1.
Exposition Park (Pittsburgh)
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Exposition Park was the name given to three historic stadiums, located in what is today Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The fields were used mainly for baseball and American football from c.1879 to c. The ballparks were located on the north side of the Allegheny River in Allegheny City. The city was annexed into Pittsburgh in 1907, which became the citys North Side, due to flooding from the nearby river, the three stadiums exact locations varied somewhat. The final version of the ballpark was between the sites of Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park. In 1903, the incarnation of Exposition Park was the first National League ballpark to host a World Series game. Named for other expositions that would be there, including horse racing and circuses. Despite its reason for construction Exposition Park II was built closer to the River, the Alleghenys played at the second incarnation of the park until they moved to Recreation Park in 1884, which was several blocks north and out of the flood plain. While the Pittsburg Pirates were playing games at Recreation Park, owners John Beemer. Lennon of the Pittsburgh Burghers constructed a park near the former site of Exposition Park I and II. Exposition Park III included a wooden grandstand around the infield. Total capacity was about 10,000 spectators, the seats faced the Allegheny River and the Point. The Burghers played at the stadium during the 1890 Players League season— both the team and leagues only season in existence, on June 10,1890, Jocko Fields of the Pittsburgh Burghers hit the first home run at Exposition Park III. The Pittsburg Pirates moved to Exposition Park the following season, on April 24,1891, Fred Carroll hit the first home run by a Pirate in the stadium. Under the management of Fred Clarke the Pirates won the National League pennant in 1901,1902, after the 1903 season, Dreyfuss and Boston Americans owner Henry Killilea organized a best of nine game series to match the two pennant winners against each other. The first World Series held three games in Boston before moving to Exposition Park with the Pirates leading the series 2–1, on October 6,1903,7,600 people attended the first World Series game in a National League stadium—the Pirates won by one run. The following day 12,000 people attended the game, forcing spectators to stand behind a rope in the outfield. The Pirates lost three of four games at Exposition Park and eventually the Series, during a July 4,1902 doubleheader against the Brooklyn Superbas, an Allegheny flood caused water to rise to thigh level in center and right fields, and about head level in deep center
2.
Carnegie Library of Homestead
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The Carnegie Library of Homestead is a public library founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1896. It is one of 2,509 Carnegie libraries worldwide 1,689 built in the United States and it was the sixth Library commissioned by Carnegie in the U. S. and the seventh to open. Completed in November 1898, it is the third oldest Carnegie library in operation in its original structure in the U. S. after the Main Branch. The building houses a library holding over 34,000 volumes, a 1, 000-seat music hall, and an athletic club with a heated indoor pool. The Carnegie Library of Homestead is an independent entity, it is not a branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and our works at Homestead are not to us as our works at Edgar Thomson. Our men there are not partners, Carnegie said, groundbreaking for the $300,000 project took place in April 1896. The French Renaissance design was the work of Pittsburgh architects Frank Alden, contractor William Miller and Sons used Pompein brick for construction of the 220 by 132 foot facility. Renovations and modifications have not altered the physical arrangement of the building. While Carnegie required communities to use funds to subsidize the operation of his libraries. Operation of the libraries in Braddock, Homestead and Duquesne were originally funded by Carnegies plants in those towns, after the sale of his business to U. S. Steel in 1901, Carnegie established a $1 million trust to support the three facilities. In the 1960s, the Braddock and Duquesne libraries were turned over to the districts in those communities by the Board of the Endowment for the Monongahela Valley. The Homestead library is now the sole beneficiary of Carnegies gift, when the financial crash of 2008 reduced the value of the endowment by $300,000, the library board furloughed its executive employees and assumed management responsibilities rather than cut services. Fundraising efforts, revenue from athletic club memberships, music hall rentals, in the early 20th century, the Homestead Library & Athletic Club football team, composed of many former star Ivy League players, was considered one of the top semi-professional teams in the country. Hall of Famer Rube Waddell played for the Clubs baseball team, the amateur teams at the library also won national championships in wrestling and track & field. In the 1920s and 1930s, four Olympians trained in the swimming pool. Gorman first swam in 1927 while on vacation, when she returned to Homestead she purchased a three-month membership at the library and pool for $1. At age 92 in 2008, Gorman still swam at the library, the building has rightfully in the center as the focus The Library-- Music Hall upon the right and the Working Mans Club upon the left. These three foundations from which healing waters are to flow for the Instruction, Entertainment and Happiness of the people, recreation of the working man has an important bearing upon his character and development as his hours of work
3.
