Source:Important-document
"Important document: Proposition from the Pennsylvania Railroad." Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, May 15, 1872, [p. 4]. Newspapers.com 86351834.
The following ordinance was read in Common Councils on Monday and ordered to be printed:
An Ordinance.
To authorize the Mayor, for, and on behalf of the City of Pittsburgh, to enter into a contract with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, whereby the public travel on and across the railroad of said company within the limits of said city, and to and from the Union Passenger Station of said company, may be made more secure by crossing certain streets above or below the grade of said railroad, and by the removal of certain side tracks, crossing the approach to the said station; and whereby increased facilities may be afforded for the receipt and shipment of the railroad traffic of said city.
Section I. Be it ordained and enacted by the authority of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh: That the Mayor of said city be and is hereby authorized and directed, in the name and on behalf of the city of Pittsburgh, to make and enter into the following contract with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company wherein and whereby the said city and the said company may be respectively bound, as follows:
Agreement made this ⸻ day of ⸻ A. D. 187—, between the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of Pittsburgh, of the first part, and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company of the second part.
Whereas, by an Act of Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, entitled, "An Act to authorize the Select and Common Councils of the city of Pittsburgh, to vacate streets and alleys in said city," it was provided as follows:
That the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh be, and are hereby granted full power and authority to make and enter into a contract or contracts with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway Company, and the Allegheny Valley Railroad Company, or either of them, or Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad Company, whereby public travel may be rendered more safe in said city, and the depot property of said companies or either of them may be rendered more safe in said city, and the depot property of said companies r either of them may be enlarged and made to afford greater facilities for the receipt and shipment of merchandise, and the general comfort of the traveling public.
Section II. That said Councils, for the purpose of enabling said contract or contracts to be carried out, shall have and are hereby given authority to vacate and close up the whole or any portion of any streets or alleys in said city, and generally to do such acts and pass such ordinances as they deem expedient for the purposes aforesaid. Provided, however, that no street or alley or portion of the same, as aforesaid, shall be vacated or closed up unless the said companies or either of them, shall first acquire by purchase or otherwise the property fronting on both sides of the street or alley or such portions thereof that may be vacated or closed up.
Now, therefore, it is agreed by and between the said parties as follows:
First—That Ellsworth avenue, Shady Lane, and Roup street, and Thirty-third street, now open and crossing said railroad at grade, shall be crossed over said railroad by bridges of at least thirty feet in width, which bridges said company agree to construct in a good and substantial manner, of stone abutments, wing walls and wooden superstructure, the city hereby agreeing to re-locate Ellsworth avenue in such manner that the bridge therefor may be constructed at right angles with said railroad, and to grade the approaches to each of said bridges. And, in order to give sufficient head room for the safe passage of engines and trains under the bridges crossing said railroad at Penn avenue, Shady Lane and Ellsworth avenue, the said company further agree to lower the present grade of said railroad three feet between a point at or near Station street and a point at or near Roup street.
Second—The said company agree to re-build in a good and substantial manner the bridges over said railroad at Penn avenue and Center avenue, with stone abutments, and wing walls, and with wooden or iron superstructure, as said company may elect; said bridges to be of at least thirty feet in width.
Third—Dallas and Fifth avenues shall pass under said railroad, the said city agreeing to make the necessary excavations and to build the necessary abutments of stone in a substantial manner and of sufficient strength to support the superstructure of said railroad. And for the purpose of better securing the safety of persons and property passing over said railroad at these points during the progress of such work, the same shall be done in accordance with the plans of the City Engineer, but under the supervision and direction of an engineer selected by said company. The said company agree to construct and maintain the superstructure over said avenues; and should columns be required to support the same between the abutments they shall be set so as to leave a road way for said avenues of twenty feet in width.
Fourth—That Lang avenue, Putnam street, Highland avenue and Aiken avenue, when open for public travel, shall pass over said raliroad [sic] by bridges of at least thirty feet in width, and sufficiently elevated to enable the safe passage of engines and trains under the same; the said company agreeing to construct said bridges in a good and substantial manner, of stone abutments, wing walls and wooden superstructure; it being agreed that Putnam street shall not be opened through the Stock Yard property of said company while the same may be necessary for the business purposes of the said company.
That Thirty-third street shall pass over the said railroad by a bridge at least thirty feet in width, and extending from the south line of the right of way of said railroad to the north line of Boundary street; said bridge to be approached by an avenue on the east side, thirty feet in width, extending along the north line of Boundary street until the grade of said street shall be reached—the grade of said approaches not to exceed ten feet in the hundred,—the ground occupied by said approaches to be provided by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; the said bridge to be constructed in a substantial manner by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and at their expense. The city agree to raise the grade of Boundary street, as is now contemplated by them, to at least eighteen feet above the present grade at the corner of Thirty-third and Boundary streets, and from that point to raise the grade of Boundary street eastward.
Fifth—Said company agrees at its own expense to widen Sassafras alley from Twenty-eighth to Twenth-ninth [sic] streets, to the width of fifty feet by extending the same northwardly twenty-six feet, and said company agree to grade the same to conform to the grade of a bridge to be constructed by said company of iron, of at least tbirty [sic] feet in width, and beginning at a point on Sassafras alley, about midway between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth streets and to connect the said Sassafras alley with Brererton [sic] and Jones avenues by said bridge at a point about one hundred feet distant from the southerly line of Ferguson street; the said company agree to construct the necessary retaining walls on Sassafras alley, and the abutments and supports for said bridge.
Sixth—Upon the completion of said bridge connecting Sassafras alley and Brererton [sic] and Jones avenues, the said city agree to vacate Twenty-eighth (or Morton) street, from the southerly line of Sassafras alley to Ferguson street and also the following streets upon the plan of the city, whether open or unopen, namely: Lumber street from Liberty street to Ferguson street, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first and Thirty-second streets from Sassafras alley to Ferguson street, and Ferguson street from the westerly line of Lumber street to Thirty-second street.
Seventh—The said city agree to and does hereby vacate Washington street, from Liberty street to Fountain street, and Grant street from Liberty street to Seventh street, and all streets and alleys within the area of ground bounded by Liberty street, Seventh street, Cherry alley and the line of Grant street. The said company agreeing to construct on the line of Washington street, a substantial bridge of at least eight feet in width for foot passengers over the tracks and premises of said company to Liberty street—said bridge to have secure hand railings and steps to the sidewalk of Liberty street, and said Company further agree at their own expense to widen Cherry alley twenty feet, making said alley forty feet in width, and to widen Seventh street on the northwardly side thereof, between Cherry alley and Grant street, ten feet, and within one year or as much sooner as practicable to remove all rails from Liberty street crossing the approaches to the said Union Passenger Depot except the main tracks with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, and the main tracks now used from said station to Duquesne Depot, thus maintaining an avenue forty feet in width, entirely free from tracks excepting that of a City Passenger Railway, and extending from Cherry alley to the Union Depot.
Eighth—The said city agree to maintain the superstructure of all the said overhead bridges, as part of the public highways of said city, and the said company agree to maintain the abutments and supports thereof. And the said city further agree not to locate or open within the present or future limit of said city any street or public way which shall cross said railroad at grade.
Read and ordered to be printed in the officsal [sic] papers.See also
- Source:Municipal-record-1872, pp. 42–43 (May 13, 1872) and pp. 76–77 (August 19, 1872)
- Source:Ordinance-1872-167
