Important Dates in Lawrenceville History

This page lists some of the more important dates as they apply to our community.

On December 29, 1753, George Washington crosses the Allegheny River to what some historians believe is present day Lawrenceville.

In 1762, George Croghan settles in what would later become Lawrenceville's Tenth Ward. Croghan is believed to have been the first white man to settle in what is now Lawrenceville.

During Pontiac's Uprising of 1763 Indians burn Croghan's homestead. Croghan rebuilds.

October 8, 1770, George Washington visits George Croghan at Croghan's home in what is now Lawrenceville's Tenth Ward.

October 4, 1777, George Croghan leaves the area, never to return.

September 5, 1779, William Barclay Foster, the future founder of Lawrenceville is born.

April 5, 1814, William Barclay Foster purchased 121 acres from Alexander Hill with the intent of laying out a town, which he later named Lawrenceville.

April 9, 1814, the U. S. government purchased 30 acres from William Barclay Foster for the purpose of erecting an arsenal. This site was later known as the Allegheny Arsenal.

April 18, 1814, William B. Foster is appointed Quartermaster and Commissary of the U. S. Army.

September 5, 1817, President James Monroe visits the Allegheny Arsenal.

May 3, 1819, the steamboat Western Engineer, nicknamed “The Monster On The Allegheny”, left Lawrenceville for its expedition of the rivers out West.

May 30, 1824, the Marquis de Lafayette visits the Allegheny Arsenal.

May 6, 1826 the Bank of America forecloses on William Foster's estate in Lawrenceville.

On July 4, 1826, America’s 50th Birthday, Stephen Collins Foster is born in the house that became known as "the White Cottage".

September 6, 1827, Malcolm Leech purchases the White Cottage. The Foster family leave the house by May 1828. By 1828 Lawrenceville has a burgeoning population of 200. The upper grounds of the Allegheny Arsenal are used largely as pasture and a fruit orchard. The government is selling milk to the Arsenal workers at 2 cents per quart.

St. John’s Episcopal Church was organized at the Allegheny Arsenal with the first services held there on February 14, 1833 by 34 charter members, including Dr. Hopkins and Rev. Dr. Upfold.

February 18, 1834 Lawrenceville is incorporated as a borough.

March 11, 1834 Lawrenceville holds its first meeting as a borough and John Sarber is elected the town’s first Burgess. Joseph Wainwright is elected first Treasurer.

December 28, 1836, Civil War General Alfred L. Pearson is born.

John Quincy Adams visited the Allegheny Arsenal on November 18, 1843.

April 24, 1844, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania grants Allegheny Cemetery a charter, making it a corporation.

The remains of naval hero, Joshua Barney were removed on May 12, 1848, from the Presbyterian Burial Ground to Allegheny Cemetery.

August 20, 1849, St. Mary’s Cemetery is organized.

December 18, 1850, the ferry from King's Landing in Lawrenceville to Pine Creek and Sharpsburg collides with the packet steamer "Thomas Scott". Fortunately, nobody is seriously injured.

November 14, 1853, Richard Ewart sold a tract of land to James and Brigid McCabe for the purpose of erecting Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church. The McCabes were trustees for the parish.

St. Mary’s R. C. Church on 46th Street is dedicated on January 23, 1854.

William Barclay Foster, the town's founder, dies on July 27, 1855.

March 28, 1859, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church is chartered with 32 members.

On December 23, 1860, Major John Symington received orders to ship cannons from the Allegheny Arsenal to the docks in Pittsburgh where they were to be sent down river to the South. This is the start of the “Silver Wave Incident.”

April 23, 1861, the Lawrenceville Union Guards elect officers. This militia group went to Camp Wilkins - the first Civil War training camp in Western Pennsylvania, but did not remain in camp very long. They left because of a disagreement with the camp commander over the selection of officers and organization of units.

On October 3, 1861, the DAILY PITTSBURGH GAZETTE criticized Colonel John Symington for the dismissal of 200 boys after matches were found near gunpowder in one of the laboratories at the Allegheny Arsenal.

June 22, 1862, the cornerstone of St. Augustine R. C. Church is laid and blessed.

September 17, 1862 an explosion rocks the Allegheny Arsenal killing 78 people, marking it as the worst civilian disaster of the American Civil War.

February 23, 1863, Major Robert H. K. Whiteley wrote a letter to his superior that the Allegheny Arsenal would temporarily suspend the manufacture of small arms for the want of storage space.

January 13, 1864, Stephen Foster dies.

April 25, 1865, the Keystone Bridge Company is founded.

March 30, 1868, nine men establish Zion Lutheran Church.

June 6, 1868, Lawrenceville is annexed by the city of Pittsburgh.

January 1, 1869, Lewis and Company is incorporated. This company later becomes known as McConway and Torley.

March 22, 1869, the Ewalt Bridge Company was formed.

September 14, 1869 President Grant visits the grave of his old friend Alexander Hays, where Grant “wept like a child.”

On June 28, 1870, two oil tanks are struck by lightning causing one of the worst fires in Lawrenceville history.

