It certainly is startling for modern park-goers to find what may be a grave site in their midst, and someone along the way must have tried to deduce an explanation. At some point in my childhood, I learned that the Mellon family had established one of my favorite places on earth: Idlewild Park. The site previously was the location of the mansion of James K. Moorhead, a U.S. [7] Along with the tennis courts Mellon Park includes a playground, basketball courts, and baseball fields. William Larimer's parents were not believers, and he wrote sympathetically but scathingly in his memoirs about his grandfather's doty adventures with Spiritualism. An urban explorer known as Abandoned Southeast took the photos. The extravagance of the Mellons may never be seen again. Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mellon_Park&oldid=1138195611, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks, National Register of Historic Places in Pittsburgh, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 14:16. The Mellon family's enormous wealth was accrued primarily by brothers Andrew William Mellon and Richard B. Mellon during the 1920s and 1930s, investing or founding companies that include Mellon Bank, Alcoa, Standard Steel Car Co., Westinghouse Electric Co. and Gulf Oil. On his deathbed, these were Richard's last words to his brother. Whither, Sarah? When we see a home, regardless of its age, we connect it to a family and the life that occured inside. McMullen, 24 years his junior, rocked the gossip columns in 1912. Mellon, along with C.C. In 1931, R.B. His brother, Andrew William Mellon, right, was the US Ambassador to Britain and the US treasury secretary, Matthew Mellon, pictured with his ex-wife British-born Tamara Mellon (left and right). The church was dedicated on July 4, 1944. Did Sarah? Biography [ edit] He and his brother Andrew Mellon, sons of Judge Thomas Mellon, were frequent business partners. The Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh retains the papers of Sarah Jane and Thomas' second son, James R. Mellon, a collection open to researchers. But for all that this makes me an unintentional font of Mellon trivia, the family still exists for me in a world apart, one separated from my understanding and experience by more than glass. But Sarah remained connected to the goings-on at home. Reducing Chronic School Absenteeism. Mellon has been recognized as one of the most important private benefactors of environmental causes, achieving his significant stature quietly and humbly. After Richard Mellon and his wife died in the 1930s, their son Richard King Mellon, lived there briefly before retreating to Ligonier. [2] In 1926 he established a $15 million pension fund for Presbyterian ministers. Send Report . When the downtown burial ground, then called Smithfield Street Cemetery, was closed, remains were removed to Troy Hill and not a Highland Park burial ground. It's in plain sight but bland and usually overlooked.. Rather like Andrew Mellon, actually. He was fined and received a suspended sentence for his efforts after providing crucial testimony against some partners. I'd walked past this grove many times in the six years I lived in Highland Park. Mellon's personal sense of style was exemplified by a hat-rack made of mirrors and buffalo horns and half a taxidermied buffalo head (yes, half), both of which he kept on display as mementos of his youth in the untamed West. Richard served under Andrew at Mellon Bank, and assumed its presidency in 1921 when Andrew was appointed Treasury Secretary. The day after my tour, I was reading a book about art collecting in Pittsburgh during the Gilded Age when I stumbled upon something that, as our columnist Rick Sebak would say, isn't there anymore. She was 'finished' at the Edgeworth Ladies' Boarding School in Braddock, where she benefited from an exceptionally well-rounded education in addition to polishing the necessary social skills for a woman of her position. James was away at college. The 65-room mansion of Richard B. Mellon, brother of Andrew Mellon, built at 6500 Fifth Avenue in 1910: The Richard B. Mellons raised two children in that "house," which included a bowling alley in the basement and a carriage house. Richard B. Mellon, a multimillionaire, was the president of Alcoa. Mount Saint Peter Church is a Roman Catholic Church at 100 Freeport Road in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Richard Mellon Scaife (pictured right in 1973) the great-nephew of Andrew Mellon and JJames R Mellon. In this era when a woman was most known by her husband's The congregation was founded by Italian immigrants in the early 1900s and the current building was constructed by hand by parish members during World War II using materials from the then recently dismantled Richard B. Mellon 60-room mansion in Pittsburgh. Richard Mellon Scaife is the best-known living member of Pittsburgh's storied Mellon clan, whose eponymous bank made the family a 19th-century fortune, which grew steadily with diversified . Presidential Administrations Arthur A. Hamerschlag, 1903-1922 Richard M. Cyert, 1972-1990 Thomas S. Baker, 1922-1935 Robert Mehrabian, 1990-1997 Robert E. Doherty, 