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Brookline Park, as we know it
today, is a beautifully sculptured recreational area consisting of four
ballfields, an inground pool and a small wading pool, a year-round
multi-purpose recreation building, a basketball court, children's
playground, and much more. It is difficult for many of us to remember
what this area once was, and how it has changed throughout the years.
Today, we have a first-class recreational park that serves the community
well, but only a short time ago there were wooded hills, dense forest, a
large ravine, and a dirt road lined with fruit trees leading to an old
farmhouse.
How did this unnavigable patch of
woods become the annual gathering place of today? The photo essay below
will help piece together the evolution of Danny McGibbeny Memorial field,
Sam Bryen Memorial fields, the Brookline Memorial Recreation Center, and
the rest of The Brookline Memorial Community Center, now known as
Brookline Memorial Park.
Click on the
underlined text to see a photo or illustration.
The
Evolution Of Brookline Memorial Park (1945-Present)
Prior to 1908, Brookline consisted
mainly of sunny farms, wooded hillsides, and the usual professional
people (doctor, dentist, and shopkeepers) that had settled in what was
then part of rural St. Clair Township. The suburban nature of the
community was due to the many hills separating the South Hills from the
urban, industrial centers that made up Pittsburgh proper. The annexation
of Brookline by the city of Pittsburgh in 1908, and the
construction of the trolley tunnel at the South Hills Junction brought many
changes. Subsequent improvements in the streetcar service made Brookline
a popular place to live. The Liberty Tunnels, built in 1924, really opened
up the South Hills for settlement, and Brookline as we know it took
shape. The added accessibility to the downtown area, and the clearer
air of this "rural" area attracted many families.
The land that is now Brookline
Memorial Park was farmland, dating from the early 1800's to the
mid-1900's. From 1875 to 1945 it was the site of the Anderson Farm. Some of us may remember the old
farmhouse that sat
on the hillside right below Breining Street, or the many apple and pear
trees that lined the dirt drive. Many generations of Anderson's were
raised there, farming the surrounding hillsides. Due to the unsuitable
nature of the terrain, developers stayed away, and after the farming had
ceased the land became an overgrown forest. The extreme northerly
section was purchased by the Pittsburgh and Birmingham Traction Company
in 1910 for use as a trolley loop.
The Brookline Memorial Community
Center, or the seeds of what we know today, came into being back in the
mid-war years. The Brookline Kiwanis Club opened a teen-age canteen for
dancing and other limited activities. This was only a temporary measure,
as the club researched better ideas for providing a suitable
recreational facility for the community. It was decided to construct a
recreation building...but where, and how?
The Community Center Committee was
formed in early 1945, consisting of members of all of the local Civic
and Church organizations, and of residents from around the area. A mass
meeting was held in September 1945, at Brookline School. The idea of
building a first-class recreation center was approved. The Brookline
Memorial Community Center Association was chartered, with John L. Boyle
as president and Louis Beinhauer as vice-president.
The Association immediately went
to work investigating possible locations, and obtaining financing. It
was discovered that the 20-acre Anderson Farm, off Breining Street and
Brookline Boulevard, was being put on the market. A farm of this size
within the confines of a major city was quite a rarity, and with its
location virtually in the geographic center of the Brookline/Overbrook
area, the site was a perfect choice.
The farm was
purchased in May of
1947 for $19,000 dollars, with all arrangements handled by Paul N. Smith,
a local realtor, at no charge. Eighth grade students from around the area
canvassed the community for pledges, and Brookline residents were eager
to help. The necessary funding was procured, and Brookline Park was
born, given the name "Brookline Memorial Community Center
Park." However,
through years of neglect, the "park" was not much more than a hilly
forest.
Much work needed to be done to
make the land suitable for use as a recreational area. The Association's
charter stated that its purpose was to "develop the park for outdoor
recreation, and provide picnic sites and playground facilities, and to
preserve a country-like atmosphere within the city limits." The
Community Center Association went to work fast. With volunteer help and
further financing from residents and businesses around the community,
the park's evolution began.
The first thing to do was to
draw up a plan for how to develop the land. Much thought went into
this developmental plan. An artist's conception of the future "Brookline
Memorial Community Center" envisioned a baseball field, a football field,
a large swimming pool, croquet courts, a ski tower with a toboggan trail,
tennis courts, picnic groves, an outdoor amphitheatre and a recreation
building. It was a grand plan.
