Presenter
Presented by Mr. Ferlo
Title
Resolution Authorizing the City of Pittsburgh to: make application for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Save America's Treasures Grant; to enter into appropriate cooperation agreement(s) with the Urban Redevelopment Authority to secure said grant; and to initiate historic site designation of the property situated in Hazelwood at 4604 Monongahela Street, commonly known as the John Woods House.
Body
WHEREAS, In 1792 a home was built in the community of Hazelwood, now situated within the City of Pittsburgh, by John Woods (1758 – 1816) who, along with his father Colonel George Woods, laid out the plan for the City of Pittsburgh in 1794. John Woods, a revolutionary war soldier, later became a pioneering manufacturer and pivotal government contractor in the region. President Washington appointed him Quartermaster of the United States Army in 1792 and served as such in 1794 during the Whiskey Rebellion and the Battle of Fallen Timbers. John Woods was also a presidential elector in 1796, state senator in 1797, and elected to the 14th U.S. Congress in 1815; and,
WHEREAS, the Woods home is only one of three surviving 18th Century structures remaining in Pittsburgh, the other two being the Ft. Pitt Blockhouse at the Point and the Neill Log House in Schenley Park. The Woods home, the only of these structures built of cut stone, is significant as a rare survivor of a late 18th Century architecture; and,
WHEREAS, the Woods home's historic importance to the city is well documented. However, it is also of national historic significance in that during the mid 1800's it was a favorite gathering place for a group known as the Knights of the Square Table whose founding member was "America's Troubadour" Stephen Collins Foster, America's first professional composer; and,
WHEREAS, the historical record indicates that many of Foster's best known songs were first sung or composed at the Woods Home such...
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