![On This Day in Pittsburgh History: May 13, 1929
Pittsburgh county detectives and the homicide squad began a joint probe into the death of Rose Collins, 25, the first woman to be granted an aviator’s license in Pennsylvania. [The Pittsburgh Press]
She helped to host Pittsburgh’s Aero Club ball in March and was in the news in April as part of a photoessay The Pittsburgh Press had done on the increasing numbers of women aspiring to be pilots.
In July 1929, The Pittsburgh Press reported that Collins had died of peritonitis several days following “an operation.” Before she died hospital attendants and physicians made attempts to divulge the name of the person who performed it, but she refused. Her fiance testified to investigators that he had urged Collins “to marry him and not undergo the operation.” No arrests were made. Rose Collins was a clerk at the Pittsburgh Country Club in Beechwood, where she resided.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/1c205d92bfe98504e612725283a4a851/tumblr_mm4jiuwS9r1qakblyo1_500.png)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: May 13, 1929
Pittsburgh county detectives and the homicide squad began a joint probe into the death of Rose Collins, 25, the first woman to be granted an aviator’s license in Pennsylvania. [The Pittsburgh Press]
She helped to host Pittsburgh’s Aero Club ball in March and was in the news in April as part of a photoessay The Pittsburgh Press had done on the increasing numbers of women aspiring to be pilots.
In July 1929, The Pittsburgh Press reported that Collins had died of peritonitis several days following “an operation.” Before she died hospital attendants and physicians made attempts to divulge the name of the person who performed it, but she refused. Her fiance testified to investigators that he had urged Collins “to marry him and not undergo the operation.” No arrests were made. Rose Collins was a clerk at the Pittsburgh Country Club in Beechwood, where she resided.
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: May 1, 1969
Fred Rogers, host of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” appeared before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications to oppose significant proposed cuts to funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. [Youtube]
Sen. Pastore: All right, Rogers, you’ve got the floor.
Mr. Rogers: Sen. Pastore, this is a philosophical statement and would take about ten minutes to read, so I’ll not do that. One of the first things that a child learns in a healthy family is trust, and I trust what you have said that you will read this. It’s very important to me. I care deeply about children.
Sen. Pastore: Will it make you happy if you read it?
Mr. Rogers: I’d just like to talk about it, if it’s alright. My first children’s program was on WQED fifteen years ago, and its budget was $30. Now, with the help of the Sears-Roebuck Foundation and National Educational Television, as well as all of the affiliated stations — each station pays to show our program. It’s a unique kind of funding in educational television. With this help, now our program has a budget of $6000. It may sound like quite a difference, but $6000 pays for less than two minutes of cartoons. Two minutes of animated, what I sometimes say, bombardment. I’m very much concerned, as I know you are, about what’s being delivered to our children in this country. And I’ve worked in the field of child development for six years now, trying to understand the inner needs of children. We deal with such things as — as the inner drama of childhood. We don’t have to bop somebody over the head to…make drama on the screen. We deal with such things as getting a haircut, or the feelings about brothers and sisters, and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations. And we speak to it constructively. (more)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: March 17, 1936
Regional flood controls fail as Downtown is inundated with water in what will become known as the infamous St. Patrick’s Day flood, claiming at least 150 lives. Floodwaters reached a crest of 46.4 feet, the highest in the city’s history.
(Source: news.google.com)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: January 25, 1890
Journalist and Pittsburgh native Nellie Bly completed her trip around the globe in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. [Historic Pittsburgh; Wikipedia]
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: December 23, 1972
In the first Steelers playoff in 25 years (and their first postseason win), Franco Harris salvages a Terry Bradshaw pass in the greatest NFL play in history—to beat the Raiders 13-7 at Three Rivers. Art Rooney and Bob Prince miss the play while in the elevator to the locker room. [Wikipedia; Pro Football Hall of Fame]
![On This Day in Pittsburgh History: November 20, 1985
Kimberly Fuller, 9, becomes the youngest American to undergo lung-heart transplant surgery in a 5.5-hour operation performed by Dr. Bartley Griffith and Dr. Robert Hardesty at the Children’s Hospital. [Historic Pittsburgh; The Pittsburgh Press]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdg3murtBQ1qakblyo1_500.png)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: November 20, 1985
Kimberly Fuller, 9, becomes the youngest American to undergo lung-heart transplant surgery in a 5.5-hour operation performed by Dr. Bartley Griffith and Dr. Robert Hardesty at the Children’s Hospital. [Historic Pittsburgh; The Pittsburgh Press]
![Fallingwater under construction, 1936
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: October 15, 1935
Frank Lloyd Wright is retained to construct Fallingwater for Pittsburgh magnate Edgar Kaufmann. [Wikipedia]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbube12Kj21qakblyo1_500.jpg)
Fallingwater under construction, 1936
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: October 15, 1935
Frank Lloyd Wright is retained to construct Fallingwater for Pittsburgh magnate Edgar Kaufmann. [Wikipedia]
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: October 13, 1960
With the World Series even, three games each, the Pirates win the seventh game 10-9 over the New York Yankees with a home run by Bill Mazeroski in the ninth inning. [Historic Pittsburgh]
Related: “50 Years Ago Today: World Series, Game 7,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2010
John Youie Woodruff (July 5, 1915 – October 30, 2007), winner of the 800 metres at the 1936 Summer Olympics, was born in Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and as a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
In one of the most exciting races in Olympic history, Woodruff became boxed in by other runners and was forced to stop running. He then came from behind to win in 1:52.9. The New York Times described the race:
“On the first lap, I was on the inside, and I was trapped. I knew that the rules of running said if I tried to break out of a trap and fouled someone, I would be disqualified. At that point, I didn’t think I could win, but I had to do something.”
