Source:Ordinance-1872-167
"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 said station, and whereby increased facilities may be afforded for the receipt and shipment of the railroad traffic of said city." Pittsburgh city ordinance, 1872, no. 167. Passed Oct. 31, 1872; recorded Nov. 12, 1872. Ordinance Book 3, p. 278. In The Municipal Record: Containing the proceedings of the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh, together with the ordinances, &c.: With an index, vol. IV, pp. 117–118, Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, Pittsburgh, 1872 (Internet Archive pghmunicipalrecord1872).
(No. 167.)
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 said station, and whereby increased facilities may be afforded for the receipt and shipment of the railroad traffic of said city.
Section 1. Be it ordained and enacted by the City of Pittsburgh, in Select and Common Councils assembled, and it is hereby ordained and enacted by authority of the same, 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, within sixty days from the passage of this Ordinance, but not afterwards, wherein and whereby the said city and the said company may be respectively bound, as follows:
AGREEMENT MADE
| This day of ⸻, A. D. 1872, between the City 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," approved the 15th day of April, A. D. 1869, 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 the 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 enlarged and made to afford greater facility for the receipt and shipments of merchandise, and the general comfort of the traveling public.
Sec. 2. 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, Aiken avenue and Thirty-third street, now open and crossing said railroad at grade, shall be crossed over said railroad by bridges as provided in paragraph 9th, which bridges said Company agree to construct in a good and substantial manner with stone abutments and wing walls and iron superstructure; that when Neville street is opened for public use, the city shall build the abutments, and the said Company the superstructure thereof, whether arranged for under or over the Railroad, 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, the approaches to each of said bridges to be graded under the Acts of Assembly, regulating the grading of streets. And in order to give sufficient head room for the safe passage of engines and trains under the bridge crossing said Railroad at Penn avenue, Shady Lane and Ellsworth avenue, the said Company agree to lower the present tracks of said Railroad three (3) feet at said streets by a change of grade from a point at or near Station street, to a point at or near Roup street, and that the eastern wing wall on the north side of said Railroad of the bridge at Ellsworth avenue shall be so constructed as to allow a return roadway to said Ellsworth avenue to be made; Provided, That the city shall furnish the necessary ground upon which to build said wing or retaining wall, and shall by ordinance lay out and open a street from the north end of said bridge to Ellsworth avenue.
Second. The said Company agree to rebuild, in a good and substantial manner, the bridge over said railroad at Penn avenue, with stone abutments and wing walls, and an iron superstructure with width as provided in paragraph nine (9), and in like manner so much of the bridge at Centre avenue as extends over the right of way of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, being 66 feet wide at grade lines, when rebuilt to be in heighth [sic] to correspond with the grade of street.
Third. Dallas and Fifth avenues shall pass under said railroad, the city agreeing to make the necessary excavations, and the Railroad Company agreeing to build the necessary abutments therefor of stone in a substantial manner, and of sufficient strength to support the embankment, bridge, superstructure and traffic upon said railroad, the cost of such excavations to be paid for by the property owners legally chargable [sic] for the same under the existing laws. 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 executed in accordance with plans furnished by the Engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and under the supervision and direction of an engineer appointed by said Company, the said plans, however, to be approved by the City Engineer; and in case of a difference of opinion between the City Engineer and the Engineer of the Railroad Company as to the plans for said work, they shall select some competent engineer as an umpire, whose decision after examination of the same shall be final. And that the next sentence shall read as follows: And the Railroad Company agrees 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 roadway as provided for in paragraph nine.
