If we know our history, we know who we came from and what was important to them. By the end of the century, the Mellon Bank was the largest banking institution in the country outside of New York. Clearly that house isn't there anymore.". All this, while my mother smoked and rested for what seemed like an eternity. 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). The Mellon Park Project wanted to create a memorial in memory of Ann Katherine Seamans, who frequented the Walled Garden repeatedly after being introduced to it in kindergarten. On what was described as a stormy and "bleak" November evening in Pittsburgh, Sarah Cordelia Mellon, 24, married Alan Magee Scaife, 27, at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. These two banks, along with the Mellon Bank, became the three greatest banks in America under a single management. To honour her memory, he built the Larimer Memorial Library (now Larimer Arts Center) and donated it to the city. If we are to take the singular monument in the middle of a city park as testimony to anything, it's this: connections mattered to Sarah Jane Negley Mellon. Thomas had his acknowledged favorites, but we don't know if Sarah had a favorite among her surviving sons. I'd walked past this grove many times in the six years I lived in Highland Park. Mellon's philanthropic gifts were primarily church-oriented. It would be lovely to curl up with those books to see what she collected, to learn what held her interest and curiosity. Richard B. Mellon, a multimillionaire, was the president of Alcoa. Seizing an opportunity when their chaperone was out of the room, he one day declared his intentions to Sarah Jane, voiced the hope that she felt the same, then ".took a kiss unresisted and said that would do, and I was satisfied; and left her abruptly, feeling unnerved for conversation." (I certainly remember the unfortunate eviction of Graffiti and the obsessive muckraking and embarrassing divorces of Dickie Scaife). A Fair in the Park Mellon Park Tennis Center History The park was established in 1943, on the grounds of the former estate of Richard B. Mellon. 'Eager to establish himself before getting married, James Mellon returned home to lease the Osceola Coal Works from his father,' added Abandoned Southeast. Carnegie Mellon would not be Carnegie Mellon without their vision, service, and commitment. You can find all of of our more than 7,700 grants and program-related investments in our archives. Other Mellons have became punchline-famous because of their associations with the moral failings and political machinations of characters on the national stage. The title pages of Sarah's school books were copied by her son James and can be found in the Heinz History collections: Looking back on the day they met in her parents' parlor, Mellon would The grand too often eclipses the ordinary, usually to the detriment of our historical and human understanding. The land was then given to the city to become what is known now as Mellon Park, while the carriage house is the Phipps Garden Center. Even writing in retrospect what stood out for Thomas Mellon was that, all things considered, this 27 year old heiress was a good catch. You become very aware of how gangly and awkward the human body is when you're surrounded by priceless artifacts. The B.B. 'In 1867, Mellon sold the Coal Works. A few years later, they moved nearly next door into a home Mrs. Negley gifted them. 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. Even as I half-remembered old jokes about the haunted grove in the park, I was haunted by other musings. 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 . 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. 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. Thomas finally reached his limit. If you're from Pittsburgh, you know the name Mellon. It was still in good enough repair then to conjure my mother's memories of the park as a chic working-girl gathering place from earlier decades. A number of . 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. 01 Grants. Dimensions. Did she sympathize with the Judge's quest to connect with their lost children? But Sarah remained connected to the goings-on at home. Three of our most recent grants are highlighted below. It wasn't. Richard B. Mellon, vice president of that institution, and James R. Mellon, president of the City Deposit bank. Richard King Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; inherited wealth: Alcoa, Gulf Oil, Mellon Bank, etc. Eventually even Judge Mellon himself concluded "There's nothing to it" and returned home. A retired manufacturer in the curtain industry he w In the absence of access to such cherished family material, Sarah Jane must remain aloof and ultimately unknowable to history while her husband Thomas commands center stage. When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his . His son Jacob married Barbara Anna Winebiddle, a descendant of the Taubs (who owned property in present-day Shadyside) and Winebiddles (who owned property all around today's Bloomfield, Friendship, Lawrenceville, and Downtown areas). served from 18991910 as president of the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, renamed