreation as a means to foster economic redevelopment and enhance cultural engagement.

Contact Carly McCoy at 412.464.4020, ext. 243 or by emailing cmccoy@riversofsteel.com.

Rivers of Steel   |   The Bost Building, 623 East Eighth Ave, Homestead PA 15120

riversofsteel.com

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Feb 25 2022
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A black man wearing a work life vest on a boat with a bridge the skyline in the background.

Profiles in Steel: John Mahn, Jr.

By Blog

John Mahn, Jr., at work on the Explorer riverboat.

Profiles in Steel

Rivers of Steel’s Profiles in Steel series shines a spotlight on the talented members of our organization’s community.  From staff and volunteers to collaborators and patrons, it takes a dedicated group with many and varied talents to support the community-based initiatives offered through Rivers of Steel.

In this installment, we meet John Mahn, Jr., a deckhand on the Explorer riverboat. Breaking barriers is something John Mahn, Jr. has been doing his entire life, from his time working in the steel industry to his recent distinction as the first Black person appointed to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. While he understands the significance of such steps, what is really important to him is connecting people with the outdoors.

John Mahn, Jr.’s Story

By Brianna Horan

Meet John Mahn, Jr.

If you’re looking for John Mahn, Jr., the odds are good that you’ll find him outdoors and near a body of water—preferably with a fishing rod in hand.

His favorite local spot these days is Cross Creek Lake in Avella, where John and his then eight-year-old daughter, Brandee, were among the first to cast a line when it opened for public fishing in 1985. He spends a lot of time on the Monongahela River—John’s last name happens to sound the same as its nickname, the Mon—because it’s so close to his home in Charleroi. The part of the Youghiogheny River near his home runs slower and shallower than in other areas, making it good for wading. John knows a lot of great fishing holes “all up and down I-79,” and if he follows it north to Erie, he can take the boat he has docked there out on “the big lake.”

Growing up as a youngster in Cambridge, Massachusetts, John’s draw to water was just as strong, but his options were considerably more limited. “It was a city; we didn’t have creeks running everywhere like in Pennsylvania. There was the Charles River, and that was about it,” John says. He quickly figured out that the best fishing in town was at the local water supply lake, which were all ringed with ten-foot fences topped with barbed wire. “They had blue gills, sunfish, and bass in them, though, so if I wanted to fish, I’d sneak under one of the fences and hide in the bushes to fish from there.” His parents also helped him experience the great outdoors whenever the opportunity arose. “My dad wasn’t a fisherman. He wasn’t outdoorsy or anything like that—but he was into whatever his kids were into,” John says. “My older brother was into scouting, so my dad got into scouting. I liked to fish and run around in the woods, so my mom and dad made sure I got plenty of that. I went to church camp, I went to scout camp, I went to YMCA camp, and I even went to the Jewish community center camp.”

He remembers the impact that those experiences had on him as a child, shaping him into the person he is today. Retired from a 35-year career as a supervisor in the steel industry, John is heading into his eleventh season as a deckhand on Rivers of Steel’s Explorer riverboat, having joined the crew when the vessel was owned by RiverQuest. Explorer was built as a floating classroom, and it typically welcomes 3,500 students on board every year to participate in hands-on education programs. In a region that is defined by river valleys, creeks, and waterways, for many students these field trips are their first experience on the water.

“The first thing they ask me is, ‘Where is the poop deck?’” John laughs. “They all want to see the poop deck, and I have to tell them that we don’t have one. Then they see [Explorer’s Captain] Ryan [O’Rourke], or they see me, and they say, ‘You mean you can actually make money working on a boat?’” It’s an eye-opening experience before the education programming even begins. “I think about it every time we have those kids on the boat,” John says. “They have so much available right in front of them, and some of them are clueless about the opportunities that they have. It’s kind of sad in another way, because I think about some kids like me who never get the opportunity, and this is right in their back yard.”

John Mahn, Jr. and Magisterial District Judge Eric Porter pose for a picture together after John’s swearing in to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission in December, 2021.

Connecting Kids with the Outdoors

Connecting kids with the outdoors is one of John’s top priorities in his newest role as a Commissioner appointed by Governor Tom Wolf to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Appropriately, John made sure Washington County Magisterial District Judge Eric Porter, who John used to take fishing when the judge was young, swore him into the position. “He was a classmate of my son John Wesley’s, and when he was little the only way I’d get him to go fishing with me was to take a friend with him.”

