Married life of Sarah Mellon This was a relationship which appears to have been based on mutually calculated, emotionally-detached appraisals. But the chapter is all about their itinerary, not their intimacy. Sarah might have been the dullest of them all, but we'll never know for sure. Andrew Mellon was the most famous brother, serving as U.S. Treasury . As a lifelong Pittsburgher there are many elements of the Mellon saga that I never knew, including Sara Jane's story. The Foundation has awarded more than 7,700 grants and program-related investments to more than 1,800 organizations since its founding. Silly me, it was more than just Mellon parks and dollhouses. View Details. 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 You couldn't live in Pittsburgh without knowing that. Vitale and Geiffert were behind the planning of this garden. 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 . And an exposed steel beam bears the stamp of the Carnegie Steel Company. Built in 1910, it included a bowling alley and carriage house. His son Jacob married Barbara Anna Winebiddle, a descendant of the Taubs (who owned property in present-day Shadyside) and Winebiddles (who owned property all around today's Bloomfield, Friendship, Lawrenceville, and Downtown areas). ', 'The Mellons welcomed many famous guests into their home, including Billy Sunday, a former National League baseball player turned evangelist. 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. Mellon, along with C.C. The name seeped into my consciousness at an astonishingly early age. 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. Was there anything there, the pastor and building committee wondered, that a parish with little money could procure for a new church building? Richard B. Mellon's mansion is believed to have had 60-65 rooms, the caretaker of 10 years said he never counted the rooms to know the exact number! The line history becomes attainable couldnt be more true. He created a lumber yard and builders supply business with his brother, Thomas Jr., in East Liberty. Eagle Rock was torn down in 1963. Thomas had his acknowledged favorites, but we don't know if Sarah had a favorite among her surviving sons. Avenue. 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. 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 panel's design makes brilliant use of the reforms brought to glassmaking by Louis Comfort Tiffany. And even fewer managed to hold onto their money and influence the way the Mellons have. The Walking Guide includes: A History of Chatham University Mellon Board Room Eden Hall Farm Campus Chatham Eastside Rachel Carson, Class of 1929 Howe-Childs Gate House . She certainly didn't adopt any coquettish airs once they were engaged, either: No record exists as to how Sarah Jane Negley characterized her husband, the man who described their marriage as a "transaction" that was "consummated." 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. One of the richest men in America tore down a 65-room mansion when it was only 30-years-old?! As a history-loving adult, I came to understand how ubiquitously present the Mellons were in the development of this city and nation. Best regard from Belgium. Potato Head. These industrious men then built the monumental Mount St. Peter Church in New Kensington, which still stands and functions to this day from the materials of the Mellon Mansion. Did she want to say "told you so" when all was said and done? Privately produced photograph album to mark the occasion of the marriage of Sarah Mellon (1903-1965) and Alan Scaife (1900-1958). 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. There are some claims that they were re-interred on the spot beneath the marker in Highland Park, having been moved there. The Mellons welcomed many famous guests into their home, including Billy Sunday, a former National League baseball player turned evangelist. I'll be writing more about that visit later, but one thing I can tell you now is that I could not wrap my brain around what it would be like for Fricks children to grow up in a house that large, which was actually small by the standards of wealth in those days. Like the earliest Mellons, Alexander originally settled in Westmoreland County. His brother, Andrew William Mellon, right, was the US Ambassador to Britain and the US treasury secretary, Matthew Mellon, pictured with his ex-wife British-born Tamara Mellon (left and right). I'd walked past this grove many times in the six years I lived in Highland Park. Mellon estate was located on Pittsburgh's Fifth Avenue. 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). undemonstrative. Built in 1910, it included a bowling alley and carriage house. By necessity she would have become removed from day-today housework once she and Thomas became pillars of their community and she gravitated to a prominent social role outside the home. His grandfather Andrew W. Mellon (1855-1937) was worth around $350 million at the time of his death. The mansion was built by Italian immigrants from New Kensington, PA under the direction of Monsignor Nicola Fusco. It's in plain sight but bland and usually overlooked.. Rather like Andrew Mellon, actually. Surviving photos reveals a stolid farmhouse, described as white with green shutters. A shy man, he shunned publicity and gave very few interviews so very little is known of his personality and views. Mellon Park is a park in the Shadyside and Point Breeze neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, straddling both sides of Fifth Avenue, from approximately Shady Avenue to Penn Avenue, the western corner abutting Pittsburgh Center for the Arts building. That's a shame considering the century's