what do the people of pittsburgh think of andrew carnegie today (Johnstown: homes, to buy)

[silverhead]

Hello all,long time lurker of city data first time post. I visit the states every year on holiday and city data is a great way to get local info on places. but this year I will be visiting Pittsburgh for the first time and as I live only 5 miles from Andrew carnegies birthplace and having visited both the cottage where he was born and the museum in Dunfermline recently I was wondering what the current residents thought of "the king of steel". Is he just a figure from the past or does he still have an presence in Pittsburgh today.I have read most of his books and online info and I find him a quite fascinating/devisive person.i cannot wait to visit all the Carnegie related museums when I am in Pittsburgh in September.Any advice on other must see carnegie related things other than the museums would be very helpful. cheers john

[SammyKhalifa]

Hi,
Many of the old timers in the city regard him as a monster who tried to buy his way back into heaven. I agree though, there's more to it than that and certainly our city would have been quite different without him!

You'll probably want to see some of the libraries too, which probably have had a bigger impact than even the museums.

Edit--oh, and of course:
http://www.riversofsteel.com/preserv...-of-homestead/

[SuburbanPioneer]

A great visionary and industrialist.

[UKyank]

The majority know of him, know he was a steel industrialist & that a lot of stuff here bears his name & proudly view him as a pittsburgh icon; others who have actually studied about him are split between hating his heavy handed labor practices, loving his philanthropic contributions, or admiring his rise from lowly railroad worker to richest man in the world.

Unless you're from Johnstown, then you universally hate Carnegie.

[I_Like_Spam]

Carnegie helped make Pittsburgh the world leader in manufacturing for a 100 years beginning with his construction of the ET Works which are still operating in Braddock.

His philanthropic gifts to the region are still here and still paying dividends.

I didn't know that Carnegie was hated in Johnstown, except if they blame him for the 1889 flood- although I didn't know he was assigned blame for him

I don't think there are any Carnegie personal artifacts here, he wasn't buried here, probably in Scotland. His childhood home in Allegheny City is long since gone, I guess under 279 or the casino.

[RogersParkTransplant]

My general sense is that most people vaguely know that Carnegie, Mellon, and Frick were all powerful businessmen who made tons of money and gave a lot to the city, though their reputations as rich philanthropists are a bit mixed. Heinz too, though his working class roots may be better known? I'm aware that there are major differences between all of them, of course, but does the average Pittsburgher think about that a whole lot, or is there a general tendency to lump them together as the big names of Pittsburgh's lost gilded age? I think the latter, but I am curious to see what others might say.

Rivers of Steel is fascinating, glad someone already mentioned it.

[Bert Peters]

Manlet.