Secrets under Westinghouse Park
An archaeological dig at Westinghouse Park in Point Breeze has unearthed the ruins of what once was a nerve center of scientific innovation.
The finds show entrepreneur and engineer George Westinghouse at his zenith in the late 1800s, when his rivalry with Thomas Edison fueled a kinetic exploration of energy that shaped American life for generations.
He crafted a power network that sent electricity surging into his three-story villa, making it perhaps the first home in Western Pennsylvania with electric light. Archaeologists found the 200-foot tunnel used to carry electricity from a generator into his estate, according to a report obtained by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. They also uncovered remnants of natural gas wells that once provided power to Westinghouse and his neighbors.
The city paid urban archaeologist Christine Davis Consultants, based in Verona, $13,000 to excavate the Westinghouse site last fall at the urging of community activists. They hope the revelations and others from future digs will help transform the park into a destination for students, tourists and history buffs, with signs detailing the site, lamps perhaps supplied with gas from one of the old wells, walking tours connecting it to other neighborhood historic sites, and a museum or educational center.
The North Point Breeze Planning and Development Corp. soon will begin hosting community meetings about the site, said Cheryl Hall, the group's president.
"We don't even know what level it could grow to," Hall said.
North Point Breeze board member Edda Fields-Black said she especially would like to see the tunnel -- which is 8.6 feet tall and 6.5 feet wide -- opened and incorporated into the site's development.
"I think that is something that would capture people's imaginations," she said.
Today, children play on the lawns, and adults walk their dogs at Westinghouse Park, where blackened stone steps and pillars are a visible reminder of the man whose name became synonymous with electricity.
At the close of the 19th century, the place literally was aglow with energy.
In 1884, while drilling his first natural gas well, Westinghouse struck a vein large enough to send flames shooting 100 feet into the air.
"The roar could be heard for blocks," said Ed Reis, executive director of the George Westinghouse Museum in Wilmerding. "There were throngs of people that came to see this great fire. It was a great event."
Archaeologists found remnants of three of four gas wells believed to have been on the Westinghouse site. The Philadelphia Co. -- the gas utility formed to distribute gas from the wells to more than 3,000 homes and almost 400 businesses -- gave birth to Equitable Gas, Duquesne Light and the Pittsburgh Railways, later taken over by the Pittsburgh Port Authority, Reis said.
The clean-burning gas made the area a bright spot in a city where coal smoke fouled the air. People, for the first time in years, could paint their houses white without fear of soot darkening the hue to a dingy gray.
Westinghouse's interest in gas helped lead him into what historians refer to as a "war of the currents" with Edison over alternating- and direct-current power systems. How best to distribute electrical power was an enduring point of fascination for Westinghouse during his days in Point Breeze. Edison's system used direct current, while Westinghouse's relied on alternating current. Because it was more efficient, alternating current replaced direct current for power generation and distribution.
Westinghouse bought the estate, which he called Solitude, as a surprise birthday gift to his wife, Marguerite, in 1871. By the early 1880s, electrical lights illumined its interior, the currents traveling through wires inside the tunnel. The passageway linked a stable and laboratory -- where the generator sat -- to the estate.
Rumors abounded over the tunnel.
"Newspaper reports speculated that Westinghouse was secretly working on inventions in the underground passage," the archaeological report says. "The discovery of natural gas at Solitude and the patents developed by Westinghouse suggest that this assumption is correct."
Westinghouse was awarded 361 patents in his lifetime, including 31 related to natural gas in the two years after his first well was drilled.
He and his wife lived at the Point Breeze estate until his death in 1915. The mansion was torn down in 1919 and given to the city to be used as a park.
The excavation dug into an entryway to the mansion, where archaeologists found colored marble and granite, painted and stained glass, building materials and china and other housewares.
Of particular interest for future work, Davis said, is the ground underneath a small park building. The structure sits atop the basement of the former stable, which was used as a laboratory. Artifacts related to Westinghouse's scientific work may well be buried there, Davis said: "These were ideas that changed the world, and they happened right here."
City Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle, whose district includes the park, said she will work to help to secure grant money for future digs.
"I'd like to see it go further, and to see what's under the ground, and to see what they want to do," Carlisle said.
Davis said the four-day dig drew intense interest from local people and offered tantalizing evidence of how well-preserved the site is.
"We just scratched the surface of the work we could have done," she said. "I'm sure there is a lot more there."
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The life and times of George Westinghouse:
1846: Born in Central Bridge, N.Y. Develops skills as an inventor while working in his father's farm machinery shop.
1861: Enlists in Union army.
1865: Receives first patent for rotary steam engine.
1869: Receives patent for air brake, and establishes Westinghouse Air Brake Co.
1871: Perfects first automatic electric block signal to improve train safety, and establishes Union Switch and Signal Co.
1886: Founds Westinghouse Electric Co. First alternating current power-generating station lights up village of Great Barrington, Mass.
1890: Installs first long-distance electrical-transmission lines -- 14 miles between Willamette Falls and Portland, Ore.
1893: Illuminates Chicago World's Fair with 250,000 electric lights.
1905: Demonstrates first main-line, alternating current-powered locomotive.
