The Cathedral of Learning 

University of Pittsburgh (main campus)

4200 Fifth Avenue (Oakland neighborhood)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 

The Gothic Revival skyscraper that the 10th Pitt Chancellor John Gabbert Bowman commissioned in 1921 inspired local industries to donate steel, cement, elevators, glass, plumbing and heating elements.  Thousands of adults today still have the certificates they received as school children upon contributing 10 cents to "buy a brick" for the Cathedral.

In addition to its magnificent four-story Commons Room at ground level which has been called one of the "great architectural fantasies of the twentieth century", the Commons Room despite its heavy use is kept quiet by the use of acoustical tiles. This feature was insisted upon by Chancellor Bowman.  The architect, Klauder, however, objected due to the increased costs of this construction method though he considered the Commons Rooms to be his greatest achievement.

.. Bowman responded, as such, regarding his opinion .. 

"You cannot build a great University with fraud in it."

Joseph Gattoni designed the stonework.  The walls are made of Indiana limestone and the floor is green Vermont slate. The 42-story cathedral houses classrooms, administrative offices, libraries, computer and language labs, a studio theater, study lounges, a print shop and a food court.  Also located in the corridors surrounding the Commons Room are plaques featuring calligraphy designed and hand-cut slate by Edward Catich including one featuring a poem by Lawrence Lee titled "The Cathedral" as well as stained glass windows by Charles Jay Connick.

In 2007, on the 70th anniversary of the Cathedral's dedication, Pitt trustees approved a project to clean and restore the iconic building.  Its interior has since been upgraded and its limestone exterior scrubbed of industrial grime. During the 2007, $4.8 million cleaning of the Cathedral of Learning's Indiana limestone, officials intentionally left one block of stone near the Fifth Avenue entrance uncleaned.  This soot-covered block was preserved as a "memory" of Pittsburgh's industrial, smoky past. The block was kept dark and weathered to serve as a constrast to the newly cleaned, light-colored and revitalized facade. It serves as a nod to the decades of industrial, "Steel City' air quality that once coated the city.  The overall cleaning project which ran from March to September 2007, utilized a combination of water and powder glass (finely milled glass particles) to restore the landmark's original appearance. 

The name, E. Maxine Bruhns is forever connected to the cleaning of the limestone project. Thanks to Bruhns one darkened stone remains to this day.  She and Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation officials requested that one weather-worn block of darkened stone near the Fifth Avenue entrance be preserved as a tribute to Pittsburgh's industrial past.  Bruhns chose the particular block both for its character as well as its location. Workers built a clear cover so the area wouldn't be cleaned and the school newspaper reported that a crew member was assigned to protect it. 

"What I like about the rectangle is on the lower part,the wind cut these wonderful patterns into it and then it gets dirtier up above.  It has real character. As groups come to view the rooms on tours we can meet them out there and say this the way it used to look.  Honestly, because you know Pittsburgh was built by industry .. steel mills .. and we just can't all be squeaky clean and pretend it didn't happen."

"Somebody has to honor those people who made the city.  These grimy stones were a perfect tribute." 

E. Maxine Bruhns

The 535-foot-tall Cathedral is the second-tallest educational building in the world and the second-tallest gothic-styled building in the world after the Woolworth Building in Manhattan. In recent years, families of falcons have nested atop the Cathedral. 

The Cathedral of Learning was added to the National Register of Historic Places  November 3, 1975.  

It was built in 1926 therefore 2026 marks 100 years! Programming includes special events and exclusive 100th-year activities.  

 

Train of Tomorrow

Artist's conception of the Moon Glow observation car from a promotional brochure distributed by General Motors describing the Train of Tomorrow, a demonstrator built by GM and Pullman-Standard

In 1947, General Motors ordered four domes ("Moon Glow" lounge, "sky view" diner, "star Dust" coach and Dream Cloud" sleeper) from Pullman for a new publicity train known as the "Train of Tomorrow".  The idea was meant to showcase the latest in rail travel accommodations following WWII.  After touring cross-country the equipment was purchased by Union Pacific.  Today, "Moon Glow" is the only surviving piece though in need of restoration.  Unfortunately, the other cars were scrapped in the 1960s.