The Fish and Boat Commission is an independent state agency with a mission to protect, conserve, and enhance the Commonwealth’s aquatic resources and provide fishing and boating opportunities. John will serve as a commissioner for the next four years representing District 2, which includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. John will serve not only the current anglers and boaters in his district, but also those who have yet to realize their passion.

“I told our executive director the other day the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is so far off of these kids’ radar. If you’re growing up in Homestead or Braddock, the Fish and Boat Commission might as well be on the moon it’s so far away from you,” says John, who is working on an initiative with the agency that would bring conservation officers and outdoor recreation instructors into classrooms to talk about all of the ways to enjoy time in nature. “Something that always sticks with me is the idea that talent is evenly distributed, and opportunity is not. There is no doubt that there are some future outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen sitting in the schools—they just have to get the opportunity to get outside,” John says. “Some of them will grab it and run if they’re given the chance. The worst thing you can tell a kid is ‘You’ll never be able to do that,’ or ‘We don’t do this.’”

Two images of John Mahn holding up fish he caught.

Left: John Mahn holds up a norther pike in Ontario, Canada. Right: John Mahn shows off a lobster on his friend’s boat, off the coast of Cape Ann, Massachusetts.

A Life Filled with Firsts

Limiting preconceptions like those held no water in the home John grew up in or in the life that he’s shaped. At age 71, John is the first man of African American descent appointed to the Board of Commissioners, a stride that begins to make the agency more representative of the population it serves—particularly at a time of increased scrutiny of the barriers that people of color face when accessing the outdoors are encountering increased scrutiny. But being the first or only Black person in a space is nothing new to John.

“I understand the significance of it, and I want other people to understand the significance of it—but to me, it’s not a big deal because I’ve run into it so much in my life,” John says. “If there was something I wanted to do, I wasn’t going to let anyone else tell me that I couldn’t do it. I love to fish, and I would go to different places to fish, and I would run into the same thing—people who’d say that you can’t stay here. Well, I’m here, I came here to fish, so I’m going to find a place to fish. I never let that bother me. I would do what I had to do.”

John’s mother modeled that same mentality and determination while he was growing up in the 1960s, whether participating in sit-in demonstrations at the local Woolworth’s lunch counter or insisting that her sons be educated alongside white students at the local public school. “There were only two high schools in Cambridge, a vo-tech school, and Cambridge High and Latin School,” John explains. “If you were Black and you were a boy, you were going to the vo-tech because you weren’t going to college.” But that wasn’t going to be the case for the Mahn boys—their mother engrained the notion that they would be college graduates before they were old enough to understand what college was. John’s older brother, seven years his senior, was one of the first two Black males to attend High and Latin in the early 1960s. John couldn’t help but notice that his brother came home from school with torn shirts and black eyes almost daily during that first year. It also didn’t escape his attention that his own elementary school principal—who lived across the street—drove past him every day as he walked to school. “When I went to school my classes were integrated, but when I went home the neighborhoods weren’t,” John says. “I didn’t know it at the time, but we were redlined. I never thought much about it, that his side of the street was white, and on my side of the street it was all Black. And I didn’t know about redlining at that time. All I wondered was how come Mr. Murphy sees me every day going to the same school he’s going to, it’s wintertime—why didn’t he offer me a ride?”

Shortly after John’s older brother graduated from High and Latin and began his studies at Franklin & Marshall College, their mother passed away. John was in eighth grade at the time, and also had a younger sister. “A single parent back in those days was almost unheard of,” John recalls. “My dad now had three kids and a job [as a machinist] to handle.” The Fox family, who had employed John’s mother  as a domestic, helped his father formulate a plan to enroll John in a boarding school just south of Boston. With John’s older brother away at college, that would leave only his little sister at home.

The year he started at Milton Academy, he was one of the first three Black students admitted in the boarding school’s history—one in eighth grade, himself in ninth grade, and another in tenth grade. “For myself, I think the Jewish kids had a lot harder time of it than I did,” John says. “I remember people saying the N-word, not directly at me, but within earshot. As far as being treated differently or being treated poorly, I didn’t remember that as part of the experience.”

It was during these years that John began to realize his love for boating, joining his friends on their families’ boats and cruising from Boston to Maine. “Every day was like an adventure,” he recalls. “You never knew who you were going to run into, you had to plot a course, you had to navigate by compass and buoys. You never knew right where you were. You might sail all day and never see another boat.” John also worked on a lobster boat during high school. “There was a lobsterman, and we said we were helping him, but we were just in his way, really. He put up with us and let us haul the traps,” John recalls.

