St Mary of the Mount High School - St Mary Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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Artist ' s Sketch of First Church Located on Belonda Street to Mt. Washington available. A year after the completion of the incline, Mt. Washing- ton began to flourish. In 1876, another factor that contributed to the growth of the Mt. Washington district was the construction of the Ducjuesne Incline. At first the residents did not patronize the Incline, preferring rather to save their pennies and use the hillside trail. A somewhat ludicrous legend is associated with the Duquesne Incline to the effect that shortly after the construction of the Incline, the preferred hillside trail suddenly became haunted by a ghost. Immediately the Incline trade picked up. Police investigation revealed that the ghost had been hired by the Incline Company in order to discourage the economy-loving residents from valking do vn the hill trail. Be that as is may, in 1871 there were 2,200 souls on Mt. Washington and where there are souls, there also, is Holy Mother Church. The parish of St. Mary of the Mount was established originally as a mission of St. Malachy ' s, a thriving parish on the South Side. St. Malachy ' s, one of the last parishes to be separated from the Cathedral, was established to ser ' e the Irish immigrants vho lived along Carson Street between St. John ' s, South Side and St. James ' , West End.

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dred sixteen acres atop Coal Hill for vhich land Kirkpatrick paid five hundred sixty- eight pounds, four shillings and four pence. (Deed Book 27, p. 289 — Register of Deeds Office). Four children were born to the Kirkpatricks — a son, who died at the age of twenty-one, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary Ann and Amelia. Elizabeth married Christopher Cowan, a pioneer in the steel industry; Mary Ann married Dr. Joel Lewis; and Amelia, the Honorable Charles Shaler. Dr. and Mrs. Joel Lewis were blessed vith four children — Abraham K., Maria, Mary Elizabeth and Mary Ann. Maria married Thomas Bigham. The home, built by Thomas Bigham in 1849, was to become a landmark in the history of Pittsburgh. Standing on a knoll in the midst of forty-five acres of wood- land, this home of stone and brick served as one of the stopping places in the Under- ground Railway for the Negroes before the Civil War. Though Chatham Village now occupies the land which originally comprised the Bigham Estate, the old mansion still stands and is now used as a club house. Other farms purchased from the Penns in the eighteenth century were the follow- ing: William Boggs: purchased on June 6, 1793, one hundred fifty-one acres and one hundred fifty-two perches for eighty-six pounds, seven shillings and seven pence — designated in the original plan as farm 6; (Deed Book, Vol. 3, page 203.) William Boggs: purchased on July 7, 1794, one hundred acres for eighty-seven pounds, ten shillings — designated as farm 2; (Deed Book, Vol. 3, Page 331.) George Wallace: purchased on March 27, 1794, farm 5 consisting of two hundred forty-five acres and one hundred fifty-two perches which were sold to Samuel Dilworth on August 22, 1795; who in turn, on February 1, 1796, sold to William and David Boggs one hundred eight acres for two hun- dred forty-three pounds and later seventy-one acres and one hundred twenty-six perches for three himdred pounds, ten shillings; (Deed Book, Vol. 6, page 482.) Robert Snodgrass: pinxhased farm 9 on March 27, 1774, for two hundred twenty- six pounds, eighteen shillings and nine pence. (Vol. 3, page 294.) The lots along the Monongahela River at the foot of Coal Hill were sold in smaller lots as compared to the lots on top of the hill. For example, it is recorded that Ephraim Jones purchased lot 56 on August 13, 1793, which consisted of twenty- five acres and one hundred three perches for which he paid seven teeii pounds, twelve shillings and six pence. (Deed Book 2, page 368.) When Ephraim Jones started his ferry service for people of the South Hills district, this ground was used as the ferry terminus. In 1870 the building of the Monongahela Incline, a unique engineering feat, con- sisting of a rail system built on a 38 degree angle up the hillside, made transportation

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Church Cornerstone Laying — 1896 Former Rectory in Background In the fall of 1869, Father C. V. Neeson was appointed the first resident pastor of St. Malachy ' s. It was Father Neeson who purchased the property for a new church; but it was his successor. Father Michael Murphy, who supervised the building of the chinch. Father Murphy was succeeded by Father M. J. Mitchell. When Father Mit- chell retired on December 20, 1871, Father James Cosgrave, the founder of St. Mary of the Mount Parish, was appointed pastor. As pastor of the flock at St. Malachy ' s, Father Cosgrave worked tirelessly, liquidating the debt, making improvements, and caring for the spiritual needs of his people. Because St. Malachy ' s Parish was hemmed in on the west by St. James ' Parish, on the north by the Monongahela River, and by the steep bluffs of Mt. Washington on the south, any hope of expansion vas ephemeral. Since the new inclines made the Mt. Washington region accessible, many Catholic families from St. Malachy ' s parish estab- lished themselves on the Moinit. Father Cosgrave, realizing the opportunities and advantages for growth and development in this aiea, began to make plans for the spiritual needs of his extended parish. His first concern vas to build a chapel.