Reflecting upon the Mellon monies and a life of privilege, Larry Mellon once stated ", Western Pennsylvania music lovers have never gotten over the closing of the. Richard was born in 1899. The mansion was built by Italian immigrants from New Kensington, PA, under the direction of Monsignor Nicola Fusco. Some of Eagle Rock was saved, however. There is an area just for children. In 2005, Scaife was number 238 on the Forbes 400, with a personal fortune of $1.2 billion. The home's owner made his money through investment in such prosperous industries as oil, coal, and steel. Mellon Park, established in 1943, was once part of the estate of Richard B. Mellon, owner of the largest mansion in the city. The case is often cited in discussions of custody conflicts that result in parental child-napping, and eclipses his many good works, including the, Matthew T. Mellon, Sr., grandson of the eldest of the Mellon sons, obtained a PhD in history and was an American Studies professor at University of Freiburg from 1928-1939. The park was reopened on June 12, 2010. Mellon's personal sense of style was exemplified by a hat-rack made of mirrors and buffalo horns and half a taxidermied buffalo head (yes, half), both of which he kept on display as She traveled little. The B.B. Mrs. Negley would in fact live out her final days with Thomas and Sarah Jane, bequeathing the bulk of her considerable real estate holdings to Sarah Jane and other descendants (thereby providing the foundation for lucrative Mellon real estate development in the East End). The Mellons welcomed many famous guests into their home, including Billy Sunday, a former National League baseball player turned evangelist. Did she sympathize with the Judge's quest to connect with their lost children? The marble came from the long-gone Richard B. Mellon mansion in Squirrel Hill. The grand staircase is the altar. He and his brother Andrew had a little game of tag going for about seven decades. Lavish Splendor Marks Brilliant Mellon Nuptials, Pittsburgh Remembers Andrew Carnegie, The Great Showman, Rollin' on the River: Pittsburgh Shanty Boat Life, Forgotten History: Father James Renshaw Cox, Quiet, pleasant and self-possessed: Sarah Jane Negley Mellon. Genealogy for Thomas Alexander Mellon, Sr. (1813 - 1908) family tree on Geni, with over 245 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Julia Rocchi explains that old buildings help communities retain a sense of permanancy and heritage. Buildings help us remember the human side of the past. Did she grow to like, or love, her husband? The Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh retains the papers of Sarah Jane and Thomas' second son, James R. Mellon, a collection open to researchers. James Ross Mellon was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 14, 1846, son of Judge Thomas Mellon who is better known for being the founder of Mellon Bank and patriarch of the wealthy and influential Mellon family. Reducing Chronic School Absenteeism. The land surrounding the mansion was donated to the city of Pittsburgh and now serves as Mellon Park. He served as a program officer at The Forbes Funds and McCune. Did she want to say "told you so" when all was said and done? One story claims that they were originally buried downtown Pittsburgh at Smithfield and Sixth Streets, at what became the German Evangelical Protestant Church church (just around the corner from today's Mellon Park). [2] Later, he was instrumental in forming Mellbank Corporation, a bank holding company, which helped the affiliated banks weather the Great Depression.[3]. Powered by. Stunned, I started researching the house, asking myself, "You'd remember if you saw that, right? Mellon estate was located on Pittsburghs Fifth Avenue. That "immense copper beech McMullen, 24 years his junior, rocked the gossip columns in 1912. The church is located along the Allegheny River and is approximately 25 mi (40 km) north-east of the city of Pittsburgh within the Diocese of Greensburg. When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his . Nora McMullen Mellon by James Jebusa Shannon, 1910, Heinz History Center Detre Library and Archives, largest single gift of land ever made to the nation in 1990, The social mirror: a character sketch of the women of Pittsburg and vicinity during the first century of the county's existence. It wasn't. As a lifelong Pittsburgher there are many elements of the Mellon saga that I never knew, including Sara Jane's story. This isn't an unusual circumstance A Fair in the Park Mellon Park Tennis Center History The park was established in 1943, on the grounds of the former estate of Richard B. Mellon. All this, while