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Time Begin/In Cue

Content

Connections

:57

Intro

HP01

2:03

Beulah Church

Beulah Church, one of the oldest churches in the city, is located in Churchill, which is named after this "Church on a hill." The red brick built in 1838 is the third built on this site. The church now meets in a newer building built in the 1960s.

Creating Community

Western PA History

Bridges and Buildings

HP02

4:10

Blue domes

Ukranian Church architecture and pirohy

St. John the Baptist Ukranian Catholic Church on the South Side was built in 1895 with three Byzantine domes. It was enlarged years with five more domes -- a reminder of home to the immigrants who worked in the mills. To build the church, parishioners sacrificed things for their own homes. It is now famous for perogie (Pyrohy in Ukranian), dumplings filled with cottage cheese, potato, mixed or sauerkraut. They make and sell thousands in a week to earn money to maintain the church.

Creating Community

Bridges and Buildings

Western PA History

Rivers and Valleys

Having Fun

HP03

7:25

Early painting of the Point

8:30

9:48

Penn's Grant churches Downtown

In the late 18^th Century, three congregations were established near the Point when the land near Fort Pitt became the borough of Pittsburgh. They are often called the Penn's Grant Churches because the land was granted to them forever by the nephews of William Penn.

The German Evangelical is probably the first official church in town with its original building at Sixth and Smithfield. The church has had several buildings but never moved far in 200 years. They now meet at Smithfield United Church a few doors away from where they began. Henry Hornbostel, one of Pittsburgh's most important architects, designed the building with an aluminum spine, the first architectural use of aluminum in the world.

The heirs of Penn also granted land to the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, which stand side by side on Sixth Avenue. The First Presbyterian Church's present building was completed just after the turn of the century and is called "One of the castles of Calvinism in the world." The Scotch - Irish began the church and their influence has caused Pittsburgh to be called the most Presbyterian city on earth.

A remnant of the oldest graveyard in Pittsburgh separates First Presbyterian from Trinity Cathedral, the town's preeminent Episcopal Church prior to 1928. The spire was the tallest structure in Pittsburgh when it was built.

First Lutheran on Grant Street and S. Mary of Mercy are the other churches downtown.

Western PA History

Bridges and Buildings

HP04

11:40

Trailer truck

Faith in Action: St. Patrick's Father Cox

Old St. Patrick's In the Strip, is the oldest Catholic parish in Pittsburgh, founded in 1808 by Irish immigrants. It has a stone tower in the tradition of the medieval Irish monasteries.

In the 1920s the parish's dynamic priest Father James R. Cox broadcast Mass over WJAS radio and claimed to be the first priest to say Mass on an airplane. Father Cox is most famous for his work with the unemployed during the Depression when he helped them build a slapdash city called Shantytown along Liberty Avenue.

HP05

15:28 Street corner

Faith in Action: Bethel AME Church and the Underground RR

In 1808 the Bethel A. M. E. Church started as a Sunday School in the Hill District. Thought to be the oldest black congregation in the city, it was the center for activities during the Civil Rights movement.

A related congregation, Bethel A. M. E. in Monongahela started in 1833 in a log house, the first black church in the Mon Valley. The church was involved with the underground railroad that helped slaves escape to Canada. A woman tells of her great-great grandfather's involvement in aiding slaves.

Music is a big part of Sunday Service and they hold an annual Choir Day as a fundraiser, when gospel choirs are invited for a day of music.

Creating Community: Faith in action

Western PA History

The Arts

HP06

19:24 Gold domes

Pysanky: Ukranian easter eggs

Ukranian Easter eggs are the main fundraiser of St. Peter and Paul Ukranian Orthodox Church in Carnegie. They hold an annual Pysanka Sale on Palm Sunday. Pysanka means writing–writing on eggs to make designs.

The Arts: ethnic

Creating Community

HP07

21:34 Green Steeple

St. Michael's: Bells and Veronica's Veil

At St. Michael the Archangel was founded by German immigrants in the mid-19^th century and sits halfway up the South Side Slopes much like churches do in the Rhine Valley. Every year for 70 years the parishioners have performed the play "Veronica's Veil" to tell the story of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. They use antique costumes, sets, and tableau. All church members are involved in some way or other, sometimes playing several roles.

The Arts: scenes from Veronica's Veil

Creating Community

Western PA History

HP08

26:11

Green steeple dissolve to terra cotta temple

Hornbostel's Rodef Shalom

Rodef Shalom congregation used to meet Downtown but after an influx of Jewish immigrants in the late 1800s, now has a synagogue in Oakland at Fifth and Morewood. The congregation relocated in 1907 to a building designed by Henry Hornbostel. Like most religious structures, it is full of symbolism–the dome states it is a communal building; over the door is the Menorah and symbols declaring it a synagogue and inside it is a large open space. When it was built it was the largest masonry dome of its kind.

Bridges and Buildings

Creating Community

Pittsburgh

The Arts

HP09

29:10

Vintage BW streetcar film

32:11

32:35

Saving old churches

St. Peter's Episcopal was originally at Grant and Diamond where the Union Trust Building is today. When Henry Frick bought the land in 1901 the congregation who moved it to Forbes and Craft in Oakland. As the area became more urban and less residential its congregation has dwindled. The pre-Civil War sandstone church is in jeopardy as the Diocese has decided it should move. [It has since been torn down.]