Eager to see more of the world outside of Boston and Cambridge, John followed his brother’s path to attend Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1968. The school became co-ed while he was a student there, so his younger sister also enrolled there when she graduated from high school. Finding adventure in the great outdoors remained a priority for John, and he spent the summer of 1971 in a Rambler on an epic road trip with high school friends. They headed west across the United States and then back east via Canada, camping in National Parks and staying with friends and family along the way.

John, his mother-in-law Maxine, with his wife Jeannie celebrate the holidays.

Making a Home in the Mon Valley

Another thing John found in college: love. John and Jeannie met while attending a friend’s wedding in New York City—he was a friend of the groom, and she was a friend of the bride, and soon they were married themselves during John’s junior year. “When I graduated, it was time to figure out what we were going to do. She wanted to stay in New York, and I just could not do it—I am not a city boy. We couldn’t afford to move back to Boston. So, reluctantly, she agreed that we could move back here,” he said, referring to Jeannie’s hometown of Charleroi. “We’d visited many times while dating, and there was a strong outdoor tradition that I was into.”

Jeannie ended up moving back ahead of John, and her father helped her get a job in human resources at Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation’s Allenport Works, where he worked as the only Black supervisor among about 3,000 employees. When John arrived in Charleroi to join Jeannie, the young couple lived with her parents at first. His father-in-law let John know that the plant manager at the Allenport Works was aiming to hire another Black supervisor who had a college degree. “I’m sitting at the table eating his food, and he’s telling me that so-and-so’s looking for a worker—so I figured I better try it. And so I went and had the interview,” John says.

John landed the job, and he and Jeannie moved to an apartment in little California for about a year, about ten miles from where they’d been living with her parents. “My wife is from a very large, tight-knit family, and she felt it was too far away from them. She wasn’t seeing her family as much as she wanted to be, so we bought a house in Charleroi so she could be closer to them,” John says.

By the late ’70s, John Wesley and Brandee were born, and Jeannie left her job at Wheeling-Pittsburgh to raise their children. John advanced through managerial positions at the mill over the course of a thirty-five-year career. “I can’t say anything bad about the mill. I bought a house, I put two kids through school. It was a good living, and it served our needs,” John says. “I ran the roll shop until I retired, and I was the supervisor the whole time. The one thing I liked about it was that the majority of the guys I supervised had the same interests that I did. I wasn’t a golfer, so I didn’t golf—but it seemed like everyone that worked under me was either a hunter, a fisherman, or a boater. So when I was off, I was always doing one of those things.”

Some of the men who John managed weren’t interested in finding common ground, however. “Once Jeannie’s dad retired, I was the only Black supervisor in the mill.” And while this wasn’t a new experience for him, he saw clear differences between the way that the mill workers reacted to his presence and the way his fellow students had treated him in school. “Adults are sometimes not afraid to express their true selves. I had to supervise guys who didn’t take kindly to me giving them orders, and they made that known . . . Let’s just say the Mon Valley wasn’t the most enlightened workforce. The guys worked hard. They had hard jobs—they had hot, dirty, uncomfortable jobs to do. I give them credit, but there was also a small minority that spent more time trying to get out of work than if they’d just done the job to begin with. I got an education in college, but I also got an education of a different kind in the mill.”

That discrimination extended in the community outside of the mill, where many organizations and establishments made sure John knew he wasn’t welcome. “As much as I love to hunt and fish, I could never figure out why the gun clubs and sportsmen’s clubs were always full and never accepting members. When it came time to teach my kids about the outdoors, those kinds of facilities weren’t available to me. But I made sure they learned what they needed to and had those kinds of experiences. When my son was young, I bought a boat and took him fishing,” John says. “To this day, there’s a place two streets over from my house that I can’t walk into and get a drink. This is 2022, and I can’t walk in there and get a drink.”

It’s a reality that’s strikingly similar to his wife’s recollections. As a high schooler in Charleroi in the 1970s, she was not permitted to eat inside restaurants; Blacks were refused a seat and received their order in a bag to go. “Technically, they weren’t denying you service, but you’d have to take it somewhere else to eat,” John says.