my mother smoked and rested for what seemed like an eternity. The son of Richard B. Mellon, nephew of Andrew W. Mellon, and grandson of Thomas Mellon, he and his sister Sarah Mellon Scaife and cousins Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon-Bruce, were heirs to the Mellon fortune, which included major holdings in Mellon Bank, Gulf Oil, and Alcoa. Whenever I encountered something fancy in my hometown, be it a staggeringly grand bank, college, building, or parks, it more often than not bore the Mellon name. Other Mellons have became punchline-famous because of their associations with the moral failings and political machinations of characters on the national stage. A bare mattress on the floor also suggests that someone may be squatting in the building. And thus history becomes attainable, not a scholarly discipline, but a simle human story. came to visit, but it was not her home. Stunned, I started researching the house, asking myself, "You'd remember if you saw that, right? Oblong folio. She and her older brother, Richard King Mellon, grew up at their parents' 60-room Fifth Avenue mansion (apparently at the time the largest house in Pittsburgh) in what became the city's wonderful Mellon Park after the house was . Its amazing how much you can learn from a house. It's in plain sight but bland and usually overlooked.. Rather like Andrew Mellon, actually. The day after my tour, I was reading a book about art collecting in Pittsburgh during the Gilded Age when I stumbled upon something that, as our columnist Rick Sebak would say, isn't there anymore. facebook; twitter; googleplus; You can't mine coal without machine guns. "They wanted almost the entire mansion. He recalled that ".since marriage, the last important event of my life was consummated, and nothing left to distract my attention from business, I could feel that I was fairly settled." It became the target of steelworker ire culminating in disruptive demonstrations, boycotts and mass withdrawals of funds. It was great reading your blogs. to more photos). He also served as a trustee for the Athalia Daly Home for Working Girls. They said: 'The introduction of the railroads into North Florida in the 1880s led to an explosion in the winter tourist trade. It was still in good enough repair then to conjure my mother's memories of the park as a chic working-girl gathering place from earlier decades. The Romanesque-style church was completed in 1944, using many items from the Richard B. Mellon mansion, which was in what is now Mellon Park in Shadyside and was torn down in 1941. But that's probably as she would have liked it. 29 vintage silver prints (9 x 13 inches) mounted to album leaves, printed title-page. So it's not a stretch to say that we have the Mellon family money to thank for LSD. On what was described as a stormy and "bleak" November evening in Pittsburgh, Sarah Cordelia Mellon, 24, married Alan Magee Scaife, 27, at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. We are very proud to have integrated various historical pieces within the store that really resonate with the city of Pittsburgh. When the downtown burial ground, then called Smithfield Street Cemetery, was closed, remains were removed to Troy Hill and not a Highland Park burial ground. Multimillionaire Richard B. Mellon and his brother Andrew had a game of Tag going. James Mellon often told his friends that his wife hated the cold weather. Andrew Mellon's cuckolding, and his subsequent very public divorce from Nora Edgeworth Ladies' Boarding School, Braddocksfield near Pittsburgh, How Sarah Mellon Scaife and Family Helped Transform the Museum of Art, The social mirror: a character sketch of the women of Pittsburg and vicinity during the first century of the county's existence. I vividly recall being 5 years old and placing my chin on a walnut handrail after clambering up a marble step to peer into display cases at the Carnegie Museum. Silly me, it was more than just Mellon parks and dollhouses. Richard B. Mellon Quotes. Too bad they couldnt take it all, mourned Father Fusco, whose artistic soul revolted at the desecration of priceless stone by a careless wrecking crew. She was lovely, and her family adored her, and she had a nice big tree and a fancy house. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. Incredible photos show the abandoned remains of a 6,000-square-foot river retreat that once belonged to a hugely successful US banking magnate. View Details. James and wife Rachael first came to Florida in the early 1880s, to get away from the frigid winters in Pennsylvania. Cordelia characterized her mother as, Three of the four adopted children of Richard King Mellon (son of Richard B.) She flatly ignored attempts at flattery and flirtation, leaving poor frustrated Thomas lamenting that he was made to feel "that to talk love would be out of place and might subject me to to ridicule.". This was a relationship which appears to have been based on mutually calculated, emotionally-detached appraisals. 