Welcome to Westinghouse Park

Celebrating its centennial in 2018, Westinghouse Park is a 10.2-acre city park situated in Pittsburgh’s East End neighborhood of Point Breeze North. It is defined by Thomas Boulevard on the south, the busway/rail road tracks on the north, Murtland Street on the west, and Lang Avenue on the east.

Here are two bird’s eye views of the park today.

From 1871 to 1918, the site was “Solitude,” the estate of George Westinghouse Jr. and his wife Marguerite, pictured here with her younger sister.

In 1871, George Westinghouse was already a prosperous, self-made man of 25 when he purchased a house and 5-acre parcel along the Pennsylvania Railroad’s mainline 6 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh. The location was appropriate; the railroad was Westinghouse’s primary customer and also his way to get around both the county and the country.

Over the next decade, he and Marguerite enlarged their house, and when they acquired the adjacent 5-acre parcel, Westinghouse expanded his estate up to Thomas Boulevard. He also had a private railroad siding at the Homewood Station immediately across Lang Avenue.

Here’s how the property looked in 1890.

Although the photograph says 1867, the image actually dates to 1887.

As the photo caption indicated, Westinghouse also had a new stable building erected, with a steam power generator, as indicated by the huge brick chimney. Beneath the stable was his private, tile-lined laboratory.

And here are other historic photos of Solitude’s mansion and grounds.

The young ginkgo tree in set center of the picture still stands today.

And to go between his house and his ‘inner sanctum,” Westinghouse had a 220-foot tunnel dug between the two. Measuring eight feet high from floor to ceiling and five feet wide at floor level, the brick-lined, bee-hive shaped tunnel remains entirely intact for its entire length. The image below shows the north end of the tunnel, where it entered the house, blocked by the rubble created when Solitude was razed in 1919.

During the four decades Westinghouse lived and worked at Solitude, numerous notable politicians, industrialists, and scientists came to visit, including Congressman and future President William McKinley and Britain’s Lord Kelvin. Nicola Tesla, the AC electricity theorist, lived at Solitude for several months while helping to develop a practical AC system that would work with his motors and generators. Marguerite’s frequent parties and soirees were the apex of Pittsburgh society. Other visitors included neighbors like H. C. Frick and H. J. Heinz.

But perhaps the most notable historic event that happened on Solitude was the 1884 discovery of a huge pocket of natural gas in several wells Westinghouse had drilled in his own back yard.

After both George and Marguerite died in 1914, Solitude was bequeathed to their only child, George III, who in turn sold the property to the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania in 1918. The society deeded the estate to the city for a dollar to be used as a public park and memorial to Westinghouse. The following summer, the Solitude mansion was razed, and the park was developed. This deconstruction ad of items for sale provides a glimpse of Solitude’s grandeur.

In the early 1960s, the stables were also torn down and replaced by the present cement block structure. Other than stone columns at old entrances, the only vestiges of Solitude that remain above ground are several copses of magnificent red oak and ginkgo trees.

Below ground is another matter.

Please scroll through posts below for continuing and chronological information about what’s going on in Westinghouse Park and efforts to remember and honor George Westinghouse. You can also follow us on FaceBook @ Westinghouse Park.

Westinghouse Discovers Natural Gas at Solitude

In his article published in the Summer 2022 issue of Western Pennsylvania History Magazine, William Huber, author of George Westinghouse – Powering the World, drills into the story of how George Westinghouse found natural gas in his own backyard.

bill-hubers-westinghouse-gas-article-in-w-pa-history-magDownload

Westinghouse Park’s Centennial Celebration

December 1, 2018, marked the first centennial of Westinghouse Park. The occasion was noted by proclamations from both Pittsburgh’s Mayor and City Council, and a cake-cutting celebration in the park. Mayor Peduto recorded his proclamation.

The Westinghouse Brand Endures

How design has helped the rebirth of a 100-year-old American brand

From the San Francisco Chronicle

By StoryStudio May 10, 2023 9:27 PM

(BPT) – When you think of the most important, influential companies in America, the first image that may pop into your head is their logo. This is common for long-lived brands spanning decades — or over a century — and even more so for well-designed, memorable logos that represent the company in a visually meaningful way. 