The Train of Tomorrow was an American demonstrator train built as a collaboration between General Motors and Pullman-Standard between 1945 and 1947.  It was the first new train to consist entirely of dome cars ("Astra-Domes").  It is said the idea was conceived by vice president of GM and general manager of (EMD) Electro-Motive Division Cyrus R. Osborn. He retired from GM in 1962 after 45 years of service. 

Cyrus R. Osborn 

1897-1968

After GM built a 45-foot scale model of the train for $101,072 ($1,680.280 in 2025 dollars) and displayed it to 350 officials from 55 different Class I railroads in 1945, the Train of Tomorrow was built by Pullman-Standard between October 1946 and May 1947. 

"Moon Glow"

The last remaining car from the General Motors Train of Tomorrow is in deperate need of preservation.  The immediate need is to raise enough interest and funds to move the car across town (Ogden, UT) to a more secure location and stop its relentless deterioration. Only then can efforts turn to restoration. 

The car included 24 seats in the dome and 44 seats in various lounge areas below.  The car also with its sister cars toured North America to promote diesel-powered streamliner trains.  While the other three cars were scrapped in the 1960s, "Moon Glow" was purchased by Union Pacific and was eventually rescued from a scrapyard and remains the sole survivor. The entire train was designed to showcase futuristic, comfortable and fast travel powered by GM diesel engines with speeds up to 100 mph. 

Speeds up to 100 mph in the 1940s is almost unimaginable, by rail.

 

The Clark Bar is the most famous candy bar originating from Pittsburgh's North Side created in 1917 by Irish immigrant David L. Clark.  It originally sold for five cents and became an extremely popular treat with U.S. soldiers during and after both WWI and WWII.

The Clark Bar became the first successful "combination" candy bar with a crispy, peanut butter-filled chewy taffy-like consistency, coated in milk chocolate.  From 1911 until 1983 the candy bar was produced at a manufacturing facility on Martindale Street. 

The slogan for the Clark bar was, "I want a Clark bar". Though you may have wanted a Clark bar, often times you weren't able to get the confection.  When the manufacturing of the Clark bar left the Pittsburgh area, the only reminder of the city's candy-producing past was the Clark bar sign atop its former production facility.  It has changed ownership several times with production being taken over by the Boyer Candy Company in Altoona, PA after a 2018 discontinuation bringing it back to its Pennsylvania roots.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and the story of Boyer Candy is a great example.  During the Great Depression, brothers Bill and Bob Boyer needed a way to make more money to support their family so they decided making candy was the way to do it!  It was a family affair from the start, with Bill making fudge and nut raisin clusters in their mother Emily's kitchen.  Mother and sister (also named Emily) would wrap the finished product and Bob would sell their delicious treats door-to-door in their Altoona, Pennsylvania neighborhood. The candy was an immediate success!

As the demand for their candy grew, the Boyer brothers would often try making innovative varieties of candy to sell.  One of those experiments included covering marshmallow with chocolate.  However, they kept finding that the marshmallow remained too soft.  Emily, their sister, offered a solution:  Why not try using cupcake paper to hold everything in place?  Emily's idea worked perfectly and it was on that day the Mallo Cup became the world's first cup candy!

By 1936, their kitchen had grown too small for their Mallo-Cup-making operation and they moved it to a candy-making facility.

Boyer Candy Company Inc. is an historic candy company located in Altoona, PA famous for its Mallo Cup.  It operates an outlet store next to the factory where customers can buy a wide variety of its products including bags of "seconds" at a discount and the Mallow Cup with the iconic cardboard coins still part of the packaging. The cardboard coins is a nostalgic tradition where coins from the packaging can still be saved and redeemed for candy or merchandise.  

The outlet offers a chance to learn about the company's history through videos though factory tours are no longer available.  

The signature chocolate-covered marshmallow creme cup is also available in dark chocolate.  The outlet store offers samples, often a free Mallow Cup.  

