HISTORY OF PUBLIC ACCESS

Steve Burnette, Ph.D. candidate, Dept. of History, CMU

A historical overview of the rivers and the changing relationship between public/private interests.

"Pittsburghers have committed an error in not rescuing from the service of Mammon, a triangle of thirty or forty acres at the junction of the Allegheny and the Monongahela, and devoting it to the purposes of recreation. It is an unparalleled position for a park in which to ride or walk or sit.... it is a spot worthy of being rescued from the ceaseless din of the steam engine and the lurid flames and dingy smoke of the coal furnace. But alas! The sacra farnes auri (the holy hunger for gold) is rapidly covering this area with private edifices."

Peregrine Prolix 1836