1936-1950 Jared L. Cohon, 1997-2013 She'd buy me a raisin-filled cookie from the Jenny Lee Bakery just below the square, then let me amuse myself while she had a cigarette. Peggy Hitchcock (daughter of Margaret Mellon Hitchcock, a sister of Matthew and Larry mentioned above) was married for a time to 1960s American counterculture leader Walter Howard Bowart, whom she met through mutual friend and former lover Timothy Leary. Richard K. Mellon remained an outdoorsman and grew the family retreat in Ligonier into a grand estate. It likely knew the tread of Sarah Jane's feet when she Nora McMullen Mellon by James Jebusa Shannon, 1910, Heinz History Center Detre Library and Archives, largest single gift of land ever made to the nation in 1990, The social mirror: a character sketch of the women of Pittsburg and vicinity during the first century of the county's existence. On July 4, 1944, the church was dedicated. The splendor of the Gilded Age couldnt last forever. A direct line of correlation can be drawn from kid-me peering through windows into a miniature Mellon world in 1969, to adult-me reading articles and biographies about the family. educational venture. When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his . The gardens were originally designed in 1912 by Alden and Harlow. Simple theme. (Factual information from Images of America: Pittsburghs Mansions by Melanie Linn Gutowski), Photo courtesy of: http://thatschurch.com/2012/04/30/pittsburgh-history-with-ginny-suck-it-harlequin/. homestead of Alexander Negley, where are interred about fifty early I was afraid to even gaze at a gaudy Tiffany mantle clock for too long for fear my stare alone would cause it to fall to the floor and shatter. A fountain stands between the garden and the rest of the park. In The Judge, another quote from grandson William described how the Mellon marriage evolvedor rather, how it bobbed placidly in place on the surface for decades: Some personal material related to Sarah Jane does exist for public access. Height: 115.5 in (293.37 cm) Width: 13 in (33.02 cm) Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm) He and his brother Andrew had a little game of tag going for about seven decades. I sat there stunned anew. And an exposed steel beam bears the stamp of the Carnegie Steel Company. If we know our history, we know who we came from and what was important to them. Published on Jul 30, 2009. The marble came from the long-gone Richard B. Mellon mansion in Squirrel Hill. That's a shame considering the century's worth What I did know, even at age 5, was that a different kind of life was lived by the sorts of folks who had the money and hubris to reproduce their houses in miniature. Above the cast iron door of the original bank building at 514 Smithfield Street was placed a near life-sized statue of his inspiration, Benjamin Franklin. On January 2, 1870, he opened the T. Mellon & Sons' Bank with his sons Andrew W. and Richard B.Mellon, William Larimer and Sparkes, Boyden, , 1948. It was great reading your blogs. The rail ties and lumber used to build the railroad were furnished by the lumber company the Mellon brothers owned. Mellon residence photo from Allegheny County, PA archives. Here, I thought, perhaps here is something I can actually relate to. Other than these glimpses, the public is left with only the name and limited understanding of the life of Sarah Jane Negley Mellon as filtered through others' experiences. Did she grow to like, or love, her husband? I think its important for us to stress what the buildings truly stand for and that theyre more than just material, so we can save more buildings from being destroyed. 'Shortly after, James and Rachel were married. 1 This is a photo of John M. Phillips' children on the front lawn of his mansion "Impton" at 2236 Brownsville Road with Richard B. Mellon, Richard King Mellon and Sara Mellon. Being quiet, pleasant, and self-possessed would do. Stunned, I started researching the house, asking myself, "You'd remember if you saw that, right? 175 Years Later, The Mellons Have Never Been Richer. She would "do." Such was the beginning of my married home It became the target of steelworker ire culminating in disruptive demonstrations, boycotts and mass withdrawals of funds. of astounding history she orchestrated by providing a serene life From an early age, Thomas Mellon entrusted his sons with business ventures. To honour her memory, he built the Larimer Memorial Library (now Larimer Arts Center) and donated it to the city, The introduction of the railroads into North Florida in the 1880s led to an explosion in the winter tourist trade and visitors, such as industrialist James R. Mellon, opted to purchase or erect winter residences rather than be confined to a hotel room, The Mellon family ranked among the wealthiest and most prominent industrialists in the United States by the time of Judge Mellon's death in 1908. A fitting setting for a bride with a background in architectural conservation: the cathedral was constructed in the 1940s using salvaged marble, steel, and other materials from the Richard B. Mellon Mansion (as it was being demolished) and features stunning architectural