'Eager to establish himself before getting married, James Mellon returned home to lease the Osceola Coal Works from his father,' added Abandoned Southeast. marital woes brought him a lifetime of embarrassment. [7] Along with the tennis courts Mellon Park includes a playground, basketball courts, and baseball fields. [volume] (Nome, Alaska) 1938-??? The name seeped into my consciousness at an astonishingly early age. Richard B. Mellon Partner: Triple R Farms Cotton Farm: 6227 Old Highway 80, Bolton, MS 39041 PO Box 40, Bolton, MS 39041 Highway 80, Bolton, MS 39041 (601) 866-7168: Richard Mellon Director: Canterbury Village Condominium Association, Inc Membership Organization: 5495 Bryson Dr, Naples, FL 34109 Only the stone gateposts remain from the Mellon home, Let's assume that these items were rendered less conspicuous by decorators who Growing up surrounded by the Mellon name in Pittsburgh These are priceless artifacts we will never get back, and now we must rely on people like you to educate us on what used to be. If you're on the look-out, you might spy his name on this bench that surrounds a fountain on a traffic island at 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, between the west wing of the National Gallery and the former Newseum. In suburban Philadelphia, art and industry are joined in a residence commissioned in 1901. He and his brother, Andrew W. Mellon, another son of Judge Thomas Mellon, were frequent business partners. Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders, http://www.mellon.com/aboutmellon/history.html, "R. B. Mellon Dies; Noted Industrial Leader of Nation", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_B._Mellon&oldid=1119087475, This page was last edited on 30 October 2022, at 17:07. What Pittsburghers do remember about the Mellons are the salacious details. In The Judge, another quote from grandson William described how the Mellon marriage evolvedor rather, how it bobbed placidly in place on the surface for decades: Some personal material related to Sarah Jane does exist for public access. These mansions are beautiful and marvelous and it was a shame that they were torn down. Published on Jul 30, 2009. The garden's fourth wall was part of the Mellon mansion before its demolition in the 1940s. As you can see from these photos, Eagle Rock was a beautiful piece of architecture that should have been kept for future generations. If we are to take the singular monument in the middle of a city park as testimony to anything, it's this: connections mattered to Sarah Jane Negley Mellon. You can also learn about the Gilded Age and its extreme wealth gap. Quote: Mistake: Choose. Height: 115.5 in (293.37 cm) Width: 13 in (33.02 cm) Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm) The gates surrounding Eagle Rock were also transported to Clayton and now border the parking lot. Is this really a burial ground? On January 2, 1870, he opened the T. Mellon & Sons' Bank with his sons Andrew W. and Richard B.Mellon, William Larimer and Sparkes, Boyden, , 1948. From the early stages, the Mellons preferred a classical style of architecture. Howard Heinz chaired it until his death in 1941 1960s The wedding, which received national news coverage for its ostentatious display of wealth, took place at the estate of Sarah's father, Richard B. Mellon, brother of . Others were filled with religious and inspirational maxims. The Mellon Institute building was dedicated in May 1937 by brothers Andrew W. and Richard B. Mellon. Perhaps it did a bit of both. In addition to diaries and valuable historical documents, the collection includes two hand-written letters from Sarah Jane, plus the title pages from school books that once belonged to each of his parents (see above for Sarah's). described as, Sarah's daughter, Cordelia Scaife May, scrupulously shunned publicity but left a legacy brimming with gossip. As to the rest, we must imagine and wonder, for we have no miniature dollhouses to prompt imagination. I occasionally took myself to Mellon Park in Shadyside. Mellon organized the Citizens' Committee on City Plan, which sought to improve Pittsburgh through better urban planning and zoning. She'd buy me a raisin-filled cookie from the Jenny Lee Bakery just below the square, then let me amuse myself while she had a cigarette. It is sort of a bittersweet