Vandergrift

Vandergrift
Author: Sara McGuire
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2009-05-11
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 1439637520

Established in 1895 when other factory towns consisted of shabby mill-owned structures and dirt streets, Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, was uniquely designed by the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot to be greener and more architecturally pleasing for residents. The towns early emphasis on green space and resident-owned homes was ahead of its time, and aspects of its history continue to surprise even residents.

A Genealogical and Biographical History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

A Genealogical and Biographical History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Author: Thomas Cushing
Publisher: Genealogical Publishing Com
Total Pages: 592
Release: 1889
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

The sketches in this book, numbering approximately 2,250 and naming a total of 50,000 related persons, generally treat subjects who were born in the early nineteenth century, with reference to immediate forebears of the late eighteenth century. The sketches typically mention the date and place of birth and marriage of the principal subject, the place of birth of his parents and often grandparents, sometimes the name of the first ancestor in America, and details of religion, education, military service, occupation, home, and residence.

Capital's Utopia

Capital's Utopia
Author: Anne E. Mosher
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2020-03-03
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1421429241

In the 1890s the Apollo Iron and Steel Company ended a bitterly contested labor dispute by hiring replacement workers from the surrounding countryside. To avoid future unrest, however, the company sought to gain tighter control over its workers not only at the factory but also in their homes. Drawing upon a philosophy of reform movements in Europe and the United States, the firm decided that providing workers with good housing and a good urban environment would make them more loyal and productive. In 1895, Apollo Iron and Steel built a new, integrated, non-unionized steelworks and hired the nation's preeminent landscape architectural firm (Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot) to design the model industrial town: Vandergrift. In Capital's Utopia: Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, 1855-1916, Anne E. Mosher offers the first comprehensive geographical overview of the industrial restructuring of an American steelworks and its workforce in the late nineteenth–century. In addition, by offering a thorough analysis of the Olmsted plan, Mosher integrates historical geography and labor history with landscape architectural history and urban studies. As a result, this book is far more than a case study. It is a window into an important period of industrial development and its consequences on communities and environments in the world-famous steel country of southwestern Pennsylvania.