For example, when you hear the name “Westinghouse,” you probably imagine the distinctive brand logo designed by renowned graphic designer and art director Paul Rand (1914-1996) back in 1959. Throughout his illustrious career, Rand created numerous well-known logos for companies like IBM, UPS, ABC and NeXT.

Rand’s familiar logo is now undergoing a facelift thanks to acclaimed contemporary designer Paula Scher, who has reimagined the famous logo with a colorful approach that’s appealing to today’s consumers, while still paying homage to its original creator.

Brief history of an iconic American brand

George Westinghouse founded Westinghouse Electric in 1886, and through a partnership with Nikola Tesla and the development of the AC power system, defeated Thomas Edison’s DC power in the “war of the currents.” For the next century Westinghouse Electric achieved fascinating firsts in electrical innovation, including the first long-distance transmission of high-voltage AC power, the first commercial radio broadcast and the camera that captured the first steps on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Today, the Westinghouse logo can be found on products ranging from nuclear power plants and large industrial motors to televisions, light bulbs, generators and more.

The famous brand logo designed by Paul Rand is made from the letter “w” with three circles atop each peak and a bold line underneath. Not only is the design eye-catching and memorable, but it suggests the idea of electronic circuits connecting, representing the company’s foundation and continuing product line.

“The enduring legacy of this logo design is undeniable,” said Director of Brand Experience at Westinghouse Electric Corporation Kevin Drain. “And the longevity of this clear, clean, evocative image speaks to the power and passion behind Rand’s vision.”

Redesigning an iconic brand for the next generation

As the company planned to revitalize the brand, they sought one of the best designers in the country to help reimagine the logo for a modern audience.

Paula Scher was their top choice, as a highly influential graphic designer well known for her creative work for companies including Citibank, Tiffany’s, Microsoft, Adobe, Coca-Cola and the Walt Disney Company, just to name a few — plus venerable institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Sundance Institute, the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. In 2001, Scher was awarded the profession’s highest honor by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the AIGA Medal, to recognize her distinguished achievements in the field, and is one of the world’s most highly regarded designers today.

Using Paul Rand’s original Westinghouse brand manual as inspiration, Scher created a visually compelling redesign for the new look of Westinghouse. The design incorporated bright colors, larger typeface and the circle element to appeal to a younger audience while still honoring the company’s legacy of technological innovation. This new design system is a powerful tool in perpetuating the generational legacy of the brand.

“The evolution of this logo is proof that great design will always be great,” added Drain. “If you have a classic design like Rand’s logo, why not keep it — especially when it’s been created to stand the test of time. Scher has taken the original design and modernized it brilliantly, bringing it into the 21st century.”

Check out the new look for the logo design by visiting Westinghouse.com.

Vanished Westinghouse estate here yields some secrets

Here is the article that chronicled the beginning of Westinghouse Park’s rediscovered and the first step in the new master development plan. That step was made by archaeologist Christine Davis, who recently died. Seventeen years is a long time, and many steps remain. But all great accomplishments start somewhere. RIP Chris.

May 2, 2006  By Patricia Lowry / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 

George Westinghouse IV greeted archaeologist Christine Davis with a handshake and a question: “Did you find the grave?”

A startled look flashed over Davis’ face. Last fall, she and her crew had done exploratory excavations on his great-grandfather’s Point Breeze estate — now Westinghouse Park — and found a tantalizing array of artifacts, but no tombstones.

“What grave?” she ventured.

“Thomas Edison is buried in the back yard,” Westinghouse said.

Its Point Breeze neighbors want to excavate George Westinghouse’s former estate, Solitude, and interpret it as a historic site. The house was demolished in 1919, after the land was donated for a city park

At that, the archaeologist and the heir had a good laugh.

The rivalry between Edison and Westinghouse is legendary. For about a decade in the late 19th century, the question of the day was, which of their systems would be the first to electrify the country — direct current, promoted by Edison, or alternating current, developed by Nikola Tesla, who sold the patent to Westinghouse?

The decisive moment came in 1886, when Westinghouse and his engineers generated electricity at a Downtown factory and sent it by alternating current to a building in Lawrenceville, where 400 lamps were kept burning for two weeks.

“It was the first successful exhibition ever made in the United States of the transmission of electrical energy for any considerable distance through the medium of alternating current,” which, unlike direct current, can be carried long distances with the aid of transformers, wrote Westinghouse’s friend and biographer, Francis Leupp. Although much of the work was done Downtown, Westinghouse’s home was a living laboratory, where exposed electrical wires festooned the ceilings, so he could easily make improvements.