His father-in-law faced even more blatant racism in the early 1980s, when he met with a group of fellow former mill employees at the local Italian Club. “It was the early ’80s, and the company—business was bad, so they laid off the union guys. But the people who were on salary and were managers were just fired. It worked out that all the guys who were let go were older, so they got together and hired a lawyer from Detroit to fight age discrimination,” John says. “They had one meeting, and the president of the club went up to them and said, ‘You can meet here again, but he’s not getting back in here,’” referring to John’s father-in-law. “This was twenty or thirty men meeting there for two or three hours drinking. I give the other guys a lot of credit, because they took their business elsewhere.”

Blue skies and clear pale green water surround John, dressed in a white shirt with his head covered in a red cloth, as he holds up a nearly clear fish.

John, with a wrapped head to protect himself from the sun, displays a bonefish in the Bahamas.

A Life Outdoors

Even as intensity inside the mill and the injustice outside of it remained present, the outdoors was still a steady constant in John’s life. “You go in the mill, and it’s hot, it’s noisy and dirty. So you need—or at least I do—some adventure in my life,” he says. “When you get in the outdoors, when you go fishing, you never know if you’re going to catch something or not. It’s all unknown, and it’s something you have very little control over. That sense of adventure is what the outdoors is all about for me.”

As a freelance outdoors writer for the Mon Valley section of the Tribune-Review newspaper’s Sunday edition, he captured that sense of adventure for readers for about thirty years. He’s also a past president and current member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association. “Doing that for so long, I got to see a lot of kids being introduced to the outdoors—not just fishing, but boating, camping, and hiking.”

One outdoor experience he’ll never forget is a fishing trip in New York on Lake Ontario with his then thirteen-year-old daughter Brandee, which turned out to be a good reminder of the surprises that can come along when they’re least expected. As they were casting their lines, Brandee asked her dad if he would get her fish mounted if she caught a big one. “I thought, ‘What are you going to catch?” so I said, ‘Sure,’” John remembers. “Well, I had to get it mounted, and it’s still hanging on the wall. That was in 1991, and it’s bigger than any fish I’ve ever caught! I still kid her about that to this day.”

A black man in a hat works the bow of large vessel as it heads up a wide river lined with trees.

John Mahn, Jr. during a charter excursion on the Explorer riverboat, 2021.

Working on the Water

In the early 2000s, John returned to his native state and earned his Coast Guard license to run a passenger boat at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy on Cape Cod, where he was once again the only Black student in the class, and this time one of the oldest. That license would come in handy when the mill he worked for closed in 2009, bringing an end to a 35-year career in steel industry management. Before long, he was behind the wheel of Miss Pittsburgh, a 50-foot enclosed pontoon boat, shuttling passengers to sporting events in Pittsburgh. His work with this company ended up taking him far beyond the three rivers. When the owner purchased a new vessel, Fantasy, in 2010, John signed up for what he thought would be a two- or three-week voyage to bring it from New York City via the Hudson, across the Lake Erie Canal, and into Pittsburgh via the Ohio River.

With his bags packed with warm clothes for October weather on northern waterways, John and the rest of the crew were surprised to find out that the Fantasy was too tall to go on the Erie Canal when they arrived in New York. A new plan was devised to bring the boat out to the Atlantic Ocean, heading south to connect into the Intracoastal Waterway. After cutting across Florida on the Okeechobee Canal, Fantasy redirected North to enter the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in Mobile, Alabama. From there, the crew navigated to the Mississippi, and finally to the Ohio River and its destination in Pittsburgh. “That was a long, long trip,” John recalls, noting that Fantasy’s top speed was around ten miles per hour. “We would stop every night, and on Sundays we’d find a Steelers bar wherever we were, and then we’d get on our way. Towards the end, we’d go around the clock and take shifts because it was taking so long.” The crew was flown home for Thanksgiving, and then resumed the voyage. John eventually had to return home by the time the boat had made it to Tennessee, but he was waiting in Pittsburgh to greet his fellow crew when they arrived in Pittsburgh. “That was an adventure, to say the least. That was one of the things that you got into having no idea what is going to happen,” John says. “You think one thing is going to happen, and it’s nothing like that—it was 180 degrees different than what I expected.”

By 2011, John’s fellow captain on Miss Pittsburgh, Curt Graham, let him know that he was getting slammed with hours at his other job piloting the Explorer riverboat for RiverQuest. John didn’t need much convincing to start training on that boat to help his friend out. Sadly, after about six months of training, John was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012. “I took forty-some radiation treatments, and you have to go every day to get your radiation. By the time I got out of those treatments, there was no way I could [also continue training],” John says. When he returned to Explorer later that year in remission, the boat was fully staffed with captains. “I didn’t want to quit, so I decided I’d just take a deckhand position. I was still out on the water.”