Boyer Candy Company

821 17th Street

Altoona, Pennsylvania

"Momma" Boyer, identified as Emily Boyer, was the mother of Bill and Bob Boyer, the founders of the Boyer Candy Company in Altoona, Pennsylvania.  During the great Depression, she assisted her sons by hand-wrapping the homemade candy produced in her kitchen and notably suggested using cupcake papers to form the company's famous Mallo Cup.  This occurred when the brothers struggled to keep marshmallow centers in their chocolate candy from flattening.  Emily Boyer suggested using paper cupcake cups to hold the shape, creating the firsts cup candy in America.  By 1936, the business outgrew her home kitchen, leading to the establishment of their first factory in Altoona. 

 

 Kaufmann's Clock

The Kaufmann's Clock is an historic, four-faced bronze timepiece located at Smithfield Street and Fifth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh installed in 1913 by the Coldwell Clock Company.  A renowned meeting spot for over a century, it was designated a landmark in 1981, surviving various store ownership changes. Despite the department store shifting from Kaufmann's to Macy's in 2006, the clock remains a permanent fixture on the building. The clock was refurbished by the Pittsburgh Clock Company in 1987 for $30,000.  

This historic clock is a beloved Pittsburgh treasure, symbolizing the city's history and serving as a traditional meeting point for generations.

"Meet Me Under the Clock"

Prior to cell phones, the clock was the quintessential, well-known meeting spot for shoppers, couples and friends in Pittsburgh.  The clock weighs in at 2,500 pounds and has been a famous meeting spot for over a century, known for the phrase "meet me under the clock".  Installed in 1913 to replace an earlier version, it became a cultural icon and a central part of Pittsburgh's identity.  Even after the Kaufmann's department store closed the clock remains a fixture representing the city's heritage and serving as a backdrop for traditions like holiday window displays.  The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation designated the clock a significant landmark in 1981. 

HISTORIC LANDMARK

KAUFMANN'S DEPT. STORE and CLOCK

BUILT 1898  CHARLES BICKEL  ARCHITECT

ADDITION 1913  JANSSEN & ABBOTT  ARCHITECTS

PITTSBURGH HISTORY &

LANDMARKS FOUNDATION

Charles A. Bickel

Circa 1905

Charles A. Bickel (1852-1921) was a prominent architect who practiced in Pittsburgh.  He was born  to a well-to-do family in Columbus, Ohio who sent him to Europe for six years to prepare him for a career in architecture.  On his return in 1875, he settled in Pittsburgh and apprenticed with an architect.  In 1885, he opened his independent practice which at its height averaged $3,000,000 a year in commercial structures.  He served for a time as architect to the city of Pittsburgh. 

 

On Labor Day 1955, two Georgia neighbors founded and opened a restaurant that would change the world.  Joe Rogers, Sr. and Tom Forkner were living in Avondale Estates, GA* when they decided to open a 24-hour, sit-down restaurant for their friends and neighbors focused on people on both sides of the counter. That first restaurant opened the door to create the Waffle House brand that you see today.

The name was inspired by the most popular item on the original menu. 

As this movement began to expand, new restaurants were built in Georgia as well as neighboring states and the "Yellow Sign" soon became a familiar landmark along city streets and interstate highways across the country.  Today, the Waffle House system is in more than 1,900 locations in 25 states. All open 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Waffle House has always been about the people Joe and Tom cared about in 1955.  Waffle House was founded on the principals of providing the friendliest service in town.  

"We aren't in the food busines  We're in the people business."

Joe Rogers, Sr.

In 2004, Waffle House reacquired the original restaurant building located at 2719 East College Avenue in Decatur near Avondale Estates and opened it as a museum.  A visit to the museum feels like stepping back into 1955.  The museum also features Waffle House memorabilia from years past. 

*The City of Avondale Estates was founded by George Francis Willis in 1924.  Willis' plans for the city were inspired by the trip he and his wife, Lottie had taken to Stratford-upon-Avon, England.  He aspired to recreate the majestic Tudor-Revival style architecture found at the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Today, Avondale Estates is named on the National Register of Historic Places being added December 1986.  The listing recognized the city's unique "story book look" architecture and its status as the only documented early 20th century planned town in the southeastern United States. This listing prompted the establishment of local historic preservation and a local historic district was established. 