Concurrently, Westinghouse was experimenting with harnessing natural gas for lighting and heating. Because Marguerite Westinghouse liked to have her husband at home, the gas wells were drilled in the back yard — four of them, beginning in 1884. Their wooden derricks towered over her flower beds and his laboratory on the estate’s south lawn, along Thomas Boulevard.

Westinghouse’s home lab was part of the estate’s two-story brick stable built in the same Second Empire style as the house; the lab’s basement contained a generator and engine room for the pioneering lighting and heating systems. Wires and pipes passed through a subway tunnel to the house. There were rumors Westinghouse was conducting secret experiments there, and they were right.

Some experiments, of course, had to be done in the open, and much to the amazement of neighbors. After striking gas in the summer of 1884, Westinghouse wanted to test its illuminating qualities. He erected a pipe, about 60 feet high from the mouth of the well, and a bundle of flaming, oil-drenched rags was hoisted by pulley to the top of it. When the well was uncapped, a pillar of flame shot 100 feet into the night sky, then died down to a steady fountain of flame. People a mile away could read their newspapers by it, Leupp reports. By 1886, Westinghouse had invented a piping system, an automatic cut-off regulator and a gas meter and eventually distributed natural gas to his immediate neighborhood.

Archaeologist Christine Davis, left, laughs at a joke by George Westinghouse IV of Atlanta, Ga., while leading a tour at Westinghouse Park in Point Breeze. At right is Ed Reis, executive director of the George Westinghouse Museum in Wilmerding.

Today, there is no evidence that any of these world-changing events occurred on the 10.2 acres bounded by Thomas Boulevard, Lang Street, Murtland Avenue and the former Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, alongside which Westinghouse kept his private rail car. Westinghouse Park’s neighbors want to change that. They want to interpret what remains of the estate as a historic site, said Cheryl Hall, chair of the North Point Breeze Planning and Development Corp. To that end, the neighborhood group asked the city to sponsor an exploratory dig to see what, if anything, lies buried beneath the lawn. About 30 neighbors came to the park last week to meet Westinghouse’s great-grandson and to hear Davis talk about the excavation.

George Westinghouse

“There’s not a brick missing from this tunnel,” Davis said of the nearly 200-foot-long, round-arched subway from house to laboratory that one of her colleagues explored and photographed last fall. Even the tunnel’s ceiling rods, from which Westinghouse suspended electrical lines, are intact. Another tunnel, now in need of repair, ran from the house to the railroad tracks.

When the Westinghouses bought the property in 1871, Leupp reports, it came with a three-story, mansard-roofed house, which they enlarged as they prospered. However, Davis said her map and deed research indicates the Westinghouses built their home. Marguerite named it Solitude, their great-grandson said, a name inspired by the small Catskills settlement of Solitude, which disappeared before the Civil War and near which Marguerite had grown up.

But as the years went by, Solitude was increasingly alive with industrial and social activity. The Westinghouses and their only child, George, had dinner guests almost every night, often co-workers and their families and occasionally visiting dignitaries.

Marguerite “lives in greater style, entertains more splendidly and wears more gorgeous, varied and elegant toilets, has more and finer diamonds than any woman in Pittsburg,” Adelaide Nevin wrote in “The Social Mirror” in 1888. “Her table appointments are simply superb, the entire service being of solid silver and gold … and the cut glass, Sevres, Dresden and other fine porcelains are worth a small fortune.”

The couple, who also had homes in Massachusetts, New York and Washington, D.C., died within three months of each other in 1914. Four years later, their son and his wife Violet sold the Point Breeze property to the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania, which intended to establish both a city park and a memorial to Westinghouse there (which, as it turned out, was erected in Schenley Park). The 1918 city ordinance accepting the estate stipulated that the house be removed by the city within six months. When it was demolished the following year, at least some of the building was collapsed into the basement. The stable/laboratory survived into the 1960s, when it was replaced by a park maintenance building on the same site. Davis hopes to excavate beneath a portion of its concrete floor.