More than a decade later, John remains a constant fixture on the Explorer, assisting with deck operations, handling the lines, keeping watch for traffic and obstacles, and working with the rest of the crew to maintain a safe and welcoming environment on the riverboat—even if it does lack a poop deck, to younger passengers’ dismay.

“I love that job,” John says. “I don’t tell [Captain] Ryan, but I would probably do it for nothing.”

Brianna HoranBrianna Horan is the manager of tourism & visitor experience at Rivers of Steel, where she helps groups design customized travel experiences throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. She also lends her considerable writing talents to this blog on occasion and can often be found on the Explorer riverboat, where she manages Rivers of Steel’s public tours and private charter experiences. 

For more stories from our Profiles in Steel series, check out the interview with Ed Parrish, Jr.

Feb 24 2022
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Josh Gibson with a crowd of young ballplayers

Community Spotlight—Josh Gibson Foundation

By Blog, Community Spotlight

Josh Gibson with a crowd of young fans. Image from the Josh Gibson Collection of the Rivers of Steel Archives.

Community Spotlight

The Community Spotlight series features the efforts 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 Gita Michulka, Contributing Writer

Connecting a New Generation to the Negro Leagues and Baseball Great Josh Gibson

In 1972, Josh Gibson became only the second Negro League player ever to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. And even though it took the MLB another 42 years to recognize Negro League stats as “Major League,” Gibson’s records stand up as some of the greatest of all time. Gibson, who played for the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, is credited with some of the greatest career numbers of any hitter in the game’s history, with a .365 batting average (second only to Ty Cobb), a .449 on-base percentage, and 1.139 on-base plus slugging percentage. And his .441 batting average in 80 games in 1943 is now the best in baseball history without needing a qualifier.

A black and white photo of men, women and a few children standing in from a plaque decorated with emblishments.

Josh Gibson’s family gathers with representatives of the Baseball Hall of Fame when the baseball legend was inducted into the institution in 1972.

To honor that legacy and to highlight the accomplishments, triumphs, and barriers Gibson experienced in his life, members of the Josh Gibson Foundation set out to create a virtual platform that would educate users about the Pittsburgh legend and the Negro Leagues.

“The whole concept began during the COVID pandemic, when everything became this whole new virtual thing—everything was on Zoom, a lot of kids weren’t in school,” says Sean Gibson, great-grandson of Josh Gibson and executive director of the Josh Gibson Foundation. “So we had made a decision to do something educational but also fun—virtually—so it doesn’t have to be something that has to be played in person or in school, and it can reach not only the people in Pittsburgh but also through other cities and the surrounding areas.”

With funding from Rivers of Steel’s Mini-Grant Program, the Gibson team linked up with Tea, a creative agency based in Los Angeles, to begin the process of creating a virtual tour, with the final product evolving along the way. The end result is the Josh Gibson Virtual Baseball Game, an app that features trivia questions about the famed player and the Negro Leagues, that is played like a game of ball.

Half a dozen students at desks examine a game on their laptops and a larger screen.

Students who beta tested the app gave feedback and were able to have their questions answered as they interacted with the developers and creators of the virtual game.

The Josh Gibson Foundation

Rooted in the experiences Josh Gibson lived while in Pittsburgh, the foundation in his namesake is dedicated to the improvement of the lives of young people in the city, ensuring that the youth of our communities remember the legacy of Gibson while providing life-skills coaching and educational support.

The organization offers several programs for kids aged 6 – 14, including after-school programs, mentoring partnerships, summer camps, a Business of Sports Academy, and a S.T.E.A.M. program for 8th grade boys in partnership with Pittsburgh Classical Academy.

The current S.T.E.A.M. class was a key focus group as the Virtual Baseball Game was being developed. The kids had an opportunity to test the app while having their questions answered as they interacted with the developers and creators of the game. This direct interaction provided them the insight to understand the software and programming they were using as well as the issues the team faced while creating the app.

“The main goal that we wanted, for middle-school and high school-aged groups, was something to be of course educational, to learn about Josh Gibson, the Negro Leagues, Homestead Grays . . . but we also wanted it to be entertaining,” says Gibson. “Our 8th grade S.T.E.A.M. boys were our testers, and they had some great feedback.”