Fourth. That Lang avenue, Putnam street and Highland avenue, when open for public travel, shall pass over said railroad by bridges, as provided by paragraph nine, sufficiently elevated to enable the safe passage of trains and engines under the same as hereinafter specified, the said Company agreeing to construct said bridges in a good and substantial manner, with stone abutments, wing walls and iron superstructure; that Thirty-third (33d) street shall pass over said railroad by a bridge, as provided in paragraph nine, which shall extend from the south line of the right of way of said railroad to the southerly line of Laurel avenue, said bridge to be approached by an avenue on the east side thereof, with a width of thirty-five feet, to be located upon and south of the south line of said Laurel avenue, with an ascending grade from said Laurel avenue to level of bridge, not exceeding ten feet to the hundred, the ground to be occupied by said approaches to be provided at the cost of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and said approaches to be constructed at the cost of Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The city agrees to raise the grade of Laurel avenue to at least eighteen feet above the present natural surface of the corner of Thirty-third street and Laurel avenue, and from that point the grade of Laurel avenue shall ascend eastwardly.
Fifth. That said Company agrees to have Sassafras alley, from Twenty-seventh street to Thirtieth street, widened to the width of fifty feet at its cost, said widening to be effected by adding twenty-six (26) feet upon the northerly side as now located, and upon the opening of the same by said city the said company agrees to grade and have the same to such gradient and elevation as may be necessary to reach the level of an iron bridge to be constructed by and at the expense of said company, of width as prescribed in paragraph 9, said bridge to extend from a point on Sassafras alley about midway between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth streets to the southerly line of property that is now or may hereafter be owned by said Railroad Company at the time the bridge may be constructed, or in lien thereof the said company may, at its option, have located and opened a street of the width of 50 feet from Liberty street to said Sassafras alley, to be located about midway between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth streets, and parallel therewith, as an approach to the iron bridge before mentioned—the city to be at no expense therefor, either for land, damages or graduation. In which case the said city shall revise and change the grade of Liberty street between the said Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth streets so that a suitable gradient may be obtained as a means of access to said bridge as aforesaid, all damages caused thereby to be paid by Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and said city shall also by law authorized vacate so much of Twenty-eighth street as lies southwardly of Liberty street, and of Sassafras alley as lies westwardly of the proposed bridge. The said company further agrees to construct all necessary retaining walls on Sassafras alley and the abutments and supports for said bridge in either case.
Sixth. Upon the completion of said bridge, as provided in preceding section, and the grading and paving of the approaches thereto, the city agrees to vacate Twenty-eighth (or Morton) street as laid out southwardly from the southerly line of Sassafras alley, and also the following streets now upon the plan of the city, whether open or unopened, namely: Lumber street, from Liberty street to Ferguson street; Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth and Thirty-first streets, from Sassafras alley to Ferguson street, and old and new Ferguson streets from the westerly line of Lumber street to Thirty-second street.
Seventh. The said city agrees to vacate Washington street from Liberty street to Fountain street, and Grant street from Liberty street to Seventh avenue, and all streets and alleys within the area of ground bounded by Liberty street, Seventh avenue, Cherry alley, and the westerly line of Grant street extended. The said Company agreeing to construct on the line of Washington street a substantial iron bridge for foot passengers, with a width of eight feet, extending from the line of Fountain street to the northern side of Liberty street, with approaches by steps or stairs on both sides of said bridge, and on both sides of said street at the curb line, to the pavement of said Liberty street. And said Company further agree at their own expense, to grade, pave and curb Fountain street from Washington street to Seventh avenue, to widen Cherry alley fifty feet, making said alley seventy feet in width, and to widen Seventh avenue on the northerly side thereof, between Cherry alley and the east side of Grant street, so as to make said avenue seventy feet in width, and within one year, or as much sooner as practicable, to remove all rails from Liberty street crossing the approaches to said Union Passenger Depot, except the main tracks with the Allegheny Valley Railroad, Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, and the main tracks now used from said depot to the Duquesne depot, thus leaving an avenue forty feet in width entirely free from railroad tracks, (excepting that of a City Passenger Railway), and extending from Cherry alley to the Union depot, and said Company further agree to provide sufficient space on their own ground for the loading and unloading of freight, so as to keep the sidewalk and wagon ways adjoining the same free and unobstructed.
Eighth. The said city agrees to maintain the superstructure of all over head bridges as part of the public highways of said city, and the said Company agree to maintain the abutments and supports thereof.
