History Repeats Itself as Sewickley Changes and Grows

              HISTORY ROOM
■-,V! -'■ v
History has a way of repeating itself
sometimes, and this month marks the
fifth anniversary of the opening of the
new Sewickley Bridge, on October 21,
1981.
The opening of the second bridge
occurred 70 years after the first bridge
had been opened, in 1911. Its
deterioration and final closing and
demolition had marked a period of
serious inconvenience for residents
and motorists in the Sewickley Valley
communities and economic hardship
and increased costs for local
businesses.
For several years, residents watched
the efforts of the Committee to Save the
Sewickley Bridge, but the question
remained: Would there be a bridge
between Sewickley and Coraopolis?
Finally, through the committee's
efforts, the Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation agreed to seek a
design and contracts for the new
bridge.
Those of us who gathered in the
middle of the bridge that day to watch
Governor Richard Thornburgh cut the
ribbon opening the bridge felt a
milestone had been reached. The
Quaker Valley High School Band led a
parade off the bridge and up through
the town playing "Celebration." The
crowds, the music and the optimistic
sense that a major task had been
accomplished made one feel, as James
Stevenson put it: "Something
marvelous is about to happen."
And indeed it did, for the Sewickley
Valley entered a five-year period of
renewal and planned growth similiar
to the one that happened around the
1911 opening of the first Sewickley
Bridge.
The second bridge cost $15,000,000,
certainly one of the largest, individual
capital projects in the area in a number
of years, but who would have thought
that it would be the first of a wide range
of improvements in the Sewickley area,
some completed and some under
construction, that would, at the end of
this five-year period, amount to some
$65,000,000 in investment.
For those who are familiar with the
history of Sewickley, the period offers
some interesting parallels as well: In
addition to the replacement of the
bridge, the old Sewickley Post Office,
on Broad Street, which had been built
in 1910, was replaced in 1982 with a
new, though traditionally styled, post
office on Thorn Street at a cost of about
$800,000. The old post office building
was purchased by a non-profit group,
at a cost of $120,000, for the purpose of
restoring the building and renovating
it for use as a cultural center for
Sweetwater Art Center and the
Sewickley Valley Historical Society.
Including the cost of acquisition and
the improvements planned, total cost
for the project will be approximately
$1,000,000.
Sewickley's Municipal Building,
also built in 1910, came in for a
complete restoration during this time.
In the summer of 1983, all the borough
offices were moved out of the building
to the old Sewickley Railroad Station.
Complete new electrical, heating,
cooling and plumbing systems were
installed. A three-bay garage for fire
trucks and an elevator tower, both in
the same style as the original structure,
were completed. New, insulated
windows replaced the old ones, but look
just the same, and all of the well-
detailed woodwork throughout the
building was restored. A year later, the
project was completed, at a cost of
$1,200,000.
The fourth "new" improvement —
besides the bridge, the post office and
the municipal building — that is now
being made again, is the new street
lighting system on Beaver Street, from
Blackburn Avenue to Straight Street.
It has turn-of-the-century, dark green
1911-1916 History Repeats Itself as
Sewickley Changes and Grows,
By Joe Smith
1981-1986 Just as it Did 70 years ago
Sewickley Bridge
Park Place
Sewickley Magazine, October 1986     ^Br