Woodruff was a 21-year-old college freshman, an unsophisticated and, at 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m), an ungainly runner. But he was a fast thinker, and he made a quick decision.
“I didn’t panic,” he said. “I just figured if I had only one opportunity to win, this was it. I’ve heard people say that I slowed down or almost stopped. I didn’t almost stop. I stopped, and everyone else ran around me.”
Then, with his stride of almost 10 feet (3.0 m), Woodruff ran around everyone else. He took the lead, lost it on the backstretch, but regained it on the final turn and won the gold medal.
Pittsburgh at night, 1955. W. Eugene Smith.
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: July 9, 1962
Andy Warhol debuts his paintings of Campbell’s Soup cans at The Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
![Striking workers and Pinkerton strike-breakers on the Monongahela River. National Police Gazette. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (via)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: July 6, 1892
Three hundred Pinkerton men were engaged by millworkers in a pitched battle at the Homestead works after arriving via the Monongahela River on two barges; 16 men were killed and many more wounded. [Historic Pittsburgh]
Related: “Strike at Homestead Hill,” from the PBS series American Experience:
When 300 Pinkerton Detectives came ashore at Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead mill on July 6, 1892, they had no idea of the extreme violence with which locked-out steelworkers would greet them. A hail of stones, then bullets, ripped the air. Steelworker William Foy and the captain of the Pinkertons fell wounded.What had begun as a simple disagreement over wages between the nations largest steelmaker and its largest craft union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, had taken a decidedly savage turn. Before the struggle ended, Amalgamated would be humbled, Carnegie’s control of his labor force complete. (more)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6p2trwUJQ1qakblyo1_500.png)
Striking workers and Pinkerton strike-breakers on the Monongahela River. National Police Gazette. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (via)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: July 6, 1892
Three hundred Pinkerton men were engaged by millworkers in a pitched battle at the Homestead works after arriving via the Monongahela River on two barges; 16 men were killed and many more wounded. [Historic Pittsburgh]
Related: “Strike at Homestead Hill,” from the PBS series American Experience:
When 300 Pinkerton Detectives came ashore at Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead mill on July 6, 1892, they had no idea of the extreme violence with which locked-out steelworkers would greet them. A hail of stones, then bullets, ripped the air. Steelworker William Foy and the captain of the Pinkertons fell wounded.
What had begun as a simple disagreement over wages between the nations largest steelmaker and its largest craft union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, had taken a decidedly savage turn. Before the struggle ended, Amalgamated would be humbled, Carnegie’s control of his labor force complete. (more)
![On This Day in Pittsburgh History: May 13, 1929
Pittsburgh county detectives and the homicide squad began a joint probe into the death of Rose Collins, 25, the first woman to be granted an aviator’s license in Pennsylvania. [The Pittsburgh Press]
She helped to host Pittsburgh’s Aero Club ball in March and was in the news in April as part of a photoessay The Pittsburgh Press had done on the increasing numbers of women aspiring to be pilots.
In July 1929, The Pittsburgh Press reported that Collins had died of peritonitis several days following “an operation.” Before she died hospital attendants and physicians made attempts to divulge the name of the person who performed it, but she refused. Her fiance testified to investigators that he had urged Collins “to marry him and not undergo the operation.” No arrests were made. Rose Collins was a clerk at the Pittsburgh Country Club in Beechwood, where she resided.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m39gr03Da71qakblyo1_500.png)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: May 13, 1929
Pittsburgh county detectives and the homicide squad began a joint probe into the death of Rose Collins, 25, the first woman to be granted an aviator’s license in Pennsylvania. [The Pittsburgh Press]
She helped to host Pittsburgh’s Aero Club ball in March and was in the news in April as part of a photoessay The Pittsburgh Press had done on the increasing numbers of women aspiring to be pilots.
In July 1929, The Pittsburgh Press reported that Collins had died of peritonitis several days following “an operation.” Before she died hospital attendants and physicians made attempts to divulge the name of the person who performed it, but she refused. Her fiance testified to investigators that he had urged Collins “to marry him and not undergo the operation.” No arrests were made. Rose Collins was a clerk at the Pittsburgh Country Club in Beechwood, where she resided.
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: May 1, 1969
Fred Rogers, host of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” appeared before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications to oppose significant proposed cuts to funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. [Youtube]
Sen. Pastore: All right, Rogers, you’ve got the floor.
