Point State Park
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Point State Park is a 36 acre (146,000 m²) state park in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Specifically, the park is located where the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers forms the Ohio River, also known as the Forks of the Ohio.[1]
The park, built on land condemned from businesses in the 1950s, opened in 1974, when construction was completed on its iconic fountain, which sprays water up to 150 feet (46 m) in the air at the head of the Ohio River. Pittsburgh settled on the current design after rejecting an alternative plan for a Point Park Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The park also includes the outlines and remains of two of the oldest structures in Pittsburgh, Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne. The Fort Pitt Museum, housed in the Monongahela Bastion of Fort Pitt, commemorates the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763), in which the area soon to become Pittsburgh was a major battlefield.
Presently, the park provides recreational space for residents in downtown Pittsburgh and also acts as the site for major cultural events in the city, including the Three Rivers Arts Festival and Three Rivers Regatta. The park is operated by the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks, and is a registered National Historic Landmark.
[edit] Future
See Don Hopey. "State will provide $25 million for Point State Park", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 12, 2006.
[edit] References
- Alberts, Robert C. (1980). The Shaping of the Point: Pittsburgh's Renaissance Park. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-3422-1.
[edit] External links
- Department of Conservation - Point State Park
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