worth Ubiquitous Mellons James and his eldest brother Thomas agreed to pool their business interests together, becoming dealers in coal, lumber, and other building materials which were in high demand at the time in Pittsburgh. [5] One event that has taken place annually since 1969 is A Fair in the Park put on by the Craftsmen's Guild of Pittsburgh in the month of September. But the youngest of his two sons, Seward Prosser Mellon, made headlines in the mid-1970s related to a horrific custody battle with his ex-wife. Biography [ edit] He and his brother Andrew Mellon, sons of Judge Thomas Mellon, were frequent business partners. That cemetery was closed in 1860 when the site was needed for further urban development. The rail ties and lumber used to build the railroad were furnished by the lumber company the Mellon brothers owned. The Mellon bank helped finance the construction of the Ligonier Valley Railroad. The 64-room mansion, built from 1899 to 1902, is an impressive testament to the desire of Carnegie and his wife, Louise Whitfield Carnegie, to build a spacious, comfortable, and light-filled home in which to raise their daughter, Margaret. 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." were all in all to each other. You can learn of its residents, and how they made established their wealth. Genealogy for Thomas Alexander Mellon, Sr. (1813 - 1908) family tree on Geni, with over 245 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Richard B. Mellon. It's all about ME. The 65-room mansion of Richard B. Mellon, brother of Andrew Mellon, built at 6500 Fifth Avenue in 1910: The Richard B. Mellons raised two children in that "house," which included a bowling alley in the basement and a carriage house. I suppose what with all this moving about of bodies, it's not surprising that a mistaken reburial to East Liberty got attached to this story. For me, a childhood of passing familiarity has led to a lifetime of fascination. Yet I firmly believe that history serves as a teaching tool in the present, while also providing a sense of identity. 175 Years Later, The Mellons Have Never Been Richer. Late heiress' anti-immigration efforts live on. The home was built in 1904 for Henry Clay Frick and his family as a summer home in Prides Crossing, Massachusetts. Address review: Street Light Condition Street Light Out Associated persons: Khalid O Abbasi, Mushtak U Ahmed, Happy Aktar, Kimberly T Alexander, Debbie Ali, Mir L Ali. I occasionally took myself to Mellon Park in Shadyside. There is an area just for children. Yes!! The 65-room R.B. Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mellon_Park&oldid=1138195611, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks, National Register of Historic Places in Pittsburgh, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 14:16. The land was then given to the city to become what is known now as Mellon Park, while the carriage house is the Phipps Garden Center. Did she grow to like, or love, her husband? 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. Did Sarah? 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). murder?). Mellon Bank, then Pennsylvania's largest banking institution, dis-invested in the Pittsburgh region during its time of need in the early 1980s. on Negley Avenue are all long gone. You can also learn about the Gilded Age and its extreme wealth gap. James R. Mellon was born on January 14, 1846. He was the son of Richard Mellon and Jennie King.He passed away in 1970. 2 DISTINGUISHED DAUGHTERS OF PENNSYLVANIA AWARDS; 3 9 - 4 THE PENNSYLVANIA MANUAL; 4 Harriet Duff Phillips' daughter was similarly honored in 1976: When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his . 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. He and his brother Andrew had a little game of tag going for about seven decades. It would be lovely to curl up with those books to see what she collected, to learn what held her interest and curiosity. Above the cast iron door of the original bank building at 514 Smithfield Street was placed a near life-sized statue of his inspiration, Benjamin Franklin. For $200 a year (paid three months in advance) Sarah Jane would have studied reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, composition, geography, astronomy with the use of globes, natural philosophy, chemistry, history, and plain and ornamental needle work. tree" is no more. When we see a home, regardless of its age, we connect it to a family and the life that occured inside. Being quiet, pleasant, and self-possessed would do. It's not that Sarah isn't present throughout--he makes consistent use of first person plural pronouns when describing their travels. Instead, take heed of this: a monument to one woman's love of family, and her desire to honor the past. Didnt he know how badly I would want to walk through it? James was away at college. The park is home to the Walled Garden and holds events throughout the year. 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. A gossipy 1888 book entitled The social mirror: a character sketch of the women of Pittsburg and vicinity during the first century of the county's existence alphabetically categorizes the women of the city according to the qualities of beauty, intelligence, musicality and artistry, charity, wealth, moral do-gooding, and positions of social standing that they best exemplify. I'd pretend that each carefully landscaped section was a room in my make-believe mansion, then I'd hop-scotch around on the groovy terrazzo paving (reportedly those designs came from a suggestion by Sarah Mellon Scaife) and fantasize about climbing the magical cascading fountain. (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/.