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Archiver > PAALLEGH > 1997-05 > 0864001702


From: "David A. Boyd, Jr." <>
Subject: RE: [PAALLEGH-L] 1870's - Children's Deaths - Why?
Date: Sun, 18 May 1997 20:28:22 -0400


Dear all,
Forgive me if I sound insensitive and politically INcorrect. I, too, =
remember playing in the dirt along the curb watching a magnet grow =
whiskers (metal shavings); my father changing shirts at noon because his =
white shirt, as a pharmacist, was too dirty to wear all day; and =
avoiding Lyle Boulevard in McKeesport around 3PM because so many men =
were entering and leaving the Tube Works that traffic could be stopped =
for up to 30 minutes; and riding the 56 street car and getting hung up =
in Hayes in the summer, being afraid I would vomit from the smell. =
BUT>>>>

I remember that my grandmother could ride a bus to town and get fresh =
baked goods daily,that there were four movie theaters on Fifth Avenue, =
and that we could walk to a Friday night football game - safely. Yes, =
the air was dirty and poluted but people had jobs. They worked hard for =
a little money, but the dirt was honest dirt. I remember folks sweeping =
the street in front of their house because they had pride in what they =
had built. Over the past several years I have been "home" many times. I =
have seen the desparate condition of the housing, and the lack of =
industry and I wonder...........is it better now?=20

Let's keep searching the past, and remembering the past. But for the =
sake of accuracy, let's remember there were good things, not just the =
negative. Our children deserve to have the good times chronicled as well =
as the bad.

Boy, it's a good thing tears don't show on a monitor.

Dave Boyd
Waynesburg, PA
McKeesport High School Class of '55


I have seen pictures of Pgh. at noon where the cars have their
headlights on and the pedestrians are wearing what looks like surgical
masks. I also remember driving down Parkway East from town toward the
Squirrel Hill Tunnels and smelling the "rotten egg" smell of the sulfer
gasses being released from the Hazelwood Steel Mills. Orange billowing
plumes expanding up into the sky over the Mon. River from the multiple
stacks. Some memories are gladly changed from the past.

> << one common reason for deaths was lung problems remember =
pittsburgh's air

> until 1950's the air was so dirty you could not see the sun at 12:00 =
noon

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