details. Music, drawing and painting, and French cost extra. While not as significant as the old post office, city hall or the Wabash terminal, it would be really cool if the Richard B. Mellon mansion were still around. It wasn't. half-hidden in the ivy near a split-level cul-de-sac along Negley They said: 'The introduction of the railroads into North Florida in the 1880s led to an explosion in the winter tourist trade. This was a relationship which appears to have been based on mutually calculated, emotionally-detached appraisals. Mellon's philanthropic gifts were primarily church-oriented. After nearly a decade of marriage, Thomas and Sarah Jane built a new home for their growing family on Negley land adjacent to their existing cottage, with an eventual address of 401 Negley Avenue. Richard A. Mellon, 56, was unanimously selected by the Boards of both Foundations. The young Sarah Jane attended school in a frame building built by her father in 1819, near today's East Liberty Presbyterian Church. The grand staircase is the altar. The Foundation has awarded more than 7,700 grants and program-related investments to more than 1,800 organizations since its founding. What was it about this "quiet, pleasant, and self-possessed" woman that set the steely-eyed and practical thirty year old bachelor off course, yet kept him coming back for more? She devoted herself to church and community. By the age of 21, James and his brother Thomas Jr. had raised over $100,000 operating a nursery, lumber yard, and construction supply business, Old tennis rackets, books and an abandoned box left in the house, along with a map and a US flag. The house in Palatka, Putnam County, Florida was. These mansions are beautiful and marvelous and it was a shame that they were torn down. We don't know if she, too, found recounting the details of their 1842 wedding "uninteresting." Keep in mind that the Fricks primary residence at the time, Clayton, had a mere 23 rooms (in comparison). The Mellon private family archives contain private written material and memorabilia which no doubt shed more light on Sarah Jane's personality -- including the scrapbooks which so infuriated her husband when they were courting. He had a personal fortune of $1.4billion in his lifetime, mostly through inherited wealth. It's all about ME. He served as a program officer at The Forbes Funds and McCune. came to visit, but it was not her home. The park was established in 1943, on the grounds of the former estate of Richard B. Mellon. Richard Mellon Scaife, the billionaire philanthropist whose fortune was almost entirely misapplied, died 82 years too late on Independence Day, July 4, 2014. Mount St. Peter Roman Catholic Church was founded in the early 1900s by Italian immigrants. John D. Rockefeller Jr. . The 1994 book Architecture after Richardson reports that the house was torn down in 1941 for no reason that I have found as of yet. He died on December 1, 1933, before the new building was completed. One story claims that they were originally buried downtown Pittsburgh at Smithfield and Sixth Streets, at what became the German Evangelical Protestant Church church (just around the corner from today's Mellon Park). Insulated by innocent pleasure, I was grateful to them for that. He served as president of Western Pennsylvania Hospital and the Allegheny County Juvenile Court Farm. The grand too often eclipses the ordinary, usually to the detriment of our historical and human understanding. The B.B. . Quote: Mistake: Choose. View Details. Published: 12:00 GMT, 2 July 2019 | Updated: 19:24 GMT, 12 August 2019. were all in all to each other. You become very aware of how gangly and awkward the human body is when you're surrounded by priceless artifacts. Given that few descendants even carry the Mellon name today, genealogical clarity and historical perspective are that much more difficult to achieve. Sacred to the memory of those noble Christian pioneers who moulded Given his ex-wife's well-documented personal difficulties, plus alleged threats to the girls' safety by organized crime, Pross Mellon and his second wife were able to keep custody of and raise his daughters. Even as I half-remembered old jokes about the haunted grove in the park, I was haunted by other musings. You can also learn about the Gilded Age and its extreme wealth gap. With the Depression, and these other societal changes, many of the mansions built during this era were destroyed. Richard Mellon. Nor do we know what she thought of their then-novel honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls, returning by way of Boston, New York City and Philadelphia. 1 By the end of his six months a'wooing, Thomas Mellon no doubt wryly ruminated over the observations of his close friend Richard Beatty, who had passed over Sarah Jane for a younger Negley sister because Sarah was ".too independent for him, had no elasticity in her composition, and did not seem to appreciate gentlemen's attentions." He dropped out of school in the ninth grade but earned a GED and, eventually, master's degrees from two prestigious universities. