Presentation at the East Liberty Valley Historical Society
by David Bear, May 1, 2024
In 1892, the same year Carnegie and Frick’s Pinkertons were battling steelworkers at the Homestead works, one Pittsburgh industrialist was planning a brighter future for all-- by introducing safe, alternating current electric lighting to brilliant effect at the Chicago World's Fair the following year. His company would be among the first to adopt better working conditions for employees, including a shorter work week. For those reasons and more, George Westinghouse deserves to be much better remembered in Pittsburgh and around the country, David Bear told an audience of 56 last night in Calvary Episcopal Church's Parish Hall.
“He was a really progressive employer,” Dave said during the first part of his talk, which focused on the significance of Westinghouse's pioneering achievements in rail safety, electricity and natural gas. The second part detailed what happened to his Point Breeze home (razed and buried), land (public park), personal papers (burned at his request) and furniture and household goods (scattered among his 79 descendants) after he and his wife Marguerite died in 1914.
The third part of Dave's talk set forth what is now being done to interpret Westinghouse’s life and work and the landscape where so much of it was accomplished but so little evidence remains. Dave is the founding president of The Westinghouse Legacy, the new non-profit that plans to create a digital archive linking to documents, videos and other materials—a sort of one-stop reference shop for all things Westinghouse. It also will advocate for implementation of Westinghouse Park’s new master plan, for more extensive archaeology in the 10-acre park and for its designation as a city historic site. In 2021, it was determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and also became a nationally recognized certified arboretum, with 10 trees dating to the time of the Westinghouse estate.
Also in recent years, the story of the Westinghouse-Edison, AC-DC rivalry has been featured in a film and musical, both called “The Current War,” and Westinghouse has been the subject of a new biography by William R. Huber. One thing not happening, Dave said, is transformation of Westinghouse engineer and general manager Emil Keller's historic house near the park into a Westinghouse archive and academic research center, after the present owner decided against donating it to The Westinghouse Legacy and instead will restore it himself, a simpler and more expedient option for him. Keller was the engineer Westinghouse hired to illuminate the 1893 fair's White City; the house he and his wife designed and completed in 1905 at the corner of Meade and North Murtland streets is still a private home and virtually unchanged from the Keller era. It was designated a city historic landmark in December. “We had ambitious plans but it’s going to take a lot of work” to restore, Dave said, adding that having a narrower mission “has taken a huge load off.”
Information: thewestinghouselegacy.org. ELVHS photos by E.J. Donnelly; story by Patricia Lowry