Pittsburgh Stars
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The Pittsburgh Stars or Pittsburg Stars were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1902. The team was member of what was referred to as the first National Football League, the whole league was a curious mixture of baseball and football. The Stars were managed and funded, on paper, by Dave Berry, however, the team was suspected of being secretly financed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Stars, and the league, began as a part of the wars between the National League and the newly formed American League, which began in 1901. Across the state in Philadelphia, two league teams fought for control of the citys baseball market. These teams were the Athletics, which were represented in the American League, the interleague fighting began when the Athletics lured several of the Phillies players from their contracts, only to lose them again through court actions. In 1902, Phillies owner John Rogers decided to start a team, he therefore took control of the Philadelphia Football Club team. The Athletics owner, Ben Shibe, followed suit and fielded, named a team named Philadelphia Athletics and he appointed his baseball manager Connie Mack as the teams general manager and named former Penn player, Charles Blondy Wallace as the teams coach. Berry met with the two Philadelphia owners and agreed to establish a team, due to the animosity between Rodgers and Shibe, Berry was then elected as league president. Berry constructed his team from many of the key players that played for the Homestead Library & Athletic Club and he then became the teams owner and manager. However, Berrys modest income showed that he couldnt possibly have the money to cover the salaries of the top pros the team employed, all by himself. Suspicion fell on William Chase Temple, the steelman whod formerly backed the Homestead Library & Athletic Club and who was still an officer with the Pirates, and Barney Dreyfuss, both denied any connection to the teams finances, and Berry insisted he was the teams sole owner. No one believed them then, nor do any sports historians believe them now, regardless of who the teams owner was, Berry still made all the management decisions. And right away he alienated many fans in Pittsburgh when he decided to have his team train in Greensburg,40 miles away. Berry stated that Greensburgs Natatorium provided better facilities than what could be found in Pittsburgh, even the benefits of breathing Greensburgs clear, country air failed to impress Pittsburghers who were used to constantly breathing highly polluted air in city during the early 1900s. Wrote one historian, As far as the fans were concerned, Berry had deserted Pittsburgh, Berry then added another error by announcing that his team would play a couple of games in Greensburg, coming to Pittsburgh itself only for big-money games. As a result, the Pittsburgh Press took to calling them the Greensburg team, however, Berry did build a top-notch team. As a player-coach he hired, a former Brown University All-American, Richardson had quarterbacked the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in 1901
4.
American football
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The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team, if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the teams end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponents goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins, American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6,1869, during the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States, Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually, almost all of them men, in the United States, American football is referred to as football. The term football was established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season. The terms gridiron or American football are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, American football evolved from the sports of association football and rugby football. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6,1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams, the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19,1873 to create a set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified, Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. An 1875 Harvard-Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes and these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia then agreed to play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879, the introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position, however, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records, each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0-0 tie
5.
Homestead, Pennsylvania
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Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the Monongahela River valley 7 miles southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of relations in the United States. The population of Homestead was 3,165 at the 2010 census, the area on the south bank of the Monongahela River now comprising the boroughs of Homestead, Munhall and West Homestead saw the first white settlers arrive in the 1770s. One hundred years later, much of the farmland on the flats and hillsides by the river was purchased, laid out in lots and sold by local banks. The town was chartered in 1880, the building of a railroad, glass factory, and in 1881 the first iron mill began a period of rapid growth and prosperity. In 1883, Andrew Carnegie bought out Homestead Steel Works, adding it to his empire of steel, Carnegie had recently acquired a controlling interest in Henry Clay Fricks coke works on the Monongahela, setting the stage for the dramatic labor clash in Homestead. Homestead gained international notoriety in July 1892 as the site of a violent clash between locked-out steelworkers and hired Pinkerton guards, known as the Homestead Strike, carnegies management locked the workforce out, declaring that the union would no longer be recognized at the steel works. To break the strike and secure the mill from the disgruntled workers, when barges carrying the Pinkertons arrived at the mill on the morning of July 6, workers and townspeople met them at the riverbanks. Though eyewitness accounts differed on which side first fired a shot, the governor of Pennsylvania eventually called out the National Guard to restore order to the town and take control of the mill. Frick successfully destroyed the union in Homestead and, by extension, the Battle of Homestead, as the event came to be known, represented a stunning setback for unionization in the highly mechanized steel industry. It also set the stage for the steel strike of 1919. At the turn of the 20th century, in 1900, the population of Homestead was 12,554 people, due mostly to immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, by 1910 the population jumped to 18,713, then to 20,452 in 1920. In 1940,19,041 people lived in Homestead, during the early 1940s half the population was displaced as the United States government added to the steel mills to have the capacity for armor plating for ships and tanks. After the end of the war, a decline in the industry of the United States took place. By 1980, it had become difficult to obtain employment at the Homestead Works, the Homestead Works was demolished in the early 1990s, replaced in 1999 by The Waterfront shopping mall. As a direct result of the loss of employment, the number of people living in Homestead dwindled. By the time of the 2010 census, the population was 3,165. The borough began financially recovering in 2002, with the retail tax base
6.
