The House Where We Began Loaded on Barge

1904

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The House Where We Began Loaded on Barge
  • Title
  • The House Where We Began Loaded on Barge
  • Identifier
  • MSP57.B006.I06
  • Source Identifier
  • MSP57.B006.I06
  • Description
  • “The House Where We Began” being prepared to be floated five miles down the Allegheny River. The structure was moved from its original site in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, to the H.J. Heinz Company main plant in Allegheny City, currently Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood. Kress-Hanlon Company jacked up the house on blocking timbers, trussed it with cables and rolled it 800 feet from Main Street in Sharpsburg to the right bank of the Allegheny River on March 1. The ground was so soft that they could only proceed about fifty feet per day. Kress and Hanlon slid the house onto the largest coal barge they could find so that it could begin its voyage down the Allegheny River. The entire process was hidden from public view and was not discussed by Kress and Hanlon. The barge began to settle under the 169-ton weight of the house and became embedded in the muddy bottom of the river. Days passed before the rains caused the river level to rise and eventually freeing the barge. The barge and house started down the river guided by a large river towboat. The bridge in the left background was the first Highland Park Bridge, which was built in 1902. The bridge was replaced by the current Highland Park Bridge in 1938.
  • Genre
  • photographs
  • Subject
  • Heinz House (Sharpsburg, Pa.)
    Barges--Pennsylvania--Sharpsburg.
    House moving--Pennsylvania--Sharpsburg.
    Kress-Hanlon Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    Allegheny River (Pa. and N.Y.)
    Highland Park Bridge (Sharpsburg, Pa.)
  • Source
  • H.J. Heinz Company, Photographs, 1864-1991, MSP 57, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
  • Contributor
  • Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center
  • Collection
  • H.J. Heinz Company Photographs
  • Rights Information
  • In Copyright. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).. Rights Holder: Senator John Heinz History Center
    http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
  • Rights Holder
  • Senator John Heinz History Center