Gibson noted with laughter some of the things the boys pointed out that the development team hadn’t thought of. “You know how when you go to a Pirates game, or you go to a baseball game, and when somebody’s batting up they have music when they come to the plate. One of the boys was like, how come they don’t have music as they’re coming to the plate? And I had to explain to them, well you know, I know you guys are thinking of today’s times, but you’ve got to think about this history is back in the 1930s and 40s!”

It was important to the team to layer in those teachable moments. “Even though we are going to add some components of today’s era, we still wanted to have that rich tradition of the Negro Leagues era of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s,” continues Gibson.

A student looks at the game on his laptop.

A student interacts with the game on a laptop.

A Sense of Place

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Josh Gibson’s Hall of Fame induction, which Sean Gibson finds fitting for the rolling out of this new game. While the development team is putting the finishing touches on the app, Gibson is brainstorming ways it can be utilized as part of his outreach programs with regional schools.

On the heels of the Centennial Celebration of the founding of the Negro Leagues, Gibson is thrilled to also see other initiatives popping up to honor the legend, including a mural of Josh Gibson on the Voodoo Brewery building in Homestead by Pittsburgh artist Jeremy Raymer that was completed last spring.

“It’s important to us that we work on connecting the community to see and understand the rich history of southwestern Pennsylvania,” he says. “The creation period brought forth a larger learning platform that has reached people that never knew about the Negro Leagues and Josh Gibson. We’re able to teach people not only about the player, but also the landmarks where he played and lived.”

To learn more about the Josh Gibson Foundation, its educational programs, and upcoming events, visit joshgibson.org.

Four people look up at a mural.

Rivers of Steel staff check out the newly painted mural of Josh Gibson in Homestead, July 2021.

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. The Josh Gibson Foundation is one of six organizations who received Mini-Grant funding through this program in 2021.

Gita Michulka is a Pittsburgh-based marketing and communications consultant with over 15 years of experience promoting our region’s arts, recreation, and nonprofit assets.  

If you’d like to know more about community projects supported by the Mini-Grant Program, read Gita’s recent article about the digitization of the Donora Historical Society’s collection of glass plate negatives.

Feb 10 2022
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Rivers of Steel is Hiring

By Press Room

Join the Team!

March 17, 2022  Update: Please note that the application window for all positions posted below has closed.  Thank you for your interest in Rivers of Steel. 

Rivers of Steel is excited to announce that we are hiring! We are in search of qualified candidates for one new full-time position and for several part-time positions.

Tourism Coordinator – The tourism coordinator will support tourism initiatives and deliver hospitality-minded customer service. This full-time position, which reports to the manager of tourism and visitor experience, is responsible for group tour coordination and front-line customer service support, among other duties.
School Programs Educators – Qualified educator candidates should be engaging, informed, and enthusiastic individuals who will facilitate hands-on formal and informal programs for school groups, families, scouts, and higher education groups.
Tour Guides – Qualified tour guides candidates should be engaging, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic individuals who will provide interpretive experiences for public and private groups onboard motorcoaches and the Explorer riverboat.
Deckhands – Qualifed deckhand candidates should be comfortable working within a hierarchical structure and possess strong verbal communication skills.
Maintenance Assistant – A hands-on way to help preserve our region’s heritate, the maintenance assistant supports general upkeep of Rivers of Steel’s historic properties. Qualified candidates have experience with landscaping, maintenance, and construction skills, along with excellent interpersonal, communication, time management, and organizational skills.

Application Instructions

Please review the individual job listings for specific application instructions.

Rivers of Steel is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring, transferring, promoting, terminating, paying, training, benefits or any other actions affecting employees. Rivers of Steel does not make any personnel decisions based on an employee’s race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, ancestry, marital status, veteran’s status, non-job related disability or handicap, or other prohibited criteria as these terms are used under applicable law. Rivers of Steel abides by applicable federal, state, and local laws that govern human rights in the employment process.

Feb 09 2022
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Identicaly houses are closely groups in a grid in a black and white photo

Community Spotlight: Glass Plate Negatives Tell a Story in Donora

By Blog, Community Spotlight

Image: An image from the Bruce Dreisbach Collection of what is now the Cement City Historic District in Donora, PA. Built 1916-1917 as housing for employees at American Steel & Wire’s Donora plant, this community of Prairie-style buildings is noted for the innovative use of poured-in-place concrete construction.