Pittsburgh
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Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. The city proper has a population of 304,391. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U. S. The city features 30 skyscrapers, two inclines, a fortification and the Point State Park at the confluence of the rivers. Aside from steel, Pittsburgh has led in manufacturing of aluminum, glass, shipbuilding, petroleum, foods, sports, transportation, computing, autos, and electronics. For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment, Americas 1980s deindustrialization laid off area blue-collar workers and thousands of downtown white-collar workers when the longtime Pittsburgh-based world headquarters moved out. The area has served also as the federal agency headquarters for cyber defense, software engineering, robotics, energy research. The area is home to 68 colleges and universities, including research and development leaders Carnegie Mellon University, the region is a hub for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, sustainable energy, and energy extraction. Pittsburgh was named in 1758 by General John Forbes, in honor of British statesman William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. The current pronunciation, which is unusual in English speaking countries, is almost certainly a result of a printing error in some copies of the City Charter of March 18,1816. The error was repeated commonly enough throughout the rest of the 19th century that the pronunciation was lost. After a public campaign the original spelling was restored by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1911. The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee, the first known European to enter the region was the French explorer/trader Robert de La Salle from Quebec during his 1669 expedition down the Ohio River. European pioneers, primarily Dutch, followed in the early 18th century, Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European fur traders established area posts and settlements. In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched an expedition to the forks to unite Canada with French Louisiana via the rivers, during 1753–54, the British hastily built Fort Prince George before a larger French force drove them off. The French built Fort Duquesne based on LaSalles 1669 claims, the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years War, began with the future Pittsburgh as its center. British General Edward Braddock was dispatched with Major George Washington as his aide to take Fort Duquesne, the British and colonial force were defeated at Braddocks Field. General John Forbes finally took the forks in 1758, Forbes began construction on Fort Pitt, named after William Pitt the Elder while the settlement was named Pittsborough
7.
Pittsburgh Pirates
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The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. Founded on October 15,1881 as Allegheny, the franchise has won five World Series championships, the Pirates are also often referred to as the Bucs or the Buccos. They also won the 1971 World Series, led by the talent of Roberto Clemente, overall, the Pirates have won five World Series and lost two. They would then advance to the NL Division Series round, where they lost in 5 games to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pirates would continue their success and make the playoffs in both 2014 and 2015, losing in the Wild Card Game both times. Professional baseball has been played in the Pittsburgh area since 1876, the teams of the era were independents, barnstorming throughout the region and not affiliated with any organized league, though they did have salaries and were run as business organizations. On October 15,1881, the strongest team in the joined the American Association as a founding member to begin play in 1882. Their various home fields in the 19th century were in a city called Allegheny City. After five mediocre seasons in the A. A, Pittsburgh became the first A. A. team to switch to the older National League in 1887. At this time, the team renamed itself the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, at that time, owner-manager Horace Phillips sold the team to Dennis McKnight, Phillips stayed on as manager. Before the 1890 season, nearly all of the Alleghenys best players bolted to the Players Leagues Pittsburgh Burghers, the Players League collapsed after the season, and the players were allowed to go back to their old clubs. However, the Alleghenys also scooped up highly regarded second baseman Lou Bierbauer, although the Athletics had failed to include Bierbauer on their reserve list, they loudly protested the Alleghenys move. In an official complaint, an AA official claimed the Alleghenys signing of Bierbauer was piratical and this incident quickly accelerated into a schism between the leagues that contributed to the demise of the A. A. Although the Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing, they made sport of being denounced for being piratical by renaming themselves the Pirates for the 1891 season, the nickname was first acknowledged on the teams uniforms in 1912. The Pirates were a team in the early 1900s, winning National League pennants from 1901–1903. They again won the NL in 1925 and 1927 and the World Series in 1925, after a slow period, they returned to dominance and won the 1960 World Series,1971 World Series and 1979 World Series. They won Eastern Division titles from 1990–1992 but did not return to the post-season after that until 2013, on Opening Day 2015 the Pirates loss to the Cincinnati Reds represented its 10, 000th franchise loss since moving to the NL. This made the Pirates the fourth MLB team to achieve distinction, following the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves
8.