Ninth. The superstructure of all bridges shall be of iron, and shall have a road or wagon way 30 feet in width, and also a foot-walk 5 feet in width on each side thereof, separated therefrom by a substantial rail; Provided, however, that the entire width on Penn avenue bridge shall be 60 feet, including foot-walks 12 feet in width, one on each side, and all roadways or tunnels passing under said railroad shall be 35 feet in width, of which 5 feet in width shall be partitioned off by a substantial rail as a foot-walk.
Tenth. The said company agrees to station watchmen to signal the approach of trains.
Eleventh. The company agree to construct a substantial bridge of at least 8 feet in width for foot passengers over the tracks and premises of said company from the northerly side of Liberty street to the hillside at such point east of Union Depot and west of Twenty-eighth street as may be designated by the City Engineer and the Engineer of the said Railroad Company, with steps or stairs therefrom to Liberty street footway; Provided, the city will construct the approach thereto on the south side and provide room for supporting columns, with abutment and stairs in Liberty street.
Twelfth. All streets and avenues in said city which may be hereafter laid out or opened across said railroad, except as herein provided, shall be of such established grade as to pass over said railroad by bridges with a clear headway of at least 17½ feet, or under it by tunnels with a clear headway of at least 13 feet, and all bridges or tunnels which may hereafter become necessary for the passage of any of said streets or avenues shall be constructed and maintained by said city under the acts of Assembly relating thereto, and shall be of such heighth [sic] and strength as to secure a permanent and safe passage for the cars and traffic of said company over or under the same.
Thirteenth. Grant street and Washington street shall not be vacated until Fountain street shall have been graded and paved, and Cherry alley and Seventh avenue widened, graded and repaved, as hereinbefore provided, and until the above mentioned avenue—to be 40 feet in width from Cherry alley to the Union Depot—be opened, graded and paved by said company.
Fourteenth. The bridge at Washington street and the streets connecting therewith shall be commenced forthwith and prosecuted with diligence, and completed within eighteen months after the signing of this contract; and the bridge for Sassafras alley between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth streets shall be commenced as soon as the streets necessary as an approach thereto have been legally opened and completed within 18 months thereafter.
Fifteenth. All road bridges, tunnels and roadways at the crossings of streets already opened and graded shall be commenced forthwith, and completed within six months after the signing of this agreement. All road bridges and tunnel roadways at the crossings of streets not now graded shall be commenced within sixty days and completed within six months after notice from the proper city authorities; Provided, said notice shall not be given until the streets connected therewith shall have been ordered to be graded in accordance with law.
Sixteenth. The superstructure of the tunnel for roadways and for a bridge at Neville street shall be constructed as soon as said city shall have constructed the abutments therefor.
Seventeenth. The said city of Pittsburgh shall pass all ordinances and resolutions which may from time to time be necessary and proper to carry into effect the provisions of this contract, and join in urging any further legislation by the General Assembly of the State as may be found necessary to complete the agreements herein proposed.
Eighteenth. That the said company hereby agree to grant said city, or to any person authorized by ordinance of said city, the right to erect one or two inclined planes over said company's grounds from Liberty street to the hillside at any point between Eleventh and Twenty-eighth streets; Provided, however, that the construction of the same shall in no way interfere with the use or successful operation of said railroad.
Nineteenth. That before the actual vacation or surrender of any portion of the streets herein mentioned, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company shall file with the Controller of the city of Pittsburgh a duly certified copy of the action of the Board of Directors of said Company, assuming and agreeing to pay all damages for which the city of Pittsburgh may be held legally liable to the holders of or owners of property or others, by reason of the vacation thereof.
Ordained and enacted into a law in Councils, this 31st day of October A. D. 1872.
A. H. GROSS,
President of Select Council.
Attest: E. S. Morrow,
Clerk of Select Council.
H. W. OLIVER, Jr.,
President of Common Council.
Attest: H. McMaster,
Clerk of Common Council.
See also
- Source:Important-document, an early draft
- Source:Ordinance-1879-4