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. She traveled little. Somewhere in Highland Park lie the Negleys with their many friends and neighbors. A few years later, they moved nearly next door into a home Mrs. Negley gifted them. His was the largest mansion in Pittsburgh. ', 'The Mellons welcomed many famous guests into their home, including Billy Sunday, a former National League baseball player turned evangelist. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is housed in the former home of industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie. Tamara is the founder of luxury footwear brand Jimmy Choo. Sarah Cordelia Mellon was born on December 2, 1903, the only daughter of Richard Beatty and Jennie King Mellon. The line history becomes attainable couldnt be more true. wife was herself a good cook and not in the least averse to work.we Richard B. Mellon. The scene sounds like something out of the Duquesne Club, an exclusive Downtown enclave for Pittsburgh's rich and powerful. Even Sarah Jane's small talk seemed to get on Thomas' nerves, for he notes in his memoirs: Apparently the Negleys didn't pay extra for those music lessons at the Edgeworth Ladies' Boarding School. In honor of his civic efforts, the Air and Waste Management Association recognizes individuals who have made administrative, legislative, and judicial contributions to the field of pollution abatement with the Richard Beatty Mellon Award. If you're from Pittsburgh, you know the name Mellon. Even writing in retrospect what stood out for Thomas Mellon was that, all things considered, this 27 year old heiress was a good catch. James and wife Rachael first came to Florida in the early 1880s, to get away from the frigid winters in Pennsylvania. Some of Eagle Rock was saved, however. There is an area just for children. (1592-1673), who came from London, England to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635. write a sentence using the following word: beech; louise verneuil the voice; fda breakthrough device designation list 2021; best clear face masks for speech therapy One of Pittsburgh's historic green spaces is conveniently located just minutes from Shadyside Commons. He recalled that ".since marriage, the last important event of my life was consummated, and nothing left to distract my attention from business, I could feel that I was fairly settled." As a lifelong Pittsburgher there are many elements of the Mellon saga that I never knew, including Sara Jane's story. Did she want to say "told you so" when all was said and done? 164-20 Highland Ave #3f. His Preserving history and historic buildings is important. for women throughout history, of course. Or consider how the mental competency of Rachel Lambert "Bunny" Mellon (a Mellon by marriage, she was the second wife of Andrew Mellon's son Paul) was called into question over her support of now-disgraced Senator John Edwards. The author didn't say that; There is a mistake in the text of this quote; The quote belongs to another author; But neither did he join the Union Army. My childish deductive reasoning skills led me to assume that this family must be like some PBS high-brow version of Mr. This was a woman who had the means to do anything she wanted, and then some. Instead, take heed of this: a monument to one woman's love of family, and her desire to honor the past. [4], Any form of an event can potentially take place in Mellon Park with permission from the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Works. Growing up surrounded by the Mellon name in Pittsburgh I nevertheless felt a vague sense of loss when the races were shut down in 1982. She didn't turn Thomas away, but then again, neither did she encourage him. Privately produced photograph album to mark the occasion of the marriage of Sarah Mellon (1903-1965) and Alan Scaife (1900-1958). "Richard B. Mellon and his brother Andrew played a game of tag that lasted seven decades. I don't know how Sarah Jane would regard the checkered reputations of her descendants, but I certainly think she was proud of her own past. We are also left with very little in the way of physical artifacts to Richard King Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; inherited wealth: Alcoa, Gulf Oil, Mellon Bank, etc. A farmhouse built by grandmother The property later became known as Mellon Park. It is unfortunate that such an opportunity has been taken away from us. I think this is a very important thing to consider when people try and tear down historic sites. A number of public buses serve the area. The rest of the Mellon entry describes two of her daughters-in-law. suicide? In 1911 the architectural firm of Alden and Harlow designed the terraced gardens just below the mansion. [2] There are 150 stars, and each is a light in the ground and includes an inscription about it. We then hold some of these same things to be important. The house was razed in 1940 after the City of Pittsburgh refused to forgive the taxes owed on the structure. And thus history becomes attainable, not a scholarly discipline, but a simle human story. Thomas Mellon warmed up to his new wife, whom he described as taking ".full possession and master of the situation, not the least discouraged through without any company or help." when the couple moved into a rented home downtown. in Highland Park. 