ending to this blog to hear about all the beautiful mansions we will never be able to see again. After her death, James continued to spend each winter in Palatka. Heinz History Center, Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs. I can now extemporaneously follow various Mellon lineages, dissect Mellon accomplishments and scandals, and marvel at how this one family has disseminated its reputed $12 billion wealth and influence. These lovely statues which grace the Broderie Room at Phipps Conservatory in Oakland once stood in the mansion's gardens. He served as president of Western Pennsylvania Hospital and the Allegheny County Juvenile Court Farm. His family had it demolished in 1941. The author didn't say that; There is a mistake in the text of this quote; The quote belongs to another author; Sarah Jane didn't make a marriage of passion. He and his brother Andrew Mellon, sons of Judge Thomas Mellon, were frequent business partners. The "Mellon" in his name came. And even fewer managed to hold onto their money and influence the way the Mellons have. The panel's design makes brilliant use of the reforms brought to glassmaking by Louis Comfort Tiffany. [2] In 1926 he established a $15 million pension fund for Presbyterian ministers. society of to-day, Song of Haiti: The Lives of Dr. Larimer and Gwen Mellon, Pittsburgh's Colcom Foundation plays major role in immigration-control debate. Married life of Sarah Mellon The way Thomas describes their courtship is intriguing for the boorish but earnest picture it paints of him, and the enigmatic portrait presented of Sarah Jane. The Mellon bank helped finance the construction of the Ligonier Valley Railroad. The property later became known as Mellon Park. Such was the case on Nov. 16, 1927, at the wedding of the daughter of Richard Beatty Mellon who was the niece of Andrew Mellon and the future mother of Richard Mellon Scaife. The scene sounds like something out of the Duquesne Club, an exclusive Downtown enclave for Pittsburgh's rich and powerful. Been waiting for this to open, congratulations #MarkHolden of Blend Cigar Bar [4] The $13.3 million in taxes paid on his estate enabled the state to meet its payroll.[5]. Biography . The site, part of a 14-acre parcel of land known as Frick Acres, was donated to the University by Andrew W. Mellon and his brother, Richard B. Mellon. The church and a cemetery were established on family property granted by descendants of William Penn in 1792. Peggy Hitchcock (daughter of Margaret Mellon Hitchcock, a sister of Matthew and Larry mentioned above) was married for a time to 1960s American counterculture leader Walter Howard Bowart, whom she met through mutual friend and former lover Timothy Leary. There are some claims that they were re-interred on the spot beneath the marker in Highland Park, having been moved there. suicide? Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Ukrainian soldier takes out five tanks with Javelin missiles, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Hershey's Canada releases HER for SHE bars featuring a trans activist, Moment teenager crashes into back of lorry after 100mph police race, Do not sell or share my personal information. This is a contemporary craft festival with a small concert. A number of public buses serve the area. His father, Judge Thomas Mellon, was the founder of Mellon Bank and patriarch to the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His dissertation was published as, His brother William Larimer Mellon Jr, gets lost in the gossip despite his astounding humanitarian efforts. ', 'The Mellons welcomed many famous guests into their home, including Billy Sunday, a former National League baseball player turned evangelist. Mellon Square dedication, October 18, 1955. R.B. 'The various railroad lines poured crowds of tourists into the cities along the St. Johns River, filling hotels to capacity for months. (Factual information from Images of America: Pittsburghs Mansions by Melanie Linn Gutowski), Photo courtesy of: http://thatschurch.com/2012/04/30/pittsburgh-history-with-ginny-suck-it-harlequin/. Federal law was on "Pross" Mellon's side since the federal kidnapping statute specifically exempted parents. in Highland Park. settlers of the East Liberty Valley. His was the largest mansion in Pittsburgh. The Judge author and descendant James Mellon describes a dark and sturdily decorated Victorian interior. You couldn't live in Pittsburgh without knowing that. One side of the monument reads: Preserving history and historic buildings is important. The park is home to the Walled Garden, and holds events throughout the year. The estates gardens and ornate wrought-iron