Among the 1,249 artifacts recovered from seven test units on the house site were fragments of granite and marble; shards of painted stained glass, a Haviland porcelain saucer and a crystal perfume bottle. A permanent repository for them will be chosen by the city and community. One possibility is the George Westinghouse Museum in Wilmerding, where the inventor’s great-grandson is a trustee. Although Westinghouse lives in Atlanta and visits the museum every other year, last week was his first walking-around trip to the house site, which he’d seen only once before, 20 years ago, on a guided drive-by tour.

As the family historian and only male heir through the father’s line, he is trying to gather for the museum some of the Westinghouse possessions that had been divided among descendants in 1946, after the men came back from World War II. They had been stored in eight rail cars before ending up in a warehouse in Victoria, B.C.

The neighborhood group also wants to identify, preserve and interpret Solitude’s historic landscape features, which include stone steps leading from Lang Street and Murtland Avenue, stone entrance pillars, carriage drives and 45 hardwood and specimen trees, notably pin oaks planted in clusters of three. The Davis report identifies six other species: horse chestnuts, Norway maples, gingkoes, sawtooth oaks, a Siberian elm and an Amur cork.

The neighbors would like to see gas lighting in the park and a new shelter reminiscent of the stable. They also are seeking the park’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places; approval should help secure funds for further excavations. If and when they happen, they hope to involve neighborhood schoolchildren in the search for what remains of the home and workshop of Pittsburgh’s greatest inventor.

Re-hanging the Arboretum map

Thanks to Rosie and Robert for their valuable assistance.

From East End Print, March 16, 2023.

Catching the Churchill Choo-choo

Here’s an aerial view of the Westinghouse Research Labs in Churchill as seen in the 1970s. The campus was constructed over 20 years, with more than a half dozen new structures being fitted in over the decades. Do you think the original concept included this homage to George Westinghouse’s innovations that revolutionized railroad transportation around the world?

A Man for His People

Mechanical Engineering. Oct 2008

This article published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers discusses the stature of George Westinghouse as an engineer who is rivaled by his skill and integrity as a leader. Beginning with the railroad air brake, Westinghouse’s inventiveness formed the basis of a commercial empire. Given the evidence of his companies when he controlled them, there is another case to be made for George Westinghouse that he may also have been America’s greatest living industrial manager. George Westinghouse was honored in many ways during his lifetime. In 1874, he was awarded the Scott Legacy Medal by the Franklin Institute. He was made a member of France’s Legion of Honor in 1895. The American engineering societies in 1905 honored him with the John Fritz Medal. He was awarded the Edison Medal, named for his greatest competitor, in 1912. In 1913, he became the first American to receive the Grashoff Medal from Germany.

The Stature of George Westinghouse as an Engineer is Rivaled by His Skill and Integrity as a Leader.

by Ed Reis– Then the Westinghouse historian at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Ed Reis also founded the Westinghouse Museum in Wilmerding. He also was advisor and participant in the documentary film Westinghouse, The Life and Times of an American Icon.

The case can be made that by the late 1800s George Westinghouse was America’s greatest living engineer. He had 361 patents issued to him during his lifetime. Hundreds more patents bore the names of engineers who worked for him. Beginning with the railroad air brake, Westinghouse’s inventiveness formed the basis of a commercial empire.

He surrounded himself with good people, including other great engineers of the time—Benjamin Lamme, Oliver Shallenberger, Charles Scott, William Stanley, Lewis Stillwell, and Albert Schmid. They were loyal to him and got credit for their work.

Given the evidence of his companies when he controlled them, there is another case to be made for George Westinghouse: that he may also have been America’s greatest living industrial manager.

Many today recognize Westinghouse as a great inventor and a great engineer. His skills as a business manager are sometimes overlooked. It took considerable managerial skill to organize and run companies in many different countries at a time when transportation was limited to trains and ships.

Westinghouse’s companies spanned the world. Besides his holdings in the United States, he had an air brake company and an electric company in England. He also had air brake companies in Canada, France, Italy, and Russia. He was the president of 34 separate companies at the same time, with a total of 50,000 employees.

Although he became a wealthy man, greed and money did not motivate him. The forces that drove Westinghouse were those that engineers share—his strong personal belief that his efforts, his successes, his many and varied accomplishments were going to benefit mankind.

Walking through Fire

The old-timers used to say that his engineers and other workers were willing to “walk through fire” for George Westinghouse. How could they not be enthusiastic? After all, they were on a winning team.