the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) in 1907, and was heavily invested in the Pittsburgh Coal Company, today part of CONSOL Energy, where he clashed with John L. Lewis and the United Mine Workers. His family had it demolished in 1941. Stunned, I started researching the house, asking myself, "You'd remember if you saw that, right? Saddened, I pressed on in my research, discovering The Punk Priest's blog, where I learned that the house lives on in some small fashion today. The park was reopened on June 12, 2010. Mount Saint Peter Church is a Roman Catholic Church at 100 Freeport Road in New Kensington, Pennsylvania. She had to, if this anecdote from William Larimer Mellon describing his involvement in ".a parasitical business based on selling the produce of my grandparents' country place" is any indication of what life was like in household filled with entrepreneurially enterprising men and boys: It's tempting to think that through all the bustle of testosterone-driven family life, Sarah Jane remained vastly competent, cool, and collected -- if also emotionally detached and The mansion was built by Italian immigrants from New Kensington, PA, under the direction of Monsignor Nicola Fusco. jubilated a practical minded committee, upon learning that all they surveyed could be theirs merely for the cost of hauling it away! He was the founder of the Rolling Rock Club. came to visit, but it was not her home. The Mellon family We are also left with very little in the way of physical artifacts to We find Sarah Jane under the Mellon listing in a chapter entitled "Women of Wealth": There you have it. Perhaps it did a bit of both. life.". Mellon's mansion was at the time the largest in Pittsburgh and was built in 1910. What Pittsburghers do remember about the Mellons are the salacious details. The Walking Guide includes: A History of Chatham University Mellon Board Room Eden Hall Farm Campus Chatham Eastside Rachel Carson, Class of 1929 Howe-Childs Gate House . When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his brother over and whispered, "Last tag.". (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/. If you're on the look-out, you might spy his name on this bench that surrounds a fountain on a traffic island at 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, between the west wing of the National Gallery and the former Newseum. He has served as a Trustee of both Foundations since 2005. It is also home to several recreational facilities. The school noted that "To study, coercive means are not employed, reference is made to the heart as well as the head, and the study of every branch, and the proportion of time given to it, will be subservient and tributary to useful and moral and religious improvement." The home's owner made his money through investment in such prosperous industries as oil, coal, and steel. Height: 115.5 in (293.37 cm) Width: 13 in (33.02 cm) Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm) James Mellon often told his friends that his wife hated the cold weather. 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. Everything was velvety, expensive, plush, posh, polished, hand-painted and eminently BREAKABLE. He and his brother Andrew had a little game of tag going for about seven decades. [4], Any form of an event can potentially take place in Mellon Park with permission from the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Works. 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 In 1929, Mellon hired landscape architects Vitale and Geiffert to develop the Walled Garden of his estate grounds. 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. Heinz History Center, Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs. Is this really a burial ground? homestead of Alexander Negley, where are interred about fifty early By necessity she would have become removed from day-today housework once she and Thomas became pillars of their community and she gravitated to a prominent social role outside the home. But she seems to have remained the same quiet, pleasant, self-possessed, keen-eyed observer of the world whom Thomas Mellon met in 1841. Despite admonishments from his parents, James didn't come home. He and his wife, Jennie Taylor King, were the major donors to the Cathedral of Hope, the new home for the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, which they and their parents had attended. 'In 1899, the Union Trust Company of Pittsburgh was organized by the Mellon family, to be followed by the Union Savings Bank. transformed the mansion into what contemporary newspaper accounts It is possible to sponsor a star and make a donation. Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders, http://www.mellon.com/aboutmellon/history.html, "R. B. Mellon Dies; Noted Industrial Leader of Nation", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_B._Mellon&oldid=1119087475, This page was last edited on 30 October 2022, at 17:07. But that's probably as she would have liked it. Tamara is the founder of luxury footwear brand Jimmy Choo. The mansion was built by Italian immigrants from New Kensington, PA, under the direction of Monsignor Nicola Fusco. To kid-me, a family name such as "Mellon" seemed pretty funny: it conjured up images of posh, well-dressed fleshy fruit. She flatly ignored attempts at flattery and flirtation, leaving poor frustrated Thomas lamenting that he was made to feel "that to talk love would be out of place and might subject me to to ridicule.". Richard Mellon Scaife, the billionaire philanthropist whose fortune was almost entirely misapplied, died 82 years too late on Independence Day, July 4, 2014. As a history-loving adult, I came to understand how ubiquitously present the Mellons were in the development of this city and nation. Music, drawing and painting, and French cost extra. Preserving history and historic buildings is important. The wedding, which received national news coverage for its ostentatious display of wealth, took place at the estate of Sarah's father, Richard B. Mellon, brother of . Richard E Mellon, age 54. The park is home to the Walled Garden, and holds events throughout the year. Unless otherwise indicated, all content is original to author. 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 A. Mellon, 56, was unanimously selected by the Boards of both Foundations. His father, Judge Thomas Mellon, was the founder of Mellon Bank and patriarch to the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Doubtful. I vividly recall being 5 years old and placing my chin on a walnut handrail after clambering up a marble step to peer into display cases at the Carnegie Museum. 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. Five years later, the Mellon brothers founded the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research as a memorial to their father. By the end of the century, the Mellon Bank was the largest banking institution in the country outside of New York, An old piano left at the home. Witness, for example, the obsession of Sarah's son Richard Mellon Scaife with the Clinton family, which went on for decades. After the Mellon's passed away the mansion became home for the Red Cross. The controversial then-Lieutenant General Grant had been newly appointed as commander of the Union Army and the Battle of the Wilderness had just concluded, resulting in more than 25,000 casualties. 164-20 Highland Ave #3f. My family visited Mellon Square, situated mid-way between Kaufmann's and Gimbel's department stores on Smithfield Street, whenever we shopped downtown in the 1970s. I nevertheless felt a vague sense of loss when the races were shut down in 1982. 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. The site, part of a 14-acre parcel of land known as Frick Acres, was donated to the University by Andrew W. Mellon and his brother, Richard B. Mellon. Mrs. Mellon was born in the old Negley mansion at Stanton and Negley avenues on February 3, 1817, the homestead being torn down only a few years ago. Then again, Judge Mellon was no prize. Clayton curator Emilia Boehm told me that much of the furnishings and items in the museum were once at the summer estate. William Larimer's parents were not believers, and he wrote sympathetically but scathingly in his memoirs about his grandfather's doty adventures with Spiritualism. 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. We are very proud to have integrated various historical pieces within the store that really resonate with the city of Pittsburgh. The girls are probably grateful to be inside and removed from the elements, because Pittsburgh's industrial climate clearly did their complexions no favors! Kursevi Njemakog jezika Richard served under Andrew at Mellon Bank, and assumed its presidency in 1921 when Andrew was appointed Treasury Secretary. Did she want to say "told you so" when all was said and done? In this era when a woman was most known by her husband's Judge Mellon would be dismayed by it all. R.B. The panel's design makes brilliant use of the reforms brought to glassmaking by Louis Comfort Tiffany. With the Depression, and these other societal changes, many of the mansions built during this era were destroyed. Stop in to reconnect with the history. The rotting remains of a staircase in the winter retreat. They are not instantly recognizable the way other local tycoons like Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie are. The church was dedicated on July 4, 1944. And there was all that fuss about her then-boyfriend former Allegheny County District Attorney Robert W. Duggan: his political scandals, their hasty marriage likely orchestrated to legally avoid being compelled to testify against him during a federal corruption investigation, and questions surrounding his sudden death (accident? Mount St. Peter Roman Catholic Church was founded in the early 1900s by Italian immigrants. The property later became known as Mellon Park. His farm, Fertile Bottom, extended along the Allegheny River up over most of what is now Highland Park and the city reservoirs. He was president of the board of trustees of East Liberty Presbyterian Church. They said: 'The introduction of the railroads into North Florida in the 1880s led to an explosion in the winter tourist trade. The mansion was acquired by the congregation of Temple Sinai in 1946 and still serves as a synagogue today. It was erected to house the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research. Incredible photos show the abandoned remains of a 6,000-square-foot river retreat that once belonged to a hugely successful US banking magnate. He was president of the board of trustees of East Liberty Presbyterian Church, James served as president of Western Pennsylvania Hospital and the Allegheny County Juvenile Court Farm. This game of Tag lasted for nearly seven decades. And thus history becomes attainable, not a scholarly discipline, but a simle human story. Not everyone agrees with me and there have been periods of history where this statement would have been ignored entirely. She introduced Leary to her brother William "Billy" Mellon Hitchcock, and he in turn became the Daddy Warbucks of the Counterculture. Mellon estate was located on Pittsburghs Fifth Avenue. 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. described as, Sarah's daughter, Cordelia Scaife May, scrupulously shunned publicity but left a legacy brimming with gossip. History of the Mansion. She and her older brother, Richard King Mellon, grew up at their parents' 60-room Fifth Avenue mansion (apparently at the time the largest house in Pittsburgh) in what became the city's wonderful Mellon Park after the house was . It likely knew the tread of Sarah Jane's feet when she No admission fee is charged. Their wedding trip made quite an impression on Thomas, though, who states that neither of them had hitherto traveled much (Sarah Jane previously having been on a "boat excursion with some friends" to Louisville). Whenever I encountered something fancy in my hometown, be it a staggeringly grand bank, college, building, or parks, it more often than not bore the Mellon name. [5] One event that has taken place annually since 1969 is A Fair in the Park put on by the Craftsmen's Guild of Pittsburgh in the month of September. She didn't turn Thomas away, but then again, neither did she encourage him. The "Mellon" in his name came. The park is home to the Walled Garden and holds events throughout the year. The park is all that's left of Richard B. Mellon's 65 room mansion, built in 1909. Reflecting upon the Mellon monies and a life of privilege, Larry Mellon once stated ", Western Pennsylvania music lovers have never gotten over the closing of the. And then there are drugs. It became the target of steelworker ire culminating in disruptive demonstrations, boycotts and mass withdrawals of funds. the character of this community in its struggling and formative period. On July 4, 1944, the church was dedicated. Eagle Rock was torn down in 1963. We can't even guess what Sarah Jane thought of her suitor, for she did not record her impressions for posterity. Negley Mansion, Edgeworth Ladies' Boarding School, and the Mellon "country home" She certainly didn't adopt any coquettish airs once they were engaged, either: No record exists as to how Sarah Jane Negley characterized her husband, the man who described their marriage as a "transaction" that was "consummated." 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. The land surrounding the mansion was donated to the city of Pittsburgh and now serves as Mellon Park. Andrew Mellon's cuckolding, and his subsequent very public divorce from Nora behind-the-scenes for the Mellon men. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. And even fewer managed to hold onto their money and influence the way the Mellons have. The Mellon bank helped finance the construction of the Ligonier Valley Railroad. It's all about ME. Quiet, pleasant and self-possessed: Sarah Jane Neg What ho, blog writer? Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is housed in the former home of industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie. His was the largest mansion in Pittsburgh. The home was built in 1904 for Henry Clay Frick and his family as a summer home in Prides Crossing, Massachusetts. This was a relationship which appears to have been based on mutually calculated, emotionally-detached appraisals. A gossipy 1888 book entitled The social mirror: a character sketch of the women of Pittsburg and vicinity during the first century of the county's existence alphabetically categorizes the women of the city according to the qualities of beauty, intelligence, musicality and artistry, charity, wealth, moral do-gooding, and positions of social standing that they best exemplify. View Details. Was Sarah Jane curious about the mysteries that the Spiritualist world purported to reveal? [1], The Walled Garden is surrounded by walls of brick and limestone and is one of Gothic design. She traveled little. '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. facebook; twitter; googleplus; You can't mine coal without machine guns. But because Andrew Mellon deliberately disassociated his name from that institution he created (unlike Frick and Carnegie, who kept their names connected to their philanthropic cultural efforts), the nation's wonderful museum is not commonly associated with the Mellon legacy. My childish deductive reasoning skills led me to assume that this family must be like some PBS high-brow version of Mr.
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