Mr. Rogers: Sen. Pastore, this is a philosophical statement and would take about ten minutes to read, so I’ll not do that. One of the first things that a child learns in a healthy family is trust, and I trust what you have said that you will read this. It’s very important to me. I care deeply about children.
Sen. Pastore: Will it make you happy if you read it?
Mr. Rogers: I’d just like to talk about it, if it’s alright. My first children’s program was on WQED fifteen years ago, and its budget was $30. Now, with the help of the Sears-Roebuck Foundation and National Educational Television, as well as all of the affiliated stations — each station pays to show our program. It’s a unique kind of funding in educational television. With this help, now our program has a budget of $6000. It may sound like quite a difference, but $6000 pays for less than two minutes of cartoons. Two minutes of animated, what I sometimes say, bombardment. I’m very much concerned, as I know you are, about what’s being delivered to our children in this country. And I’ve worked in the field of child development for six years now, trying to understand the inner needs of children. We deal with such things as — as the inner drama of childhood. We don’t have to bop somebody over the head to…make drama on the screen. We deal with such things as getting a haircut, or the feelings about brothers and sisters, and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations. And we speak to it constructively. (more)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: March 17, 1936
Regional flood controls fail as Downtown is inundated with water in what will become known as the infamous St. Patrick’s Day flood, claiming at least 150 lives. Floodwaters reached a crest of 46.4 feet, the highest in the city’s history.
(Source: news.google.com)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: January 25, 1890
Journalist and Pittsburgh native Nellie Bly completed her trip around the globe in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. [Historic Pittsburgh; Wikipedia]
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: December 23, 1972
In the first Steelers playoff in 25 years (and their first postseason win), Franco Harris salvages a Terry Bradshaw pass in the greatest NFL play in history—to beat the Raiders 13-7 at Three Rivers. Art Rooney and Bob Prince miss the play while in the elevator to the locker room. [Wikipedia; Pro Football Hall of Fame]
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: November 20, 1985
Kimberly Fuller, 9, becomes the youngest American to undergo lung-heart transplant surgery in a 5.5-hour operation performed by Dr. Bartley Griffith and Dr. Robert Hardesty at the Children’s Hospital. [Historic Pittsburgh; The Pittsburgh Press]
Fallingwater under construction, 1936
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: October 15, 1935
Frank Lloyd Wright is retained to construct Fallingwater for Pittsburgh magnate Edgar Kaufmann. [Wikipedia]
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: October 13, 1960
With the World Series even, three games each, the Pirates win the seventh game 10-9 over the New York Yankees with a home run by Bill Mazeroski in the ninth inning. [Historic Pittsburgh]
Related: “50 Years Ago Today: World Series, Game 7,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2010
![Aquacade Quartet Rehearsal, Chatham University, 1950 [University of Pittsburgh Digital Archives]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3nungZQnO1qakblyo1_500.jpg)
John Youie Woodruff (July 5, 1915 – October 30, 2007), winner of the 800 metres at the 1936 Summer Olympics, was born in Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and as a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
In one of the most exciting races in Olympic history, Woodruff became boxed in by other runners and was forced to stop running. He then came from behind to win in 1:52.9. The New York Times described the race:
“On the first lap, I was on the inside, and I was trapped. I knew that the rules of running said if I tried to break out of a trap and fouled someone, I would be disqualified. At that point, I didn’t think I could win, but I had to do something.”
Woodruff was a 21-year-old college freshman, an unsophisticated and, at 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m), an ungainly runner. But he was a fast thinker, and he made a quick decision.
“I didn’t panic,” he said. “I just figured if I had only one opportunity to win, this was it. I’ve heard people say that I slowed down or almost stopped. I didn’t almost stop. I stopped, and everyone else ran around me.”
Then, with his stride of almost 10 feet (3.0 m), Woodruff ran around everyone else. He took the lead, lost it on the backstretch, but regained it on the final turn and won the gold medal.
Pittsburgh at night, 1955. W. Eugene Smith.
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: July 9, 1962
Andy Warhol debuts his paintings of Campbell’s Soup cans at The Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Striking workers and Pinkerton strike-breakers on the Monongahela River. National Police Gazette. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (via)
On This Day in Pittsburgh History: July 6, 1892
Three hundred Pinkerton men were engaged by millworkers in a pitched battle at the Homestead works after arriving via the Monongahela River on two barges; 16 men were killed and many more wounded. [Historic Pittsburgh]
Related: “Strike at Homestead Hill,” from the PBS series American Experience:
When 300 Pinkerton Detectives came ashore at Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead mill on July 6, 1892, they had no idea of the extreme violence with which locked-out steelworkers would greet them. A hail of stones, then bullets, ripped the air. Steelworker William Foy and the captain of the Pinkertons fell wounded.
What had begun as a simple disagreement over wages between the nations largest steelmaker and its largest craft union, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, had taken a decidedly savage turn. Before the struggle ended, Amalgamated would be humbled, Carnegie’s control of his labor force complete. (more)