The awesome power of Niagara Falls had been harnessed in 1895 using Westinghouse alternating current. Trains were longer, heavier, and faster, and yet much, much safer with Westinghouse air brakes. Natural gas had been discovered in 1878 in Murrysville, Pa., and the early patents of George Westinghouse helped to rapidly develop it into a new clean-burning fuel. Ship propulsion had gained a great leap forward with the Westinghouse geared steam turbine engine.

George Westinghouse believed that his engineers deserved the credit for their hard work and successes. If a Westinghouse engineer developed a new product, it was the inventor’s name, not the boss’s, that went on the patent. New products from the Westinghouse companies were referred to as Shallenberger meters, Scott voltage regulators, Schmid dynamos, Stanley transformers, and Stillwell voltage regulators.

“If you treat your workers with respect… then your company will be successful.” Workers at a Westing house factory early in the 20th century.

Benjamin Lamme invented 162 devices that were patented during his career at the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co. Every single one of those patents was issued in the name of Benjamin Lamme.

George Westinghouse saw the potential in ideas. Ideas like using air to stop a train. He also saw the potential in people. He was quite willing to purchase the patents of others if he thought they had potential. The best example perhaps is the case where he purchased the patents rights to Nikola Tesla’s alternating current induction motor and polyphase system of alternating current.

Westinghouse had been working on alternating current for four years before he purchased these patents from the great Serbian inventor. The Tesla patents were an important part of the alternating current puzzle that George Westinghouse had painstakingly been putting together.

He bought plenty of ideas and rights, and eventually controlled over 15,000 patents.

Westinghouse was also a great engineer. From early childhood he loved all things mechanical. In his father’s shops he tinkered continuously. As a young boy, he made a working model water wheel. He made a working model steamboat at age 14. He made a violin.

A leader remembered: A memorial in Pittsburgh to George Westinghouse was funded by donations from current and former workers of companies that he founded.

His first patent was for a rotary steam engine. He started to work on it at age 15 and the patent was granted to him at age 19, shortly after he returned home in 1865, after having served in the U.S. Army and Navy for a period of two years during the Civil War.

He was never able to make this rotary engine a commercial success, but it’s interesting to see the role of high-speed rotating generators, turbines, and electric motors in the overall success of electrical power. George Westinghouse’s involvement in the development of the Westinghouse geared steam turbine engine for the shipping industry also is associated once again with a highspeed rotating device.

Later in life, George Westinghouse said that his greatest educational experience was the mechanical skills he learned while tinkering in his father’s shop. He said that these skills, learned when he was a young boy, formed the foundation of mechanical skills that served him well throughout his lifetime.

Great Memories

Westinghouse is legendary for the good personal rapport he maintained with his workers.

In 1935, Westinghouse Electric wrote to older retirees from the Westinghouse companies and even from the railroads, asking them to write back with personal remembrances of George Westinghouse. This was more than 20 years after George Westinghouse had died, but the.20. or so returned letters are quite fascinating because they detail many personal stories and provide insight into George’s personality and business practices.

One of the letters told the story of how the writer and some others were outside eating lunch one day when a newly hired foreign-born worker was moving a wheelbarrow of material into the plant. It had rained and there was a board placed over a wet and muddy area. The wheelbarrow slipped and tipped over. The letter writer told how he and the other young men laughed at their co-worker’s misfortune.

By chance, George Westinghouse appeared, and without saying a word, he walked over, took off his gloves, and stepped into the water and mud, where he helped the young man right the wheelbarrow and reload it. The story goes that George Westinghouse then walked away without a glance and without a word.

Westinghouse always treated his workers well. In fact, it was his high-powered contemporary, Andrew Carnegie, who said, “George Westinghouse could have made a lot more money during his lifetime if he hadn’t treated his workers so well.”

There was never a strike at any of the Westinghouse companies in all the time he had control of them. The company’s record was set in an era of violent clashes between labor and management. There were the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892, and the Pullman Strike of 1894. Strikers burned Union Station in Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania Railroad’s Roundhouse and numerous locomotives and railroad cars burned with it. The destruction took place within a stone’s throw of the Westinghouse Air Brake Co. factory, which remained untouched.