William Chase Temple
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William Chase Temple was a coal, citrus, and lumber baron during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also an owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from baseballs National League. He became the first sole owner of a professional American football team, Temple was born in Starke, Florida. After moving to Delaware, he attended school in Wilmington. After graduation, he worked as an employee of Plankinton & Armour in Milwaukee, in June 1880, he worked as a bank clerk for Alexander Mitchell Bank in Milwaukee. By 1883, Chase returned to Florida and became a lumber baron, between 1885 and 1889, he was a President and General Manager of the Metropolitan Electrical Service Company in New York City. He later became a manager of Babcock & Wilcox Steam Boiler Company in Pittsburgh, while in Pittsburgh, he was on the boards of directors of more than 20 industrial, mining and financial companies. From 1891 until 1893, Temple was the president and part-owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, in 1894, he donated a 30-inch-high silver cup, later called the Temple Cup to the National League. The first and second-place teams of the league would play in a seven-game, post season, the revenue from the series was to be split 65% to 35%, however, the players of the first series in 1894 decided to evenly split the money. However, after the series the New York Giants reportedly cheated some Oriole players out of their money, tainting the Cup, the Duquesnes had become the best professional team in Pennsylvania and, almost certainly, in the country. In 1900, A. C. Dinkey stole most of the Duquesne players, as well as Temple, over the next two seasons, Homestead fielded the best professional football team in the country and did not lose a game. In 1902, Temple and Pittsburgh Pirates majority owner, Barney Dreyfuss, were suspected of being the owners to the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League. Temple denied any connection to the Stars finances, as well as being the teams owner, the teams owner on paper, David Berry, insisted that he was the teams sole owner. However, it was impossible for him to afford the money to finance the team without the backing of Temple or Dreyfuss, the Stars would go on to win the 1902 NFL championship. In 1909, Temple founded the Florida Citrus Exchange in 1909, during that time, Temple helped increased the business of the exchange from $200,000 to $5,000,000 per year. In 1915, he was named the first president of the South Florida Chamber of Commerce and he was also the first life member of the American Automobile Association. Temple died in 1917 in Winter Park, Florida, and is buried in the local Palm Cemetery, prior to his death, he served as the towns mayor. Temple Terrace, a city in northeastern Hillsborough County, was named after Temple, the Temple orange was named after him as well
9.
Duquesne Country and Athletic Club
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The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1895 until 1900. The team was considered one of the best, if not the best, however the team is most famous for being the first football franchise to be owned by an individual, William Chase Temple. The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club, started playing in 1895, however, after four games, before playing the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, they began hiring stars and soon became the most professional team in the city. Duquesne fielded the best team in Pittsburgh since 1895, in 1898 the Duquesnes decided to build an even better team. After the 1897 season, the club had signed a number of players to contracts for the next year. However at this time, many of the players went into the army in the spring to fight in the Spanish–American War and this led the Duquesnes to sign replacements for those players in the army. While this at first looked to be a bad sign for Duquesne for the 1898 season, many of replacement player that were signed proved to perform better than the originals. Then when the war ended in just a few months and the original players returned home. In fact it became apparent that the bench-warmers for the Duquesnes would actually be star players on lesser teams. Those players, tight end Tommy Randolph, offensive tackle Otto Wagonhurst, offensive guard John Wienstein, and running back Don McNeil would have been regulars for the rival Pittsburgh Athletic Club. At the end of the 1898 season, Dave Berry, the manager of the Latrobe Athletic Association came up with the idea fielding a team composed of best players and that team would then play the Duquesnes in an all-star game. Berry was able to get many of the players that he wanted for his all-star team, in Greensburg, local leaders urged players from the Greensburg Athletic Association not to play in the game. Also many other players had baseball to prepare for and did not bother with the game, however the game was a go and was arranged for Saturday, December 3 at Exposition Park. The Duquesnes would go on to win the game 16-0, when it became apparent around this time that the Duquesnes could not survive financially while paying its players, William C. Temple, its chairman, took over the team becoming the first known individual club owner. However, in days of professional football, the public wrongly viewed everyone who was playing for an athletic club. So the date of Temple becoming the first owner is still in question, several histories have tabbed the 1898 season, when the team was suddenly confronted with more players under contract than theyd expected. While others argue for 1899, when several new stars were hired to keep the team on top, the NFLs official chronology states that in 1900 Temple took over the D. C
