Allegheny Square Plaza/Park, located in front of Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, has started the rehabilitation construction proposed more than a decade ago by the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. The $6 million project is expected to be completed by May of next year. Although neither Pittsburgh daily newspaper reported on the beginning of construction, the beginning of construction was reported in the monthly Northside Chronicle:

http://www.thenorthsidechronicle.com/Work_to_begin_on_Allegheny_Public_Square?calendarDate=2011-08-04

Allegheny Public Square began in the nineteenth century as the Victorian-style town square of the independent City of Allegheny. Allegheny City became the North Side of Pittsburgh in 1907.

A more "modern" Ober Park, funded by a North Side brewer, was built in 1939, in conjunction with the construction of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, then across West Ohio Street from the Park.

As part of the massive Allegheny Center urban renewal project in the 1960s, sponsored by ALCOA, Ober Park became a sunken plaza called Allegheny Square Plaza. The Plaza included a large fountain that doubled as an amphitheater during special events. Particularly during the Spring, many school children ate their lunch in Allegheny Square Plaza, while on a field trip to Buhl Planetarium.

You can learn more about the history, including photographs, of Allegheny Square on my web page at:

https://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/allegsq/EM-AllegSq.htm

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < siderostat1989@... >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
< https://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Twitter: < http://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
< http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
< http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
< http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
< http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
< http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
< http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >