On This Day in Pittsburgh History: December 13, 1948

Carnegie Tech announces a $4 million building and renovation program in a move to relieve overcrowding. [Historic Pittsburgh; Explore PA History] 

(via thepittsburghhistoryjournal)

Baby Andrew Warhola with his mother and brother; Warhol as a student at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh. 

Carnegie Institute and Technical School, Pittsburgh (via) 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History: April 20, 1912

The Carnegie Technical Schools were renamed Carnegie Institute of Technology. [Historic Pittsburgh] 

Carnegie Mellon University campus (via) 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History: April 8, 1957

Carnegie Mellon University begins a $26 million expansion. [Wikipedia]

Carnegie Technical Schools, Pittsburgh (via) 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History:  February 25, 1936

Dr. Robert E. Doherty, Yale dean and electrical researcher, was elected president of Carnegie Tech to succeed Dr. Thomas S. Baker. [Historic Pittsburgh]

The number of graduate students at Carnegie Tech increased from 45 to 369 under Doherty’s tenure. From “Carnegie Tech at 50,” TIME Magazine, in 1950:

Under Presidents Arthur A. Hamer-schlag (1903-22) and Thomas S. Baker (1922-35) Carnegie Tech developed one of the best departments of metallurgy in the U.S., gathered one of the top coal-research staffs in the world. It had a big-time football team, a women’s college, and a topflight drama department capable of turning out Broadway stars (among them: Arthur Kennedy, Robert Cummings). Then, in 1936, Carnegie got President Robert E. Doherty, onetime dean of the School of Engineering at Yale and a protege of the late great scientist and G.E. engineer, Charles Steinmetz. Old-Line Shudder. Bob Doherty was impressed with Tech, but he was not a man to be easily satisfied. Over the next 14 years he made Tech hum. He raised $4,000,000 to begin the first building program the school had had in years. He boosted the endowment from $17 to $30 million, tripled the size of the library, upped the number of full-time students two-thirds. Instead of a mere 27 advanced degrees a year, Carnegie Tech was soon giving out 200. ro(Read more)

(via thepittsburghhistoryjournal)

Earl Wild (via) 

One of the titans of the 20th century pianist realm, he left in the ’30s to grab fame elsewhere. But he returned to teach at his alma mater (class of ‘37), Carnegie Mellon University, since 1992. Granted, Wild didn’t reach Vladimir Horowitz fame in his absence, but he is easily as big as other Pittsburghers in many fields who returned here to much more ballyhoo. (…) Wild’s first big gig was performing for KDKA Radio with its orchestra and doing solos, a position he landed after executives heard him give an on-air performance at age 12. (read more)

(via thepittsburghhistoryjournal)

Carnegie Technical Schools (via) 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History: January 5, 1902

Andrew Carnegie announced a gift to form Carnegie Technical Schools, the present Carnegie Institute of Technology. [Historic Pittsburgh] 

Best of Pittsburgh History: 2012

Fred Rogers - February 19, 1968 - “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” the longest-running program on public television, premieres in America.

Fallingwater - May 23, 1966 - Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, built for magnant Edgar Kaufmann, is deemed a National Landmark. 

Roberto Clemente - July 25, 1956 - At Forbes Field against the Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates star Roberto Clemente hits Major League Baseball’s first (and to date, only) walk-off inside-the-park grand slam.

Andy Warhol - As a student at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, c. 1947. Phillip Pearstein. 

Civic Arena - 1961-2012. Rest in peace. We miss you tremendously. 

Sabre “Mother” Washington - Two girls with Washington, a former slave, in the early 1950s. Teenie Harris. One of the girls, a neighbor of Washington’s, discovered the photograph years later. Washington, who grew up in South Carolina before moving to Pittsburgh, passed away in 1960 at the age of 113.

Cathedral of Learning - June 7, 1937 - As the climax of a weeklong celebration of the 150th anniversary of its founding, the University of Pittsburgh celebrated the completion of its 42-story Cathedral of Learning a decade after construction on the building started.

Kid at Cotton Candy Booth - Possibly at Westview Park in Pittsburgh, 1945. Teenie Harris. 

Thank you for reading, everyone. Happy New Year 2013! 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History: December 28, 1934 

Dr. Albert Einstein visits Carnegie Mellon University and delivers his first major speech in several years. [Wikipedia]

Related: “Einstein’s (Relatively) Short Trip to Pittsburgh,” by Rick Sebak for Pittsburgh Magazine (2012).

Trivia: In the photo above, Einstein (left) is speaking to department store owner Edgar Kaufmann (right). Einstein was later a guest at Kaufmann’s mountain home, Fallingwater, designed in 1936 by Frank Lloyd Wright. 

Andy Warhol as a student at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, c. 1947. Phillip Pearstein. [Warhol Company] 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History: April 28, 1920

Dr. John Brashear, noted astronomer and maker of astronomical lenses and other scientific instruments, died at 80 at his South Side home. [Historic Pittsburgh; Wikipedia] 

When he was nine, his grandfather took him to view through the telescope of ‘Squire’ Joseph P. Wampler, who set up his traveling telescope in Brownsville. That influential view of the moon and the planet Saturn stayed with Brashear for the rest of his life. After receiving a common school education until age 15, he became an apprentice to a machinist and had mastered his trade at age 20. (…)

In 1898 he became director of the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh, continuing in this post until 1900.

From 1901 to 1904, he was acting chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania, now known as the University of Pittsburgh, after serving as a member of the board of trustees since 1896. Brashear also was a trustee of the Carnegie Institute of Technology and served as President of the Academy of Science and Art.

Carnegie Institute and Technical School, Pittsburgh (via) 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History: April 20, 1912

The Carnegie Technical Schools were renamed Carnegie Institute of Technology. [Historic Pittsburgh] 

Carnegie Mellon University campus (via) 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History: April 8, 1957

A $26 million expansion plan is begun by Carnegie Mellon University. [Wikipedia]

Carnegie Technical Schools, Pittsburgh (via) 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History:  February 25, 1936

Dr. Robert E. Doherty, Yale dean and electrical researcher, was elected president of Carnegie Tech to succeed Dr. Thomas S. Baker. [Historic Pittsburgh]

The number of graduate students at Carnegie Tech increased from 45 to 369 under Doherty’s tenure. From “Carnegie Tech at 50,” TIME Magazine, in 1950:

Under Presidents Arthur A. Hamer-schlag (1903-22) and Thomas S. Baker (1922-35) Carnegie Tech developed one of the best departments of metallurgy in the U.S., gathered one of the top coal-research staffs in the world. It had a big-time football team, a women’s college, and a topflight drama department capable of turning out Broadway stars (among them: Arthur Kennedy, Robert Cummings). Then, in 1936, Carnegie got President Robert E. Doherty, onetime dean of the School of Engineering at Yale and a protege of the late great scientist and G.E. engineer, Charles Steinmetz. Old-Line Shudder. Bob Doherty was impressed with Tech, but he was not a man to be easily satisfied. Over the next 14 years he made Tech hum. He raised $4,000,000 to begin the first building program the school had had in years. He boosted the endowment from $17 to $30 million, tripled the size of the library, upped the number of full-time students two-thirds. Instead of a mere 27 advanced degrees a year, Carnegie Tech was soon giving out 200.
(Read more)