Looking Out for his Own

George Westinghouse once spelled out a fairly simple rule of management. “If you treat your workers well,” he said, “if you treat your workers with respect, give them a nice place to work, with the best of tools, then your company will be successful.”

A The Shallenberger meter: Inventions by Westinghouse’s engineers were patented in the inventor’s name, not the boss’s.

He offered pension plans to his workers. His factories became showpieces of advanced practices, like having doctors and nurses in the plants so injured workers could receive immediate help. He even had small hospitals in his plants, open not only to his employees, but also to their families.

When he built the towns of Wilmerding, East Pitts-burgh, and Trafford in Pennsylvania, he would sell the homes to his workers with a monthly deduction from their paychecks. And he had the workers’ homes insured, so that, if the breadwinner died, his wife and children had a home that was paid off.

Standard practice in coal mining towns of western Pennsylvania was to evict the wife and children within days of the death of a coal miner.

A Breakthrough patent: Figures from George Westinghouse’s railroad air brake patent, which transformed railroading in the United States.

Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor and the leading trade unionist in the late 1800s and early 1900s, once said, “If all business owners treated their workers as well as George Westinghouse, the American Federation of Labor would have to go out of business.”

Ironically, it was his refusal to become a robber baron that led to George Westinghouse’s downfall.

J.P. Morgan, the extremely wealthy and powerful New York banker, had contrived with others to limit competition by forming trusts. When the General Electric trust was formed, Westinghouse refused to participate because he considered it an unethical business practice. Morgan did not forget.

During an economic downturn in 1906, the Westinghouse companies ran short of cash. An industrial power like that should have found it easy to get money to ride out the slump, but Morgan had found an opportunity to punish Westinghouse by pressuring lenders to withhold cash and wresting control of the companies from him.

The loss of his companies was a shocking blow to Westinghouse, both mentally and financially. Although he still had considerable wealth and some of his other companies had survived, it was said that he never fully recovered and that he was never the same man again.

Upon his death in 1914, his pallbearers were eight of his oldest workers. They included Christopher Horrocks, the very first worker whom Westinghouse hired in 1869, when he started the Westinghouse Air Brake Co. in Pittsburgh.

The Most Cherished Honor

George Westinghouse was honored in many ways during his lifetime. In 1874, he was awarded the Scott Legacy Medal by the Franklin Institute. He was awarded the Order of Leopold by Leopold II, King of the Belgians, in 1884, and in 1889 received the Order of the Royal Crown of Italy from Umberto I. He was made a member of France’s Legion of Honor in 1895. The American engineering societies in 1905 honored him with the John Fritz Medal. He was awarded the Edison Medal, named for his greatest competitor, in 1912. In 1913, he became the first American to receive the Grashoff Medal from Germany.

It is said that this very humble man was moved the most when he was offered the presidency of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1910. He always considered himself to be a mechanical engineer, even though he had no formal education beyond the age of 16. It was an honor that came from his peers, his fellow engineers.

Another telling honor came to him years after he died, and it attests to his managerial rather than to his engineering talents.

A memorial to George Westinghouse was dedicated in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park in 1930, not far from his Pittsburgh mansion, Solitude. The memorial was privately funded, raised from contributions by thousands of employees and retirees of Westinghouse companies.

Two society presidents: George Wallace Melville (left), Westinghouse, and John Macalpine, a marine engineer, photographed around 1900. The three were developing a reduction gear for ship turbines. Melville and Westinghouse both served as presidents of ASME.

Copyright © 2008 by ASME

Initial schematics for Westinghouse Park master development plan

The design firm of Pashek MTR is now actively working on designs for the master development plan for Westinghouse Park.

Based on the advance planning report produced in 2021, these initial design concepts were unvelied on October 1 at the “What’s the .5 K Race.”

Both of these plans involve the complete renovation and updating of the community building to make it more available to park users and the general public.

To review the complete advance planning report or to offer comments about these design ideas, please visit the Engage Pittsburgh webpage for Westinghouse Park.



Final Results

2022 Westinghouse Park What’s the .5 K

October 1, 2022

Although there were 80 people who registered for the .5 K, some were from out of town (thanks to the George Westinghouse family) and others were dissuaded by the rainy conditions that morning. Still 45 hearty athletes (ranging in age from 5 to 76, including several with dogs) lined up for the 1:00 start.

Everybody finished.