Avery Memorial A. M. E. Zion Church on the North Side was torn down in the 1970s to make room for a highway. It was a Greek Revival building, one of the first church and school buildings for black Pittsburghers.

St. Boniface on East Street in the North Side was also slated to be torn down for the expressway but because the parishioners fought both the authorities and the Catholic Diocese, the highway's path was reconfigured. The 1920's building has an unusual mix of architectural styles: Byzantine with Romanesque and even Art Deco features.

Bridges and Buildings preservation

Western PA History

Creating Community

HP10

33:34

Stone Gothic church

Tiffany stained glass at Calvary United Methodist Church, North Side

Calvary United Methodist Church on the North Side was built in 1890 by the residents of Millionaires Row, making it one of the most prosperous congregations in the city. An elaborate Gothic structure with two unmatched spires, elaborate hand-carved stone decoration, it has what may be Pittsburgh's best set of gargoyles. It has three large stained glass windows considered among the finest religious stained glass Tiffany's ever produced. The sanctuary seats 800 but only 20-25 diverse people attend on Sundays. They are working with the Allegheny Historic Preservation Society to try to help restore and maintain the structure.

Bridges and Buildings: preservation

HP11

37:00

Brick Emmanuel Church

H. H. Richardson's "Bake Oven Church": Emmanuel Lutheran, North Side

A block away on the North Side is Emmanuel Episcopal Church. Considered by some to be one of Pittsburgh's most important architectural landmarks. It was designed by the 19^th century's master architect Henry Hobson Richardson, who also designed the Allegheny County Courthouse. Noted for fine brickwork, it is nicknamed "The Bake Oven Church," because of it's brick-bake oven shape. The walls bulge slightly from the weight of its steep roof.

Bridges and Buildings

The Arts

HP12

39:09

Gray round temple

Hornbostel's B'nai Israel

B'nai Israel synagogue in East Liberty was designed by Henry Hornbostel in the early 1920s. The ceiling, part of the original design, represents an Iranian tree of life motif. On the side of the altar there appears to be two giant Hs, believed to represent Henry Hornbostel's initials since they have no apparent function!

Bridges and Buildings

HP13

41:20

Steeple against sky

Heinz Memorial Chapel

Heinz Memorial Chapel on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh is the work of Charles Kauder, a Philadelphia architect who also designed the Cathedral of Learning. It is built of hand-carved Indiana limestone inside and out and has secular-themed stained glass of such historic figures as Grover Cleveland, Abigail Adams, Abe Lincoln, and Leonardo Da Vinci. It is a popular place for weddings which are scheduled two hours apart.

Bridges and Buildings

HP14

43:35

Bridge with long shot of church

St. Nicholas frescos: Political murals

St. Nicholas Croation Catholic Church in Millvale hides the striking and unusual murals by Maxo Vanka, a Croation artist who fled to the U. S. in the mid-1930s. He built a new international reputation for himself when he painted the ceilings and walls of St. Nicholas. The mural compares Jesus' mother weeping at the crucifixion, a Croation mother weeping as she raises her sons for war, and an immigrant mother weeping as she raises her sons for industry. A figure of Injustice wears a gas mask. Another section of the mural mixes images of Christ with 20^th century soldiers and shows a greedy capitalist ignoring a beggar at his feet. Other parts of the mural depict equally sharp social commentary in paint.

The Arts: Symbolism, public art, social protest

HP15

46:55

Simple stone tower

47:35

Miracle traditions

Some Pittsburgh churches have their own miracles. In another Croation Catholic church, Holy Trinity in Ambridge, the pastor's nephew in 1989 reported seeing that the eyes of Jesus were miraculously closed when they had been open before. The curious and the pious came in numbers to check it out.

On Troy Hill, St. Anthony's Chapel houses one of the world's finest collection of holy relics. Tiny pieces of bones of saints and other sacred objects are preserved in elaborate display cases called reliquaries. All were collected by one wealthy priest who founded this parish and used his own money to collect the treasures and build this chapel to house them. In 1890 Father Mollinger obtained a set of hand-carved, life-sized wooden statues depicting Christ climb up Cavalry–the Stations of the Cross. Many have left their crutch, cane, and eyeglasses at the door as a sign of their miraculous healing at St. Anthony's. The parishioners' restoration and preservation project of the 1970s made it one of the most beautiful and unusual holy buildings in Pittsburgh.

Creating Community traditions

HP16

51:37

Sikh temple sign

54:00

Recent immigrants: Hindu and Buddhist temples

More recent immigrants to Pittsburgh are also building holy places to practice their faith. In Monroeville, Sikhs from India, have built a holy structure called a Gurdewara. Soon the building will have golden domes on all six as a reminder to look upward toward heaven rather than downward to earthly things.

Monroeville also has a Hindu temple above the Parkway. Sri Venkateswara or S. V. temple is the first authentic Hindu structures in America. The people established this temple to preserve their traditions and pass them on to their children. When they meet, they wear traditional clothing and speak the hundreds of Indian dialects.

Creating Community: tradition

Bridges and Buildings

57:22

Closing — "Saints Go Marching In" plays over the credits.

The End