May, 1872, Lucy Furnace starts operating. It is Andrew Carnegie's first blast furnace.

July 4, 1876, Lawrenceville artist Clarence Johns exhibits his work, “Toubal Cain” at the Philadelphia Centennial Art Gallery in honor of the nation’s 100th birthday.

July 21, 1877 the Great Railroad Strike (also called the Railroad War) swept through Lawrenceville. Thousands of angry citizens shot it out with the State Militia. The whole event resulted in scores dead and wounded. This is reputed to have been the worst labor related incident in American history.

June 8, 1879, Bishop Tuigg dedicates the first St. John, the Baptist, Roman Catholic Church.

December 4, 1881, the First Primitive Methodist Church is organized and incorporated.

December 31, 1883, the Protestant Home for the Incurables was incoporated.

June 1885, the Protestant Home for Incurables begins to admit patients.

November 8, 1885, the new Engine Company #9 is place in service. It is located at the corner of McCandless Avenue and Butler Street.

April 12, 1886, the issue of establishing the McCandless Avenue Presbyterian Church as a mission of the the Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church is addressed.

October, 1886, Westinghouse Electric Company rents two houses in Lawrenceville and lights them using alternating current electricity from a generator that was located in Downtown Pittsburgh. This "Lawrenceville Test," as it was called, was the first long distance, safe, and cost efficient test of its kind in the world and paved the way for alternating current as the preferred method of delivery electricity, the method that is in use today.

John Shoenberger's will, dated March 10, 1887, makes provisions for the establishing of St. Margaret Hopital, which eventually was built on 46th Street.

On March 18, 1888, Mount Zion English Evangelical Lutheran Church is organized.

October 3, 1888, a fire at Machinery Hall and other buildings housing various exhibitions destroys Stephen Foster's piano.

October 15, 1890, the first school for blind children in Pittsburgh was opened at 333 - 42nd Street in the old Irwin mansion.

June 15, 1895, Trinity Baptist Church is organized.

On August 15, 1897, the first mass is celebrated at St. Mary of the Assumption Church on 57th Street.

On May 10, 1898, Lawrenceville saw much fanfare with opening ceremonies at both the Lawrenceville Branch of Carnegie Library and St. Margaret Hospital. Due to an inadequate endowment, the hospital trustees postponed opening the facility to patients until 1910.

Actor Regis Toomey is born in Lawrenceville on August 13, 1898.

October 23, 1899, Bishop Phelan dedicates the cornerstone of the "new" St. Augustine Church at the corner of 37th and Bandera Streets.

October, 1902, the Lawrenceville Branch of the Y.W.C.A. is founded.

On October 10, 1902, Holy Family Parish is established by Bishop Phelan with Father Anthony Smelsz as the first pastor.

January 6, 1903, while sitting near the fire Jane Wiley, the widow of Stephen Foster, awoke to find her clothes ablaze. She died as a result of third degree burns. Jane had married Matthew D. Wiley a few years following Stephen's death.

General Alfred Pearson also died on January 6, 1903. Pearson was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Civil War. He participated on the side of the militia during the Railroad War of 1877. Pearson lived on 39th Street in Lawrenceville.

Mary Schenley, one of Lawrenceville's most famous daughters, dies in London on November 4, 1903.

On July 4, 1907 Arsenal Park is officially dedicated.

Father Hyacinth, who was responsible for bringing the Capuchin Order of Catholic priests to Lawrenceville dies on August 31, 1907.

November 3, 1907, the cornerstone of the new St. Kieran Roman Catholic Church is laid and blessed.

October 1908, the newly completed St. Kieran Church is consecrated by Bishop Canevin.

On December 16, 1908, the cornerstone of the Marine Hospital at Penn Avenue and 40th Street is laid.

May 29, 1909, President Taft visited Arsenal Park.

October 22, 1910, the Marine Hospital at 40th Street and Penn Avenue opened.

May 8, 1913, Fritzie Zivic is born.

January 16, 1918, fire destroys the Primitive Methodist Church on Holmes Street.

November 2, 1919, the dedication services are held for the new Primitive Methodist Church building.

May 30, 1921, the Doughboy Statue at the junction of Penn Avenue and Butler Streets is unveiled. Ten thousand people attend the ceremony, making it the largest event in Lawrenceville’s history.

May 30, 1922, the statue Victory is unveiled in Lawrence, now called Leslie, Park.

June 17, 1923, fire strikes the Atlantic Oil Refinery at 57th and Butler Streets. The fire consumes 100,000 barrels of oil and does over $1,000,000 damage. Eighty people are injured. This includes 50 school children.

On January 21, 1924, another fire hits the Atlantic Oil Refinery. This one claims the lives of seven firefighters.

May 1, 1928, the Boys Club of Pittsburgh took residence in its new location on Butler Street.

April 30, 1930, the last survivor of the Allegheny Arsenal explosion dies.

March 31, 1933, Charles Kline, the Pittsburgh Mayor from Lawrenceville resigned after serving seven years in office.

April 6-7, 1933, mobs of people gather outside Pittsburgh Brewing Company to celebrate the end of Prohibition at 12:01 AM on April 7th.