Community Spotlight

The Community Spotlight series features Rivers of Steel’s partner organizations whose work contributes to the vibrancy of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.

By Gita Michulka, Contributing Writer

Donora Historical Society’s Bruce Dreisbach Collection Opens a Window to Everyday Life in the Early 1900s

It’s safe to say photographer Bruce Dreisbach took his job as quality control technician at the American Steel & Wire Company very seriously. Tasked with recording the daily goings-on at the mill, his love of photography also bled out into his daily life. On and off the job, Dreisbach spent most of his time photographing his surroundings, and a collection of his glass plate negatives now offers one of the most comprehensive glimpses back in time in the region.

“The thing that’s exciting for us is we’re able to tell stories,” says Mark Pawelec, a long-standing volunteer at the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum. “A story sometimes isn’t as good as when you do not have pictures that accompany it, and these do that for us. We can show people exactly how life was like in Donora a hundred years ago . . . whether it was related to the steel mill or some of the different other subjects that we promote.”

Hundreds of workers, mostly whilte and nearly all in dirtied work clothes, pose for a picture in front of what may be an administrative building with a shed full of smokestacks adjacent to it.

American Steel & Wire Workers

When Dreisbach passed away in 1959, his collection of thousands of negatives was passed along to his widow, and a portion of that collection was found in her apartment when she died in 1986. With the help of funding from Rivers of Steel’s Mini-Grant Program, Pawelec and the other volunteers who run the Donora Historical Society have steadily been working to have the glass plates digitized and preserved.

Though the process can be painstaking, Pawelec is quick to point out the value in the project.  “It’s really incredible,” notes Pawelec. “We’re so fortunate that somehow somebody had the wherewithal to preserve those glass plate negatives and not sell them. We have different documents, we had different photographs in our collection that kind of show the way life was like in Donora in the early 20th century, but we didn’t have a full collection of photographs, and that’s what these provide us.”

Smoke bellows from at least ten industrial buildings along a river in this historic image.

Captioned “The Wide Mill, Donora, PA.

Years ago, previous museum volunteers who were familiar with a working steel mill did a cursory identification of the negatives to begin sorting them by theme. Over the years, as the museum acquired funding, volunteers have continued to sort the images before taking batches of them to be processed at Bernie’s Photo Center in the Northside. Pawelec calls Bruce Klein, who owns and operates the shop, critical to the success of the project.

“Bruce takes the negatives and handles each one individually. It’s impressive the amount of expertise that he has with the old photographic technology. But more than that, our ability to hand deliver boxes of these plates ensures their safety and allows us to stretch the funding more than if we had to package them and ship them somewhere to be processed. We trust that Bruce will complete our projects with a high degree of quality, and he’s also extremely flexible as we work through the batches.”

The most recent round of funding from the 2021 Mini-Grant, along with Klein’s partnership, has allowed the Historical Society to process 70+ glass plates, nearly the end of the collection, with one exciting addition: digitizing five-foot-long panoramic photos of American Steel & Wire Company.

Panoramic River veiw of the mill and town.

These images of American Steel & Wire’s Steel Mill and Zine Works, along with the neighboring scenery were digitized from five-foot long prints.

Dyno Nobel, an industrial and mining explosives manufacturer, currently occupies the site of the former Donora Zinc Works, with buildings that date to 1915. “After having multiple discussions with Dyno Nobel’s Donora Plant over the past few years, they have graciously loaned us these prints to have scanned,” says Pawelec. “To get any artifacts from the steel mill or Zinc Works is a rarity, so the fact that Dyno Nobel loaned us these photos is a huge get for the Donora Historical Society.”

Hundreds of children reflect a sea of small faces in this historic image.

The Bruce Dreisbach Collection includes images of the community, not just of the mill sites. This image is of children at chrismas visiting the mill for a treat.

This new addition to the museum comes on the heels of the organization’s 75th anniversary, which has been working to preserve Donora’s past since 1946. Though they are most famous for their Smog Museum, the Dreisbach Collection has opened doors for programming and partnerships with the Carnegie Science Center, the Heinz History Center, and the University of Pittsburgh, among others, and has prompted tourism from the tri-state area.

