Was The Pollution Real Bad When Pittsburgh Was a Manufacturing Hub? (West Mifflin: college, air pollution)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by knowledgeiskey

How was the air quality in those days? Was it really foggy on most days due to steel production?

The air quality was awesome. You'd never have known there were dozens of steel mills scattered about town.

[Craziaskowboi]

I remember seeing the giant J&L steel mill from the Parkway East back in the early 1980's, when I was very young. I thought it was cool how they had a bridge with stairs over the highway, and I always wondered what was beyond Exit 7A (Bates Street/Oakland) to the west because my father would always exit there en route to his job at the University of Pittsburgh.

As for the smog episode in Donora, I bet that helped David L. Lawrence win the mayoral election in 1948. His primary platform was "smoke must go," and the smog in Donora happened less than a week before election day that year.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

As for the smog episode in Donora, I bet that helped David L. Lawrence win the mayoral election in 1948. His primary platform was "smoke must go," and the smog in Donora happened less than a week before election day that year.

The mayoral election was in 1949, not 1948, and Mayor Lawrence was running for reelection in 1949 as he was first election in 1945.

[Geeo]

If I remember my history correctly, there were attempts at smoke control before the war, but the regulations were suspended for the duration because the government expanded many mills in the area for war production. We produced more steel here in Pittsburgh than Germany and Japan combined. WQED just produced a half-hour documentary called "Arsenal of War" that's available on their website that has a lot of interesting tidbits.

[Herodotus]

St. Louis had instituted smoke control around 1940, and Pittsburgh decided to emulate their successful program.

[Herodotus]

The basic reasons for Pittsburgh instituting smoke control, along with Renaissance 1, is that the leaders of the city understood that Pittsburgh's position as a hub of heavy manufacturing would soon be eroded. This had been realized as early as the 1890's. In a country that now stretched coast to coast, a city 300 miles from the Atlantic was no longer centrally located, and with the local iron ore fields long depleted, the movement of the steel industry to the Chicago region, was already underway in the 1890's. The establishment of Gary, Indiana, and the huge US Steel works there, was the death knell for steel in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh interests fought this movement with shenanigans such as Pittsburgh Plus, and two world wars, which resulted in renewed investment in current facilities, plus the Depression, conspired to slow this movement down. Nevertheless, Pittsburgh's leaders knew that the departure of steel was inevitable, and that it was necessary to prepare the city for a future that included much less heavy industry. They realized that the city was filthy and rundown, and had a horrible reputation, which would hinder any efforts to attract the types of businesses the city would need to survive. This was the true impetus for all of the efforts that followed. Pretty much everything they envisioned came to pass. After the postwar boom finally came to an end, the steel industry indeed exited Pittsburgh. I can't imagine how much worse it might have gotten if they had made no effort to clean up the city.

[Goinback2011]

I recall going out in the morning on the streets in Dormont in the 1960's and the cars were coated with a fine goldish orange dust. I still don't know what that was, but I'm sure it wasn't good. Of course, we didn't know it could be hazardous back then. We thought it was raining prosperity.

My mom worked at a department store on the North Side in the mid 1930's and took 2 street cars from the house in Dormont to get there. She said that when she arrived, her nose was completely blocked by black soot from the coal burning stoves used back then.

On my visit to Pittsburgh in August, I saw a couple of old churches that were made of a beautiful red sandstone, one in Friendship and one in Bellevue. They were almost completely black - from those same coal stoves, I guess. If they sandblasted those churches, they would be spectacular.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

I recall going out in the morning on the streets in Dormont in the 1960's and the cars were coated with a fine goldish orange dust. I still don't know what that was, but I'm sure it wasn't good. Of course, we didn't know it could be hazardous back then. We thought it was raining prosperity.

My mom worked at a department store on the North Side in the mid 1930's and took 2 street cars from the house in Dormont to get there. She said that when she arrived, her nose was completely blocked by black soot from the coal burning stoves used back then.

On my visit to Pittsburgh in August, I saw a couple of old churches that were made of a beautiful red sandstone, one in Friendship and one in Bellevue. They were almost completely black - from those same coal stoves, I guess. If they sandblasted those churches, they would be spectacular.

They actually use high-pressure water to clean it off. Pitt cleaned the Cathedral facade a few years ago; it cost several million dollars. I wonder how much it cost to clean off a more modest-sized church but I bet it's still not cheap.

[Goinback2011]

Originally Posted by Drover

They actually use high-pressure water to clean it off. Pitt cleaned the Cathedral facade a few years ago; it cost several million dollars. I wonder how much it cost to clean off a more modest-sized church but I bet it's still not cheap.

If that's the case, I'd do it for cheap with a pressure washer from Home Depot.

They'd need to rent me a lift though.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by Drover

They actually use high-pressure water to clean it off. Pitt cleaned the Cathedral facade a few years ago; it cost several million dollars. I wonder how much it cost to clean off a more modest-sized church but I bet it's still not cheap.

Both the Carnegie complex in Oakland, and Trinity Church downtown have been cleaned in recent years. The change in Trinity is amazing.