gate remain as traces of the lands former use. Late heiress' anti-immigration efforts live on. In the absence of access to such cherished family material, Sarah Jane must remain aloof and ultimately unknowable to history while her husband Thomas commands center stage. Richard B. Mellon. In 1931, R.B. Richard B. Mellon, a multimillionaire, was the president of Alcoa. The Mellon family's enormous wealth was accrued primarily by brothers Andrew William Mellon and Richard B. Mellon during the 1920s and 1930s, investing or founding companies that include Mellon Bank, Alcoa, Standard Steel Car Co., Westinghouse Electric Co. and Gulf Oil. Other images show inside the property with a piano and old records left behind, along with old tennis rackets and an American flag. Things were looking up, especially since ".my Privately produced photograph album to mark the occasion of the marriage of Sarah Mellon (1903-1965) and Alan Scaife (1900-1958). With opalescent glass alone, the panel presents an evocative scene of rippling water, floating lotus flowers, and a footbridge draped with roses. Wonderfull fotos parks, interesting article. I had no idea that Judge Mellon had prudently created the park in 1878 for the sole purpose of providing a destination to increase profits for his already-existing narrow-gauge railroad. Promo Tim Poslovna rjeenja; are fireworks legal in sugar land, tx; Poetna; O nama; Informisanje; Promotivna podrka; Edukacija. The abandoned remains of a river retreat in north Florida that once belonged to the hugely successful US banking magnate and industrialist James R Mellon, The staircase in the abandoned Mellon river retreat. Famously private, for the most part Mellons and their kin have kept mostly to themselves in a removed, rarified social sphere. One of the richest men in America tore down a 65-room mansion when it was only 30-years-old?! According to contemporary accounts, proud papa Richard B. spent $100,000 to build and decorate a pavilion at his East End mansion for the wedding feast and ball. name, as Mrs. So-and-so, it's hard not to make too much of the fact that Sarah used Details. What did Sarah Jane think of this girl's supposed affinity for the otherworldly? The Mellons built a 6,000-square-foot house on a corner lot in 1883, Old records and a record player left behind at the house. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. It would be lovely to curl up with those books to see what she collected, to learn what held her interest and curiosity. Her father, Jacob Negley, was a surveyor and mechanical engineer. He was the founder of the Rolling Rock Club. The other day as I was walking in Highland Park I came across a memorial. The specifics of Sarah Mellon and Alan Scaife's extravagant 1927 wedding still leave readers slack-jawed in amazement. later write a dry, clinical appraisal of Sarah Jane's charms and their Congressman and president of the Atlantic & Ohio Telegraph Co., predecessor to Western Union Telegraph Co. He died on December 1, 1933, before the new building was completed. For me, a childhood of passing familiarity has led to a lifetime of fascination. Billy made the family's secluded Millburn, New York estate available to Leary and his team of Harvard researchers, where they famously examined psychedelically-altered states of consciousness. But she seems to have remained the same quiet, pleasant, self-possessed, keen-eyed observer of the world whom Thomas Mellon met in 1841. R.B. He was founder and President of RAM Transit, Inc.,. He also served as a trustee for the Athalia Daly Home for Working Girls, James died on October 20, 1934. An urban explorer known as Abandoned Southeast took the photos. His was the largest mansion in Pittsburgh. Mellon, along with C.C. Children followed in rapid succession. This monument marks the center of a burial ground located on the former Kursevi Njemakog jezika Despite admonishments from his parents, James didn't come home. On his deathbed, these were Richard's last words to his brother. The young Sarah Jane attended school in a frame building built by her father in 1819, near today's East Liberty Presbyterian Church. The Foundation has awarded more than 7,700 grants and program-related investments to more than 1,800 organizations since its founding. Please cite w/ URL attribution. ?, June 19, 1944, Page THREE, Image 3, brought to you by Alaska State Library Historical Collections, and the National Digital Newspaper Program. From Troy Hill, a subsequent closing in 1888 meant the poor souls were re-interred one more time, to the Smithfield East End Cemetery in Squirrel Hill, now maintained by Homewood Cemetery. [1], The Walled Garden is