The flag
raising and dedication of
the park was held on June 29, 1947 at the old Anderson home, now the
temporary recreation center. The park was dedicated to all of the local
citizens who served in World War II. It was christened in memory of those
who never returned. After the dedication, the hard work began.
When first purchased, the land
sloped and it was necessary to excavate and grade. With a lot of
volunteer help from pioneer's like Sam Bryen , tons of donated landfill, and backbreaking labor, an area
was cleared on the lower plateau large enough for a parking
area, two baseball
fields and a concession stand. The Little League field was built in
time for the 1952 inaugural season , and Major League style dugouts were added
in 1955. The Senior, or Pony League field, with
the help of Morris Grummet and the entire Brookline
community, was ready for the 1962 opener.
The year 1959 was a big year for
the flegling Brookline Little League Association. In that year Brookline
was the site of the Little League Pennsylvania State
Finals. Improvements
were made to the baseball field and the park saw thousands of visitors
from across the state come to watch the games. The hard work of Mr. Bryen
and his hearty helpers was paying off. Brookline Park had hit the
bigtime.
Behind the lower fields, between
the park and Brookline Boulevard, there was a large wooded ravine and
a cratered moonscape. The Senior League
outfield fence ran
along the edge of the ravine, and erosion forced the placement
of telephone pole sections in spots to keep balls, and kids, from
falling through. The upper plateau consisted of a large open field
surrounded by thick woods. The field was cut from the hillside, and
envisioned to include an ice-skating rink, basketball courts, tennis
courts, playground equipment, picnic areas, and be home to the future
recreation building.
The lower Little League field was
heavily used by the late 1950's, and in 1962, after construction of the
Senior League field was completed, work began on the erection of
the original Community Center Recreation
Building,
next to the old Anderson farmhouse, which until then was used as the
temporary recreation center. The new building was built with volunteer
help, supervised by R. H. Eberhart, and financed with local
contributions. When the first phase of construction was completed, the
building was a one floor, 20' by 53' concrete block structure. Due to a
lack of financing, phase two never began. What we remember as the
"blockhouse" was to be the foundation of a much larger
structure, cut into
the hillside and large enough to house receptions and a number of other
large-scale activities.
In the mid-1960's, the community
center was a beehive of activity. While attempts were being made to
obtain the further materials and financing necessary to proceed with the
second phase of the building construction, the partially completed
"recreation center" was extensively used. The basketball courts were
laid out, and they doubled as a natural
ice-skating rink in the winter. Many local civic groups used the
building and surrounding picnic area for summer activities. Carnivals were held yearly, beginning in 1954, attracting young and old alike. The Little League had
400 kids enrolled in its program. In
July 1965 a huge parade preceded the carnival, and the event focused on the new
building. Enthusiasm was high. The hard work and dedication of those who
had labored so hard was paying off, and the fun had only just
begun.
Despite the generosity of the
entire neighborhood, the Community Center Association just couldn't meet
the overwhelming financial burden associated with the proposed structure.
They decided that the best way to expand and modernize the existing park
was to involve the federal and city governments. With their aid, and the
availability of state and federal funding, the dream of a first class
community showpiece, complete with a state-of-the-art recreational
building, could become a reality.
In October
1966, in an
unprecedented move, the Community Center Association sold the 16-acres
(4 had been sold for house lots to raise money) to the city of
Pittsburgh for $1. In return for that one dollar, the city promised to
develop the land into an expanded, more accessible park, one that they
predicted would serve over 11,000 people, including 3500 school age
children living in the Brookline-Overbrook area. A successful
presentation by Moore Park Recreation Director Chuck
Senft detailing the
activities and programs planned for the new facility, was pivotal in
convincing the Parks Department and the Brookline residents to accept
the city offer.
The Port Authority donated the
4-acres of the old 39 trolley
loop, which had been unused
since rail service in Brookline was discontinued in September, 1966.
The city also designated the adjacent 38 wooded acres as part of the
park; These were tax delinquent properties. The park now spanned
60-acres. Plans for improvement included a pool, a new recreation
building, a lighted baseball/softball complex, a regulation baseball
field, a football/soccer field, basketball and tennis facilities, nature
trails, campgrounds, an outdoor ice-skating rink and more. The park was
to be completed in five years, by the spring of 1972. Hopes were high,
but would the city actually follow through with their
promises?
