This weekend, I saw some familiar furry faces along the Monongahela River in Homestead. Goats! But these goats are not wild goats (PA does not have a wild goat population). These goats are members of Allegheny GoatScape, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that organized in 2017 with the mission of “[reducing] invasive and unwanted vegetation in public spaces and vacant lots, utilizing goats for browsing.”

This episode is also available as a blog post here.

Just across the river from the Great Allegheny Passage lies one of the most colorful spots in the ‘burg: Color Park.

The graffitied park opened along the Three Rivers Heritage trail in 2017 as a way to redeem a formerly gray, desolate, industrial portion of the trail. The vision behind the park is, “[t]hrough art,  . . . [to] bring[] people together, spread peace throughout the community, all while beautifying the city.”

This episode is also available as a blog post here.

In Great Britain, those traveling by rail must heed the warning to “mind the gap,” that is, to be aware of the space between the platform and the train where a person could trip and fall. In Pittsburgh, travelers, adventurers, and even historians should also mind the GAP, that is, they should be aware of the gorgeous 150-mile biking and recreational trail known as the Great Allegheny Passage.

This episode is also available as a blog post here.

Where in Pittsburgh can you see both the city skyline and the zoo’s monkey house, hear both a “live” performance by George Gershwin and over 150 antique self-playing music machines, and experience both an indoor underground cave and a panoply of secret passages? None other than the Bayernhof Museum.

This episode is also available as a blog post here.

Pittsburgh homes are notorious for low ceilings, dark basements, and . . . “Pittsburgh Potties.” If you live in an older Pittsburgh home, it is very likely your house has one of these curious plumbing features or that it has had one previously. What do these toilets have to do with the steel industry and civil engineering? Or more generally, what is a Pittsburgh Potty?

This episode is also available as a blog post here.

Alright, this is a Month of Steel encore. Next month on this day in 1952, the U.S. Supreme Court decided one of the most famous cases in constitutional law history: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer. What could an old Supreme Court case possibly have to do to Pittsburgh? Well, keep listening.

Month of Steel: Bonus

This episode is also available as a blog post here.

In stark contrast to last week’s blog on Wayne Alderson—a man who championed love, dignity, and respect for his steel workers—this week’s podcast will focus on Henry Clay Frick and the bloody, violent, watershed Homestead Steel Strike that resulted from Frick’s animosity toward unions and mistreatment of people.

Month of Steel: Part 4

This episode is also available as a blog post here.

Love. Dignity. Respect. When people think of steel mills, these words do not usually come to mind. But through a people-centric management philosophy, one man single-handedly turned around a failing steel mill by a margin of $12 million (over $60 million today). That man was Wayne Alderson and that mill was Pittron Steel (“Pittron”) in Glassport, Pennsylvania.

Month of Steel: Part 3

This episode is also available as a blog post here.

Chances are if you’re from Pittsburgh, you’ve been to the SouthSide Works for food, drinks, or the gorgeous portions of the Greater Allegheny Passage and Three Rivers Heritage Trail. Maybe you’ve even taken the scenic self-guided step tours I wrote about two weeks ago. The SouthSide is a vibrant cultural center today, but less than 50 years ago, it was the home of a booming, fiery, industrial steel mill that rivaled U.S. Steel and other mills: Jones & Laughlin Steel (J&L).

Month of Steel: Part 2

This episode is also available as a blog post here.

“We have made the steel that built America.” Pittsburgh steel is at the core of countless structures across the world, including the Empire State Building, The New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia, and many more.

Month of Steel: Part 1

This episode is also available as a blog post here.