 ID#  PLACE        FINISHER   (AGE)                       CLOCK TIME    NET TIME

 2138     1       Emily O’Carroll, 8*, Pittsburgh, PA         2:15      2:15 

 2096     2       Henry Bell, 8, Pittsburgh, PA               2:16      2:16 

 2139     3       Luke O’Carroll, 5, Pittsburgh, PA           2:26      2:25 

 2159     4       Jonah Rennie, 6, Pittsburgh, PA             2:34      2:34 

 2160     5       Leeya Subramany, 8*, Pittsburgh, PA         2:35      2:34 

 2166     6       Olivia Boulos, 6*, ,                        2:45      2:38 

 2165     7       Evelyn Boulos, 10*, ,                       2:44      2:40 

 2097     8       Samuel Bell, 5, Pittsburgh, PA              2:49      2:49 

 2161     9       Siddh Subramany, 6, Pittsburgh, PA          3:01      3:00 

 2169    10       Lury Williams, 26, Pittsburgh, PA           3:13      3:07 

 2164    11       Greg Boulos, 47, ,                          3:34      3:29 

 2157    12       Beth Fedorowich, 60*, Pittsburgh, PA        3:39      3:34 

 2099    13       Fred Belser, Sr, Pittsburgh, PA             9:14      4:14 

 2098    14       Ann Belser, 59*, Pittsburgh, PA             9:15      4:15 

 2135    15       Daniela Muoio, 33*, Pittsburgh, PA          5:45      5:35 

 2104    16       Dario Chimenti, 33, Pittsburgh, PA          5:45      5:35 

 2112    17       Gail Fireman, 58*, Pittsburgh, PA           5:45      5:42 

 2167    18       Sandra Simmons, 65*, Pittsburgh, PA         5:46      5:43 

 2155    19       Peter Bell, 43, Pittsburgh, PA              5:59      5:44 

 2154    20       Rebecca Kiernan, 39*, Pittsburgh, PA        5:54      5:45 

 2153    21       Stephanie Bermudo, 42*, Pittsburgh, PA      5:54      5:45 

 2149    22       Jeanette Welsh, 72*, Pittsburgh, PA         6:01      5:46 

 2116    23       Elyse Grimaldi, 33*, Pittsburgh, PA         6:08      5:47 

 2117    24       Brendan Grimaldi, 34, Pittsburgh, PA        6:08      5:48 

 2130    25       Sarah McBeth, 40*, Pittsburgh, PA           6:00      5:48 

 2158    26       Isabel Thompson, 70*, Pittsburgh, PA        6:04      5:52 

 2137    27       Myrna Newman, 54*, Pittsburgh, PA           6:32      6:08 

 2168    28       Curt Larson, 60, Pittsburgh, PA             6:34      6:10 

 2113    29       Gretchen Fitzer, 62*, Pittsburgh, PA        6:29      6:19 

 2095    30       David Bear, 73, Pittsburgh, PA              6:39      6:23 

 2107    31       Virginia Dato, 65*, Pittsburgh, PA          7:15      6:51 

 2103    32       Michael Chancellor, 65, Pittsburgh, PA      7:16      6:51 

 2162    33       Erika Strassburger, 40*, Pittsburgh, PA     7:01      6:58 

 2163    34       Evan Strassburger, Jr, Pittsburgh, PA       7:01      7:00 

 2123    35       Jan Kurth, 63*, Pittsburgh, PA              7:11      7:06 

 2156    36       #2156, ,                                    7:35      7:16 

 2148    37       Ron Weisser, 67, Delmont, PA                7:37      7:17 

 2114    38       Layton Foy, 23, Pittsburgh, PA              7:25      7:25 

 2145    39       Vance Torbert, 76, Pittsburgh, PA           7:55      7:39 

 2146    40       Emily Torbert, 16*, Pittsburgh, PA          7:55      7:40 

 2110    41       Paul Fireman, 58, Pittsburgh, PA            8:17      7:40 

 2132    42       Louise Mitinger, 55*, Pittsburgh, PA        7:55      7:42 

 2124    43       Jeanne Laudenberg, 72*, Pittsburgh, PA      8:06      7:43 

 2147    44       Tricia Valdes, 61*, Pittsburgh, PA          8:30      8:03 