Groundbreaking for the
new Brookline Memorial Recreation Center building was on July 25,
1969. The building
was completed in
the spring of 1971. The 10,500 square foot building housed a 50' by 70'
gymnasium, including a basketball court and folding stage, two 22' by
20' activity rooms, weight room, kitchen, warming hut for skaters,
restrooms and locker facilities, all at a cost of $430,000. The general
contractor was J.J. McGaffin, a local construction firm, and long-time
Little League sponsor. The building was positioned about twenty feet
from the left field fence of the Little League diamond, and made an
excellent target for the long ball. Local homerun
king Eddie Beveridge, in 1972, hit several truly Ruthian
shots over the building. He was only eleven years old at the
time.
Access to the building and park
area was slightly improved. A dirt path led to the upper plateau, and
parking there was expanded. Wooden steps were built to allow people to
get down the steep hill to the Little League fields. Below, near the
building, parking was expanded and the walkway to the fields was paved.
Still, it was difficult to get to the park, with car access limited to
the upper dirt path, or via Oakridge Street, with its dangerous
intersection at Breining Street. For the kids, there were always the
improvised paths either through the woods to Carmalt, up the sandy hill
to Breining Street, or down into the ravine, over "the
pipe", and up the
hill to Brookline Boulevard.
Lights
were added to the Little League field, and it was quite a thrill for the
Little Leaguers to play night games under the lights. Playground equipment
was erected behind the new building, and some picnic tables
were placed in spots, but aside from that nothing much happened for the
next five years. An unfortunate change was the loss of the century old
Anderson house, which burned to the ground in the summer of 1971. In
addition to clearing away those remains, the basketball
courts on the upper
plateau were partitioned, and two tennis courts added. A portable
four-foot pool was
also placed nearby for a couple years. The old community center building
was in a sad state of disrepair and unusable. The residents waited for
the city to act, but nothing was done to move forward with the promises
made.
Local organizations led by the
Brookline Little League Association and the Brookline
Area Community Council,
came together and applied pressure to the city agencies
responsible for developing the land. Through the perseverance of people
like Little League president Angelo Masullo and Community Council
president Elva McGibbeny , the city finally acted. In the spring of
1975, three years after the park was to be completed, the next phase of
development began in earnest. The valley bordering Brookline Boulevard
was to be filled, extending in a half moon all the way to the old dump
behind the upper plateau. This filled land would become a new roadway,
parking area, baseball field, football field, and plenty of open grassy
areas for picnicking.
Half a
million cubic yards of landfill were shipped in. This fill came
mostly from the new Port Authority busways, being built in the south
and east of the city. The trucks came, one by one for days and months on
end. City cleaning crews hosed the streets daily to keep down the dirt. By
the wintertime, the valley had been leveled approximately to its present
position. Plans to fill further were postponed, and eventually discontinued
permanently due to the gas lines that run down the hill. Diverting and
containing these obstacles proved too costly for city developers, and the
present boundaries of the park were set. The new baseball only field would
now be a multi-purpose baseball/football/soccer field.
Due to landslide problems, the
hillsides were sloped. On the old baseball fields, the outfield fences
were removed. With no fields to play on, the 1976 baseball season was
threatened. Angry parents, with help from the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, applied
pressure on the parks department to do something to save the season.
Temporary fences and lights were erected. The fences, however, were in
so far on the Senior field that the shortstop could play his position
and left field simultaneously. The 1976 season will be remembered as the
year of the "left-field double". The city promised to have a new Senior
League field completed by the spring of 1977. As spring approached, the
city again stalled.
Relentlessly pressured once again
by community organizations, the leveling and
developing of the
ballfield area resumed. In July 1977, the first
game was played on
the new Senior League field. The girl's softball league moved onto the
vacated field. The remaining landfill area was converted into a roadway
and parking, with two large grassy fields and an expanded children's
playground. Some landscaping was done, and trees planted.
On October 8, 1977, the new ballfield was christened Danny McGibbeny Memorial Field, in memory of a young Brookline man who
dedicated most of his 26 short years to community service. Ironically it
might seem, Danny's Stebbrook Team played in that first baseball game back
in July. On this rainy October day, the park was also designated Brookline
Memorial Park.
Things remained this way until
the fall of 1980. With renewed pressure from the Little League and
Community Council, the city began work on the third
and final phase of
park development. This required extensive excavating and would transform Brookline Park into
the showpiece that it is today. Gone would be the old Little League and
Senior League baseball fields, the concession stand, "the blockhouse",
and most of what we remembered from our youth. In place of this would be
a new swimming pool, tennis courts, an expanded roadway with more parking,
and a new, lighted multi-field baseball complex.