surrounded by walls of brick and limestone and is one of Gothic design. Her legacy remains forever entwined and eclipsed by that of the men in her life, just as Judge Mellon's actions and desires shaped the core of her adult experiences. There was an early, disapproved-of marriage and subsequent divorce. Anna Maria Negley following her husband Alexander's death still exists He was president of the board of trustees of East Liberty Presbyterian Church, James served as president of Western Pennsylvania Hospital and the Allegheny County Juvenile Court Farm. Then again, Judge Mellon was no prize. The rotting remains of a staircase in the winter retreat. According to contemporary accounts, proud papa Richard B. spent $100,000 to build and decorate a pavilion at his East End mansion for the wedding feast and ball. Yet it was not really a farm but a country home." James Mellon founded the City Deposit Bank, becoming its president in 1898. You become very aware of how gangly and awkward the human body is when you're surrounded by priceless artifacts. He persisted in the face of little if any enthusiasm from Sarah Jane, whom he saw as polite and conversational, but distant and discouraging of intimacy. Several other architects added their own touch to the landscape, including the Olmsted Brothers and some seventeen years after the garden began, Vitale and Geiffert. It is also home to several recreational facilities. A grand jury found that the forcible removal of the girls to Pennsylvania was not subject to prosecution given the previous conflicting custody rulings involving competing jurisdictions of New York and Pennsylvania. The newlyweds moved in with Sarah's mother and some Negley siblings who'd remained in the family home. "Everything they could get from the mansion was bought," Calvanese says. "We can do just that!" Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is housed in the former home of industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie. My childish deductive reasoning skills led me to assume that this family must be like some PBS high-brow version of Mr. We don't know if she, too, found recounting the details of their 1842 wedding "uninteresting." This much, I knew: Sarah Jane Negley Mellon was an heiress descended from multiple Pittsburgh pioneer families who once owned nearly all of the East End. Richard Mellon Scaife (; July 3, 1932 - July 4, 2014) was an American billionaire, a principal heir to the Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, and the owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. His was the largest mansion in Pittsburgh. Mellon's personal sense of style was exemplified by a hat-rack made of mirrors and buffalo horns and half a taxidermied buffalo head (yes, half), both of which he kept on display as mementos of his youth in the untamed West. By the age of 21, James and his brother Thomas Jr. had raised over $100,000 operating a nursery, lumber yard, and construction supply business, Old tennis rackets, books and an abandoned box left in the house, along with a map and a US flag. Negley Mansion, Edgeworth Ladies' Boarding School, and the Mellon "country home" wife was herself a good cook and not in the least averse to work.we These were removed from the Richard B. Mellon Mansion in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during WWII. The congregation was founded by Italian immigrants in the early 1900s and the current building was constructed by hand by parish members during World War II using materials from the then recently dismantled Richard B. Mellon 60-room mansion in Pittsburgh. I soon recognized that these Mellons were omnipresent. Overall, I learned so much and I never imagined how much of the Gilded Age existed outside of Newport. jubilated a practical minded committee, upon learning that all they surveyed could be theirs merely for the cost of hauling it away! Surviving photos reveals a stolid farmhouse, described as white with green shutters. The grand too often eclipses the ordinary, usually to the detriment of our historical and human understanding. We then hold some of these same things to be important. The 65-room R.B. To honour her memory, he built the Larimer Memorial Library (now Larimer Arts Center) and donated it to the city, The introduction of the railroads into North Florida in the 1880s led to an explosion in the winter tourist trade and visitors, such as industrialist James R. Mellon, opted to purchase or erect winter residences rather than be confined to a hotel room, The Mellon family ranked among the wealthiest and most prominent industrialists in the United States by the time of Judge Mellon's death in 1908.