Eight blast furnace stoves and one stack rise up behind a sign that reads "Donora Next to Yours the Best Town in the USA."“Rivers of Steel is thrilled to play a part in the long-term conservation of this wonderful collection of glass plate negatives within the Donora Historical Society’s holdings,” said Ron Baraff, the director of historical resources and facilities for Rivers of Steel. “The story that their collection unveils of life in the mill is a wonderful complement to the rich archival holdings preserved by Rivers of Steel and other area repositories. Partnerships such as these, through our mini-grant program and regional cooperation, allow for all of us to tell, more succinctly, the enduring industrial and cultural history of our region and its legacies’ impact on the nation—and the world.”

Visit the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum website for more information on upcoming tours and presentations and to learn more about the Bruce Dreisbach Collection.

Additional funding for the preservation project has also been provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Washington County Community Foundation, and a generous donor—Steve Acai from Raleigh, North Carolina, who has ties to Donora.

All images provided by the Donoral Historical Society.

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. The Donora Historical Society. is one of six organizations who received Mini-Grant funding through this program in 2021.

Gita Michulka is a Pittsburgh-based marketing and communications consultant with over 15 years of experience promoting our region’s arts, recreation, and nonprofit assets.  

If you’d like to know more about community projects supported by the Mini-Grant Program, read Gita’s recent article about The Westmoreland Museum of American Art’s latest exhibition, Stephen Towns: Declaration & Resistance.

Feb 08 2022
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Heritage Highlights: Heritage Craft Kits

By Blog, Heritage Highlights
Artist Benjamin Aysan writes his name in italic letters.

Heritage Highlights

Rivers of Steel’s Heritage Arts program strives to represent the region’s diverse cultural heritage, from ethnic customs and occupational traditions to new American folk arts and urban cultural practices. Usually passed down from person to person within close-knit communities, these traditions are as varied as they are unique, each representing another part of southwestern Pennsylvania’s rich ways of life.

Heritage Craft Kits for the Carnegie Library of Homestead

Jon Engel HeadshotBy Jonathan Engel

So other than the stories about local artists that we share in this forum, how does Rivers of Steel’s Heritage Arts program realize its goals? Especially during 2021, we’ve had to get creative in addressing these core questions: What are our communities’ art traditions? How do we bring them to more people? And how do we use those traditions to improve those people’s lives? With those questions in mind, we look for projects that increase the accessibility of art and seek partners that also value local culture.

The Carnegie Library of Homestead is one such partner. They have always sought to connect our neighbors to the resources they need to explore and express themselves. During the first social distancing period of the pandemic, the library began releasing monthly activity kits, free to anyone. They consisted of art supplies and instructions on how to make a simple craft. They were designed for children, suddenly stuck at home, without the creative outlets that they might otherwise have had access to—or have never had access to.

We’re excited to share that we have collaborated with the Carnegie Library of Homestead to produce a round of kits for them, co-created with local Turkish calligrapher Benjamin Aysan. Free as ever, anyone can pick them up at the library—located at 510 East 10th Avenue, Munhall PA, 15120—and begin creating their own works of handwriting art today. We hope that they bring you joy—and pull you a little bit closer to the rich heritage of one of our many wonderful communities.

Calligraphy Bookmarks with Benjamin Aysan

Benjamin Aysan, a frequent collaborator with Rivers of Steel, has designed our first Heritage Craft Kit. Benjamin is originally from Van, Turkey, and has been a practicing calligrapher for over ten years. Calligraphy has a long history in Turkey, extending at least as far back as the early days of the Ottoman Empire. Practitioners, then and now, decorated mosques with stylized passages from the Quran. Benjamin writes in both Arabic and English, adapting his talents to his new home in Pittsburgh. In this kit, he teaches us how to write our own name on some beautiful bookmarks for all our library favorites. To learn more about Ben, read this brief biography (pdf link).

This craft kit, available at the Carnegie Library of Homestead, contains: a set of calligraphy pens, a pair of scissors, paper, and instructions on how to cut the bookmark and make your letters. The kit is best for children in sixth grade or above, or third to fifth grade with adult accompaniment. You can view and download a PDF of the instructions here, and you can pick up a kit of your own at the Carnegie Library of Homestead at 510 East 10th Avenue, Munhall PA, 15210.

For more information about Benjamin Aysan, read an interview with him from the Heritage Highlight series, published in January, 2021. You can also check out the most recent Heritage Highlight, which features the Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center. 

Contact Us

Rivers of Steel
The Bost Building
623 E. Eighth Avenue
Homestead, PA 15120

Tel: 412.464.4020
Fax: 412.464.4417

info@riversofsteel.com

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