Work began in the fall of 1980 and
was completed by June 1981. The Little League called its new baseball
complex Sam Bryen Memorial Fields, in memory of the pioneer who helped
put the League on the Williamsport maps. In mid-June, the Brookline Area
Community Council sponsored the Junefest , a community carnival to celebrate the grand opening of the
new Brookline Memorial Park. The late Mayor Richard S. Caligiuri cut the
ribbon, the pool was officially opened, and the party was
on.
Brookline now had another
recreational park that it could truly be proud of. Facilities were on
hand for year-round use, and things never looked better.
For seventeen
years, from 1982-1998, the Brookline Youth Soccer
Association made
their home on the lower fields. The Brookline Little League
Association, 50 years
young in 2000, has flourished, expanding to eight leagues and
serving over 600 children, and the Brookline Knights Football teams have a permanent home field. The
Recreation Center, under the supervision of long-time director Chuck
Senft offers a variety of
activities, including a summer basketball league, a
summer soccer camp, a championship boxing team, a summer track club, and ceramics
classes, to mention just a few. Special annual events, like
the Brookline Breeze , the Talent
Show and the Chamber
of Commerce Easter Egg Hunt add
to the excitement. There are so many opportunities now for our children to
engage in some sort of recreational program...far more than when I was
young.
Since 1982, the park has undergone
additional improvements. The 1990's saw the conversion of the
larger grassy area into a small multi-purpose field. The Little League
Association, with local donations and volunteer labor led by league
officer Tony Colangelo, in 1995 constructed a new concession
stand and restroom
facility inside the baseball complex. The new stand was dedicated to three local firemen who had perished earlier that
year.
In 1997, Mayor Tom Murphy dedicated a new modern
playground facility that
replaced the aged equipment, and the outdoor basketball court was
resurfaced. In 1999 a pavilion was built next to the playground to act as
a picnic spot or a concession stand during sporting events. Sidewalks and
light standards were either repaired or replaced.
The turning of the century brought
more subtle changes. The facades on both the baseball
Wall of Fame Archway and
the pool area were remodeled with new brick facing and trim. The
tennis courts, long broken and cracked, were replaced by a small T-Ball
field for the instructional programs, and tons of new fill were poured
behind McGibbeny Field, enlarging that area for future construction.
In May of 2002, Citiparks Director
Duane Ashley and the Center Staff had the pleasure of re-dedicating the Brookline Recreation Center after
a six month, $400,000 remodelling effort. The "New" Recreation Center boasted
a new hardwood basketball floor, complete with new boxing fixtures and a new
scoreboard. The inside of the building was improved, with a new floor, gameroom
and kitchen. Brookline was now home to a first class recreation facility,
something for everyone to enjoy.
The final improvements to date were the
construction of a new concession and storage building and a new lighted
scoreboard, near McGibbeny
Field, for use by the Brookline Knights organization, completed in 2003. Also,
construction on a new two-level building and pavilion, located between the
upper Sam Bryen fields, were completed for the opening of the 2008 season.
The building is used as a storage shed and the upper level provides an
announcer's booth for the Little League Association.
Last but not least, in the spring
of 2008, work began on a modification
of McGibbeny Field. When work is
completed in the fall of 2008, the field will sport a new infield, resurfaced outfield,
new fence from left to center and no fence from center to right. McGibbeny
Field will be enlarged to include the new landfill area. The football field
will go from centerfield towards right and out into the newly landscaped area.
The new field dimensions will prevent the multi-seasonal wear and tear, and give
both the Brookline Little League and Brookline Knights programs more suitable
playing surfaces.
Brookline
Memorial Park, as we
know it today, serves thousands of youths and adults alike. I have a
beautiful view of this park from my back window. I can't even imagine
anymore what this area used to look like. The accompanying pictures
helped bring back a memory or two, but there were so many
more.
Who would have thought that for $1
back in 1966 we would be presented with something so beautiful today?
One look at the crowded fields, every weekend from mid-March through
late-November, says it all. It took some aggressive prodding but the
city of Pittsburgh came through. Millions of dollars were spent to
complete the transformation of The Community Center into Brookline
Memorial Park. This could not have been done without the dedication,
perseverance, and leadership of the residents, organizations, and city
authorities that came together throughout the years to turn a wooded
overgrown farm into a first class park, one the Brookline community and
the city of Pittsburgh can be proud of.
Compiled by Clint Burton from June 1998 through April 2008.
Articles reprinted from "The Brookline Journal" and "The Pittsburgh Post
Gazette". |