 

Elizabeth Magie

(1866-1948)

The Landlord's Game board, published in 1906

The history of the board game Monopoly is a story of a teaching tool that became a global symbol of wealth accumulation.  The game originated as The Landlord's Game, created by Elizabeth Magie in the early 1900s to illustrate the economic pitfalls of monopolies and land ownership.  

.. though ..

Decades later, an unemployed salesman named Charles Darrow modified the game, sold it to Parker Brothers as his own invention and became a millionaire, while Magie received only $500 for her patent rights and was largely forgotten for decades. 

Charles Darrow claimed the idea as his own, stating that he invented the game in his basement!

Magie's game was becoming increasingly popular around the Northeastern United States including college students who attended Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania. Three decades after The Landlord's Game was invented in 1904, Parker Brothers published a modified version known as Monopoly. Magie later spoke out against them and reported that she had made $500 for her invention and received none of the credit for Monopoly!

In January 1936, an interview with Magie appeared in a Washington, D.C. newspaper in which she was critical of Parker Brothers.  Magie spoke to reporters about the similarities between Monopoly and The Landlord's Game.  The article published spoke to the fact that Magie spent more money making her game than she received in earnings, especially with the lack of credit she received after Monopoly was created.  After the interviews, Parker Brothers agreed to publish two more of her games, but continued to give Darrow the credit for inventing the game itself. 

In the end, Elizabeth Magie has posthumously received credit for one of the most popular board games in history. 

 

Jim Roselle

(1926-2016)

Roselle would have turned 100 today.  He was a local broadcasting legend.

Roselle started working at WJTN in 1953 and was in his 61st year at the station when he passed.  He spent 41 summers broadcasting daily from Chautauqua Insititution.  He hosted many shows during his time with the station from 9 to noon.  He also shared the microphone with his good friend, Russ Diethrick on "The Times of Your Life" program broadcast on Saturdays.

In 2010, Roselle was inducted into New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.

WJTN news director, Terry Frank spent more than three decades working with Roselle.

"He was very much part of the Jamestown fabric.  He spoke Jamestown.  He talked about Jamestown.  He was an ambassador for Jamestown .. not just around here and New York State, but he went to Russia as part of the Chautauqua exchanges and other programs.  He was just an amazing guy.  Someone you model yourself after.  You try to be as upbeat, as personable and as professional as possible and that was the epitome of Jim Roselle.

 I think Jim also epitomized hard work.  He seldom, if ever, went into an interview unarmed.  He had read the book the person had written.  He read stories about what they had said and what they had done.  If there was a controversy with the person, be it a presidential candidate or someone involved with the administration or someone involved in foreign policy, he knew what the issues were.  He did the due diligence required for a good interview. But he also had a way of disarming the person he was talking to and that really helped him to get people to open up and respond so when he asked a tough questions, they were more willing to answer it."

Terry Frank

One of the many career highlights for Roselle was broadcasting at Chautauqua Institution every summer since 1974 where he interviewed hundreds of national and internationally recognized individuals from his broadcast location at Bestor Plaza.  Roselle always knew the right questions to ask which was a testament to his skills as an interviewer.

In addition to his hall of fame career as a broadcaster, Roselle was also active in the community. He had been a member of the Board of Directors for the Lucille Ball Little Theatre for over 30 years; the Jamestown Boys and Girls Club for more than 25 years and the James Prendergast Library.  He also had been the chairman for many community events such as the annual Easter Egg hunt in Allen Park with his on-air pal, Russ Diethrick and the Easter bunny.   In 2016, the Easter Egg Hunt was dedicated to Roselle. 

Russ Diethrick, Jim Roselle and Mayor Sam Teresi 

Being an avid reader, Jim spent many hours at the Prendergast Libary and would often be heard to ask the question .. "What's in your wallet?"  The appropriate answer he always wanted to hear was ..  "my library card".