 2131    45       Harold Mersky, 75, Pittsburgh, PA           8:20      8:17 

* indicates females

Open Men

 2096     1     Henry Bell, 8, Pittsburgh, PA               2:16      2:16 

 2139     2    Luke O’Carroll, 5, Pittsburgh, PA           2:26      2:25 

 2159     3     Jonah Rennie, 6, Pittsburgh, PA             2:34      2:34 

 2097     4     Samuel Bell, 5, Pittsburgh, PA              2:49      2:49 

 2161     5    Siddh Subramany, 6, Pittsburgh, PA          3:01      3:00 

 2169     6    Lury Williams, 26, Pittsburgh, PA           3:13      3:07  

 2164     7    Greg Boulos, 47, ,                          3:34      3:29 

 2099     8     Fred Belser, Sr, Pittsburgh, PA             9:14      4:14 

 2104     9    Dario Chimenti, 33, Pittsburgh, PA          5:45      5:35 

 2155    10   Peter Bell, 43, Pittsburgh, PA              5:59      5:44 

 2117    11   Brendan Grimaldi, 34, Pittsburgh, PA        6:08      5:48 

 2168    12    Curt Larson, 60, Pittsburgh, PA             6:34      6:10 

 2095    13    David Bear, 73, Pittsburgh, PA              6:39      6:23 

 2103    14    Michael Chancellor, 65, Pittsburgh, PA      7:16      6:51  

 2163    15   Evan Strassburger, Jr, Pittsburgh, PA       7:01      7:00  

 2156    16    #2156, ,                                    7:35      7:16 

 2148    17   Ron Weisser, 67, Delmont, PA                7:37      7:17 

 2114    18    Layton Foy, 23, Pittsburgh, PA              7:25      7:25 

 2145    19   Vance Torbert, 76, Pittsburgh, PA           7:55      7:39 

 2110    20    Paul Fireman, 58, Pittsburgh, PA            8:17      7:40 

 2131    21    Harold Mersky, 75, Pittsburgh, PA           8:20      8:17 

Open Women

 2138     1     Emily O’Carroll, 8, Pittsburgh, PA          2:15      2:15 

 2160     2     Leeya Subramany, 8, Pittsburgh, PA          2:35      2:34 

 2166     3     Olivia Boulos, 6, ,                         2:45      2:38 

 2165     4    Evelyn Boulos, 10, ,                        2:44      2:40 

 2157     5    Beth Fedorowich, 60, Pittsburgh, PA         3:39      3:34 

 2098     6    Ann Belser, 59, Pittsburgh, PA              9:15      4:15 

 2135     7    Daniela Muoio, 33, Pittsburgh, PA           5:45      5:35 

 2112     8    Gail Fireman, 58, Pittsburgh, PA            5:45      5:42 

 2167     9    Sandra Simmons, 65, Pittsburgh, PA          5:46      5:43 

 2154    10   Rebecca Kiernan, 39, Pittsburgh, PA         5:54      5:45 

 2153    11   Stephanie Bermudo, 42, Pittsburgh, PA       5:54      5:45  

 2149    12   Jeanette Welsh, 72, Pittsburgh, PA          6:01      5:46 

 2116    13   Elyse Grimaldi, 33, Pittsburgh, PA          6:08      5:47 

 2130    14   Sarah McBeth, 40, Pittsburgh, PA            6:00      5:48  

 2158    15   Isabel Thompson, 70, Pittsburgh, PA         6:04      5:52 

 2137    16    Myrna Newman, 54, Pittsburgh, PA            6:32      6:08 

 2113    17    Gretchen Fitzer, 62, Pittsburgh, PA         6:29      6:19  

 2107    18    Virginia Dato, 65, Pittsburgh, PA           7:15      6:51 

 2162    19    Erika Strassburger, 40, Pittsburgh, PA      7:01      6:58  

 2123    20    Jan Kurth, 63, Pittsburgh, PA               7:11      7:06 

 2146    21   21  Emily Torbert, 16, Pittsburgh, PA           7:55      7:40 

 2132    22   Louise Mitinger, 55, Pittsburgh, PA         7:55      7:42 

 2124    23   Jeanne Laudenberg, 72, Pittsburgh, PA       8:06      7:43  

 2147    24   Tricia Valdes, 61, Pittsburgh, PA           8:30      8:03