Notes from 1950-1955

 

Background: 

 

Growth and Politics

 

In 1950, Pittsburgh was listed as the 12th largest city in America, with a population of 676,806.

 

Around this time, there is a large emphasis in Pittsburgh history of growth among colleges, and this time period was part of the Pittsburgh Renaissance.  The University of Pittsburgh begins to build multiple buildings around the campus, including Clapp Hall, a medical building, and many dorms.  Duquesne University is also increasing the amount of dorms and class buildings on its campus.  The Pennsylvania School for Women changes its name to Chatham College.  There are also many building projects going on in the city, involving mostly new and renovated buildings, along with parking garages.  In 1953, the Greater Pittsburgh Municipal Airport opened its doors, and had over 200 flights a day.  Also, most of the developements in the city center around the removal of the slums in the lower Hill District, to replace it with a civic arena.  Both the plans for the Civic Arena and the fountain at Point State Park were in their beginning stages during this era.

 

In politics, it was interesting to see that most of the huge court cases and biggest offenders of this time period were 'communists' or people who helped communists or spread the communist word.  Many of the Western PA communist leaders and party members were arrested and questioned about their communist plans.  The mayor at the time was Mayor Lawrence, who was a big advocate in the growth of Pittsburgh, including outlining plans for the third major redevelopment program that included the clearance of 100 acres of slums in the Hill District and construction of a public arena, 30 acres of housing and other improvements. In 1953, Mayor Lawrence became the first mayor to be elected to a third consecutive term.  Also in 1953, in late December, Anne X. Alpern was sworn in as a judge of Common Pleas Court.  She was the first woman Democrat in PA to be elected into a judgeship.  She helped settle some of the major labor disputes during the time period.

 

Entertainment

 

Between 1950-1955, the Pittsburgh Symphony gained a new director, William Steinberg, and began having its first concerts outside the concert hall.  One concert was at a school, where they musicians wanted to bring Industrial music to the 'industrial' people.  Also, on April 1, 1954, the TV station, WQED, was the world's first community-sponsered educational noncommercial television station to go on air.

 

On September 10, 1950, more than 130,000 Catholic men filled Forbes Field for a Holy Name rally in one of the city’s largest religious demonstrations in history.

 

Industry

 

During this time period, many industries were growing.  In 1955, the Heinz company made plans to build the biggest food research building to date.  But even with all the growth, there were labor disputes.  Here are just a few:

 

- May 17th, 1950, five bus lines were idled by a strike of 750 drivers, deprivin 450,000 district residents of transportation

- June 9th, 1950, 3250 dairy drivers shut off milk supplies to seven counties of Western PA

- April 29th, 1952, district steel workers joined 650,000 throughout the nation in a walkout that paralyzed the industry

- November 27th, 1953, 500 delivery truck drivers began a strike against the city's major department stores

- May 9th, 1954, dozens of traffic tie-ups occured after bus and trolleys were cut off by a strike of 2700 operators

 

These strikes lasted anywhere from 12 hours to 118 days.

 

Weather

 

On November 24th, 1950, Pittsburgh had it's heaviest snowfall in history.  30.5 inches, which brought traffic to a standstill and the snowbanks on the streets were as high as the tops of cars.  Interestingly enough, in January of that same year, Pittsburgh experienced record highs of 76 degrees.

 

*This information can be found in chronological order at The University of Pittsburgh's Archive Service Center http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/

 and comes from Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City by Stefan Lorant.

 

NM 27 Jan 2008

 

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I have found an increasing number of cancer deaths.  The cancers have been of the throat, stomach, and rectum as opposed to lung cancer.  There really hasn't been mention of cancer in previous decades in the files, except perhaps on very rare occasions.  See files 195204_240, 195204_242, 195204_243, 195205_99, 195205_154.  I anticipate seeing more and more cancer related deaths, especially as the first generation of smokers using mass marketed cigarettes begins to feel the long term effects.

 

I have also seen on two occasions a "modernizing" of terminology.  The term bathing has been used to designate someone who is swimming, but I found my first file with the word swimming instead of bathing (195205_120).  The term "upsetting" has been traditionally used in describing accidents involving moving vehicles such as autos, boats, bikes, and sleds.  However, I found on one file the term upsetting had been crossed out for a boat accident and the word capsizing had replaced it. 195205_134

 

MG 04 Jan 2008

 

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A number of deaths caused by "carbon monoxide poisoning due to inhaling fumes from gas stove" have been reported, more notably in the colder months of 1954-1955. In most of these cases it seems that the gas was on full blast, especially with elderly people. One young man who died from carbon monoxide poisoing went home drunk one night and turned his gas stove up pretty high. They probably felt cold and wanted to warm themselves up. Without proper venilation, as was noted in some cases, the victims were not getting enough oxygen and died. The increase of deaths from carbon monoxide inhaled from gas stoves may be an example of gas stoves becoming more common in many homes. 195412_25, 195412_197, 195503_19-195503_21

 

LB 17 Jan 2008

 

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I have noticed that a large number of suicides in the early 1950's have involved suffocation from carbon monoxide due to automobiles left running in garages (eg. 195501_195 & 195502_08, etc.). I see as many of these examples as self inflicted gunshot wounds, and far more of these than hangings or overdoses. Also, it seems as if almost all of these are committed by males. 

 

BF 17 Jan 2008

 

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I have noticed that automobile accidents have increased. November 1953 I tallyed 3 accidents, November 1954 I tallyed 6 accidents, and November 1955 I tallyed 7 accidents. What also seemed unsual, was how in November 1953-1955 train accidents were scarce. however, all train accidents i have incountered, of the deceased,  all were by standers. 

 

BG  22 Jan 2008