July 22, 1933, Charles Kline, the Mayor from Lawrenceville died at St. Francis Hospital.

April 5, 1934, Lawrenceville actor, Frank Gorshin is born.

May 17, 1934, Henry Ford, the automobile magnate, visits Lawrenceville for the first time. There is a subsequent visit on May 23.

December 12, 1934, Father Mathew Kebe is named the fifth pastor of Saint Mary Assumption Roman Catholic Church on 57th Street.

March 17, 1936, the great St. Patrick’s Day flood inundates parts of the neighborhood causing many to flee their homes.

February 3, 1937, Lucy Furnace is razed.

October 8, 1939, ground is broken for the new Holy Family R. C. Church on 44th Street.

October 4, 1940, "Fritzie" Zivic, the Croat Comet, wins the the World Welterweight Championship by defeating Henry "Hammering Hank" Armstrong.

November 11, 1940, an accidental poisoning at the Lawrenceville Salvation Army kills twelve men and hospitalizes 45 more.

April 19, 1942, Corporal Frank Basa is welcomed home with a parade through Lawrenceville. Corporal Basa was wounded in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

January, 1950, Matt Cvetic, a man from Lawrenceville, testifies that he has been posing as a communist, but in reality was working for the FBI. His testimony is severely damaging to the communist efforts to take control of the United States.

The movie I Was a Communist For the FBI premieres in Pittsburgh on April 19, 1951. It is a Hollywood version of Matt Cvetic's life as an FBI informer inside the communist party. Frank Lovejoy plays Matt Cvetic.

The radio series I Was a Communist For the FBI premiers on April 16, 1952. It last 78 episodes and runs until October 14, 1953. Dana Andrews portrays Matt Cvetic.

February 24, 1954, Arsenal School gets international attention as 137 students receive Dr. Salk's polio vaccine. Arsenal was the first school in the city to participate in a wide scale program to wipe out polio via the new vaccine.

October 17, 1954, the Polish National Alliance Bldg. at 208 Fisk Street is dedicated.

May 14, 1955, a new structure is dedicated as the home of St. Mary Assumption Church on 57th Street.

November 3, 1957, members of the Butler Street Methodist Church celebrate the 125th anniversary of the founding of their congregation.

Matt Cvetic dies on July 26, 1962.

May 1, 1979, a strike closes Pittsburgh Brewing Company.

May 17, 1981, the strike at Pittsburgh Brewing is settled.

May 28, 1981, a fire under the 62nd Street Bridge closes the bridge to all traffic.

February 7, 1986, Pittsburgh Brewing Company merges with Swan Brewing Company of Australia.

April 11, 1987, thousands of people are told to evacuate their homes, businesses are closed and buses are rerouted because two trains derailed under the Bloomfield Bridge.

October 12, 1991, actor Regis Toomey dies. His ashes are subsequently scattered at sea.

July, 1992, the old St. Mary Assumption School on 57th Street falls to the wrecking ball. The school is immortalized in an untitled poem written by Patricia Scott on September 30, 1993.

October 30, 1993, Our Lady of the Angels Roman Catholic Parish is founded with the merging of St. Mary's (on 46th Street), Holy Family, St. Augustine, and St. John, the Baptist parishes. St. John's is permantly closed as a result of the merger.

Also on October 30, 1993, St. Matthew Parish is founded with the merging of St. Mary Assumption and St. Kieran Parishes.

June 29, 1996, NASA and Carnegie Mellon University come together to form the National Robotics Engineering Consortium in the old Pittsburgh Piping Plant, located along the Allegheny River between 40th and 43rd Streets.

December 19, 2001, the Olympic Torch passes through Lawrenceville.

On May 31, 2002, a violent storm, called a “macroburst”, swept through Lawrenceville knocking down trees, power lines and tearing off roofs and chimneys. This storm resulted in streets being closed to traffic and caused many businesses and homes to be without electric power for a day or more.

July 4, 2002, the Arsenal Board of Trade celebrated its 100th anniversary. The Board of Trade is believed to be the oldest all volunteer community group in Lawrenceville.

August 19, 2002, Children's Hospital announces that it will relocate from the Oakland section of Pittsburgh to the site of St. Francis Hospital.

September 7, 2002, St. Francis Hospital closes after 137 years of dedicated service to the greater Pittsburgh region.

May 18, 2005, actor, impersonator, Frank Gorshin dies. His last performance is aired on the television series CSI the following evening.

July 1, 2006, the Lawrenceville Historical Society, the Allegheny Cemetery Historical Association, and DUQ Radio sponsor the first Doo Dah Days festival, a tribute to the life, music and times of Stephen Collins Foster, America's greatest composer. The celebration took place in Allegheny Cemetery where Foster is buried.

July 7, 2007, Pittsburgh Brewing Company changes its name to Iron City Brewing Company.

May 2, 2009, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, closes its Oakland campus and moves to the new Lawrenceville facility.

May 24, 2009, Iron City Brewing halts production in the Lawrenceville plant, and moves operations to the old Rolling Rock facility in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.