Arlington Park...
Excerpted from Joel Roteman's Column
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Just off busy Castle Shannon Boulevard near the intersection with Mt.
Lebanon Boulevard, sits a tranquil, almost bucolic-looking Mt. Lebanon
neighborhood known to just a few. It's called Arlington Park and it is a
privately owned street, with shareholders who maintain the street
through a $100 per household assessment.
Mt. Lebanon Township provides police and fire protection as well as
two strategically placed saltboxes. Few know about Arlington Park --
probably because it's seldom seen. The street ends in a cul-de-sac bounded
by the Mt. Lebanon Golf Course, Shady Drive East, Castle Shannon
Boulevard and the Paul Kossman development of a new office complex.
The street goes nowhere
except to the 11 homes there and it is hidden from passersby.
That is a shame, because it has such a rich history. Of the 11 houses there,
10 are Victorian-era, built between 1895 and 1905, while the 11th is a
1970s-era ranch. Some of the Victorian "gingerbread" designs have been
fully restored but virtually all retain some vestige of a bygone era.
According to Paul Dudjak, of Castle Shannon, who is the postman who
delivers mail there, Arlington Park came about as part of a scheme by the
Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad to build a customer base. In 1871,
the narrow-gauge railroad decided on a three-pronged approach to get
customers out to its Castle Shannon terminus -- where the Ice Palace now
sits on Castle Shannon Boulevard -- from its South Side station.
Plan One was to sell plots of land to prospective homeowners, Mr.
Dudjak said. Plan Two was to build a zoological gardens, supposedly at
Arch and Poplar streets in Castle Shannon, to attract people.
Plan Three, the most successful, was to entice the Methodist Protestant
Church to hold revival meetings there. From 1874 to 1885, the railroad
and its successor narrow gauge railroad, the Pittsburgh and Southern,
would bring up to 10,000 people on a weekend for the usual three-week
revival meeting at which itinerant preachers would enthrall the worshippers.
Newspapers of the era covered these revival meetings elaborately,
reporting on the daily sermons. There was a prayer tent with a
canopy in the center of the camp meeting, a hitching post, stables,
a whitewashed picket fence and even a small hotel and dining hall.
The zoological gardens existed for a couple of years, but no one today is
quite sure where. At its inception, the railroad hired a zoologist to conduct
lectures. Incidentally, the railroad would realize some $2,500 from fares
from the thousands of worshippers it brought out to Castle Shannon. But
eventually, in 1879, the railroad went broke, and William Smith, who
owned the original tract of land where his farm once stood, bought it
back at a sheriff's sale for a pittance and sold the shares as home sites.
In its early days, the Arlington Revival Association had strict rules:
no dogs or smoking allowed.
Because some the houses had used swords as part of their decor, rumors
of witchcraft grew, according to Mr. Chesleigh. The swords sparked fear
because to some, they looked like inverted crosses, a sign associated with
witches' covens. At least one of the houses also has a reputation of being
haunted, although none of the residents has complained.
Excerpted from Joel Roteman's Column
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Just off busy Castle Shannon Boulevard near the intersection with Mt.
Lebanon Boulevard, sits a tranquil, almost bucolic-looking Mt. Lebanon
neighborhood known to just a few. It's called Arlington Park and it is a
privately owned street, with shareholders who maintain the street
through a $100 per household assessment.
Mt. Lebanon Township provides police and fire protection as well as
two strategically placed saltboxes. Few know about Arlington Park --
probably because it's seldom seen. The street ends in a cul-de-sac bounded
by the Mt. Lebanon Golf Course, Shady Drive East, Castle Shannon
Boulevard and the Paul Kossman development of a new office complex.
The street goes nowhere
except to the 11 homes there and it is hidden from passersby.
That is a shame, because it has such a rich history. Of the 11 houses there,
10 are Victorian-era, built between 1895 and 1905, while the 11th is a
1970s-era ranch. Some of the Victorian "gingerbread" designs have been
fully restored but virtually all retain some vestige of a bygone era.
According to Paul Dudjak, of Castle Shannon, who is the postman who
delivers mail there, Arlington Park came about as part of a scheme by the
Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad to build a customer base. In 1871,
the narrow-gauge railroad decided on a three-pronged approach to get
customers out to its Castle Shannon terminus -- where the Ice Palace now
sits on Castle Shannon Boulevard -- from its South Side station.
Plan One was to sell plots of land to prospective homeowners, Mr.
Dudjak said. Plan Two was to build a zoological gardens, supposedly at
Arch and Poplar streets in Castle Shannon, to attract people.
Plan Three, the most successful, was to entice the Methodist Protestant
Church to hold revival meetings there. From 1874 to 1885, the railroad
and its successor narrow gauge railroad, the Pittsburgh and Southern,
would bring up to 10,000 people on a weekend for the usual three-week
revival meeting at which itinerant preachers would enthrall the worshippers.
Newspapers of the era covered these revival meetings elaborately,
reporting on the daily sermons. There was a prayer tent with a
canopy in the center of the camp meeting, a hitching post, stables,
a whitewashed picket fence and even a small hotel and dining hall.
The zoological gardens existed for a couple of years, but no one today is
quite sure where. At its inception, the railroad hired a zoologist to conduct
lectures. Incidentally, the railroad would realize some $2,500 from fares
from the thousands of worshippers it brought out to Castle Shannon. But
eventually, in 1879, the railroad went broke, and William Smith, who
owned the original tract of land where his farm once stood, bought it
back at a sheriff's sale for a pittance and sold the shares as home sites.
In its early days, the Arlington Revival Association had strict rules:
no dogs or smoking allowed.
Because some the houses had used swords as part of their decor, rumors
of witchcraft grew, according to Mr. Chesleigh. The swords sparked fear
because to some, they looked like inverted crosses, a sign associated with
witches' covens. At least one of the houses also has a reputation of being
haunted, although none of the residents has complained.
| ARLINGTON PARK Mount Lebanon |
| MORE DORMONT LINKS |
| WARNING Premises under 24 hour VIDEO SURVEILLANCE Vehicle license plates are digitally recorded Enter at your own risk Trespassers will be prosecuted. |
| Does that look like a sword to you? |
| I may be labeled a pariah for this story but, I have an obligation to post it. We, too, heard the stories of Arlington Park being a haven for "devil-worshippers" and the upside down "crosses" confirmed it, well, at least to us. When I was in high school, we were at a party on Peermont Avenue. A bunch of seniors came to the party saying they just went to Arlington Park and gave them "what for." We sophomores had to see what this was all about! So some of us football players piled into a station wagon and half-drunk drove up to Arlington Park. We were all screaming out of the windows "devil worshippers!" and other obscenities. Doing donuts and being general asses. I looked up and saw the upside down cross on a house (really a sword) and saw a woman in a flowing, white night gown pointing at us from her balcony! I was frightened to death! It was then a huge "smash" blew out our back window! Someone had thrown a brick through the window! The car stopped and the driver was gunning the engine but we weren't going anywhere! Everyone in the car is screaming, "GO! GO!" But the engine just kept racing and we were stuck there like pigeons on a pond! We were convinced that the "devil-worshippers" were using their magic to hold us there! Two or three devil worshippers were now advancing on the car! We were scared witless! It was then that he noticed that he had knocked the car into neutral in the hubbub. He finally put it in gear and we tore out there like, as they say, like a bat out of hell! We vowed never to go back there again. I, now, wish to apologize to the people of Arlington Park. I had no idea, and that is when bad things happen. Dumb jocks...head full of rocks. |