'Eager to establish himself before getting married, James Mellon returned home to lease the Osceola Coal Works from his father,' added Abandoned Southeast. The Judge author and descendant James Mellon describes a dark and sturdily decorated Victorian interior. Mellon, a member of the influential banking family, built the sixty-room house in 1908-9. R.B. Fricks daughter, Helen, loathed the house and felt it was too opulent, so she allowed for its demolition. This much, I knew: Sarah Jane Negley Mellon was an heiress descended from multiple Pittsburgh pioneer families who once owned nearly all of the East End. Mellon Park, established in 1943, was once part of the estate of Richard B. Mellon, owner of the largest mansion in the city. These industrious men then built the monumental Mount St. Peter Church in New Kensington, which still stands and functions to this day from the materials of the Mellon Mansion. Five years later, the Mellon brothers founded the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research as a memorial to their father, An abandoned bathroom at the sprawling property. That cemetery was closed in 1860 when the site was needed for further urban development. The 64-room mansion, built from 1899 to 1902, is an impressive testament to the desire of Carnegie and his wife, Louise Whitfield Carnegie, to build a spacious, comfortable, and light-filled home in which to raise their daughter, Margaret. Three of our most recent grants are highlighted below. He and his brother, Andrew W. Mellon, another son of Judge Thomas Mellon, were frequent business partners. There are some claims that they were re-interred on the spot beneath the marker in Highland Park, having been moved there. Like the earliest Mellons, Alexander originally settled in Westmoreland County. The chandeliers once graced a 1930s-era Los Angeles theater. It's hard to tell whether Sarah Jane's preternatural self-possession unnerved or impressed him. The land surrounding the mansion was donated to the city of Pittsburgh and now serves as Mellon Park. Howard Heinz and Richard B. Mellon found the Pittsburgh Parks and Playground Fund - today it is known as the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy Howard Heinz founds the Pittsburgh Planning Association, which today is known as the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission - the region's MPO. What did Sarah Jane think of this girl's supposed affinity for the otherworldly? As you can see from these photos, Eagle Rock was a beautiful piece of architecture that should have been kept for future generations. As to the rest, we must imagine and wonder, for we have no miniature dollhouses to prompt imagination. Doubtful. In May 1864, in separate letters both the Judge and Sarah Jane responded to their then-18 year old son's desire to join the Union Army for a 100 day enlistment. Social activists, politicians, journalists, and others helped to bring about changes like child labor laws and minimum wage. Along with being a successful bank and industrialist, he was a philanthropist like the rest of the Mellon family and deeply invested in his community. Didnt he know how badly I would want to walk through it? name, as Mrs. So-and-so, it's hard not to make too much of the fact that Sarah used Witness, for example, the obsession of Sarah's son Richard Mellon Scaife with the Clinton family, which went on for decades. Sarah might have been the dullest of them all, but we'll never know for sure. It was a stones throw from the current Pittsburgh Center for the Arts on Fifth Ave. Here's a link to a pic. The Marshall property was added in 1944, and the Frew and Darsie properties, east of the Mellon . You couldn't live in Pittsburgh without knowing that. Mellon has been recognized as one of the most important private benefactors of environmental causes, achieving his significant stature quietly and humbly. Stop in to reconnect with the history. She introduced Leary to her brother William "Billy" Mellon Hitchcock, and he in turn became the Daddy Warbucks of the Counterculture. To kid-me, a family name such as "Mellon" seemed pretty funny: it conjured up images of posh, well-dressed fleshy fruit. The name seeped into my consciousness at an astonishingly early age. The four who survived became famous men, two of whom - Andrew W. Mellon - and Richard B. Mellon - attained worldwide fame in banking, business, government, philanthropy and the arts. [1], The Walled Garden is surrounded by walls of brick and limestone and is one of Gothic design. Let's assume that these items were rendered less conspicuous by decorators who Now, striking pictures show the white-panel exterior of the large house, the ornate tiled pathway leading to the front door and the slightly overgrown garden that features palm trees. Ten . Indeed, there was much here that had ecclesiastical potentialities. One side of the monument reads: You can find all of of our more than 7,700 grants and program-related investments in our archives. When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his brother over and whispered, "Last tag.".

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