Community Profile: Kittanning

Community Profile: Kittanning. . , (Panel 1): , From Where You Stand , Past and Present, Of the many important aspects of our town's past and present none figures more prominently than the Allegheny River-the transportation artery that brought commercial and industrial enterprises to Kittanning. Other major landmarks include the Kittanning Bridge and Lock and Dam No. 7. The bridge, built in 1931, dominates the landscape. Visible to the north above the bridge is Lock and Dam No. 7, one of a series of locks and dams built in the 1920s to make the Allegheny River navigable year round. The location of the Kittanning Riverfront Park and Landing also provides a strong link between the past and present. The Kittanning Iron Works, once located at the far south end of the park and river landing, dumped tons of slag along this stretch of the river, which significantly widened the riverbank. That slagheap was transformed into the park and river landing where you stand today., (Captions):, Pittsburg and Shawmut line: , Gas-powered passenger coaches could be operated as a single unit or in a group. Known affectionately as "hootlebugs," many Kittanning and Ford City students rode them from the Cadogan and Mahoning-Bridgeburg areas. For intrepid pedestrians, the steep, wooden stairway provided a direct route to West Kittanning from the Shawmut depot at the west end of the Kittanning Bridge., Kittanning's Market Street: circa 1915, The Kittanning Iron Works was damaged by a massive fire on December 18, 1867., Kittanning Iron Works: , Kittanning Iron Works, predecessor of Kittanning Iron and Steel Manufacturing Company, originally produced nails and agricultural castings at its facility at the south end of Kittanning Borough. In 1848, a rolling mill became operational at the site and employed approximately one hundred and fifty men when in full production., Old Meets New, (Captions):, Old Kittanning Bridge: To keep Kittanning's 1894 iron bridge open during construction, false wooden piers were erected just north of the old bridge and jacks were affixed to the four stone piers of the original span. "...the bridge was raised off its stone piers and floated upstream and into place on the temporary wooden piers where it rested during the construction process... The original bridge piers had been set on bales of cotton which provided a 'floating foundation' enabling the much smaller, old bridge to absorb the shock of battering by ice floes during spring thaws." (River Bitts, spring 1988, p. 3)., New Kittanning Bridge: York Engineering Company of Pennsylvania-the contractor that had built Allegheny Lock and Dam No. 7-constructed Kittanning's new bridge in 1931. They drilled through fifty-five feet of sand and gravel before reaching a rock foundation adequate to support the weight of the current bridge., (Panel 2): , Our Hometown , Moments In Time, Geography delivered a bounty of natural resources to our hometown's doorstep. Kittanning prospered accordingly. As heavy industries flourished nearby, Kittanning's banking industry kept pace. Affluent professionals built stately homes in which they entertained notable guests like Louis Comfort Tiffany. The seat of Armstrong County's government, Kittanning often played host to political hopefuls on the campaign trail. At points in time, a swollen river was an opportunity to test one's ingenuity and a hillside became remembered for an 1890s typewriter., (Captions):, Kittanning's Hose Company No. 1 shown here with their Lange fire-fighting apparatus in 1917. Organized in 1875, the Borough purchased the former First Presbyterian Church building as the company's station house., Kittanning's Finest: , An official studio portrait of Kittanning police from 1907. They were joined front and center by their K-9 officer, "Mascot.", Fording in Floor-Length Hemlines: On May 21, 1894, Kittanning photographer George S. Young captured these two women "fording" Jefferson Street on a precarious, evidently homemade, raft propelled by long poles., Presidential Rally: It was "standing room only" when then-Senator John F. Kennedy brought his 1960 Presidential campaign to Kittanning for a huge rally on Market Street., A Touch of Tiffany: Stories abound as to how often Louis Comfort Tiffany visited Kittanning during the early 1900s but visit he did, and frequently. The stained glass windows he designed for Grace Presbyterian Church are stunning. One of the most striking of the five original windows is the Jane Ross Reynolds memorial window, entitled Faith, at the center of the trilogy pictured., The First of its Type: Before the first "visible print" typewriter went into production at the Daugherty Typewriter Company in 1881, typists had to lift the typewriter's entire carriage to view their work. The southern hillside of Kittanning Borough where the Daugherty Typewriter Company was once located is still known locally as Typewriter Hill., (Photo Credits):, From the collections of the Merchants National Bank, the Rivers of Steel Archives, James W. Gibson, "Hap" Fleming, Robert D. Leslie, Jack and Louise Rohrer and John F. Englert, the Armstrong County Historical Society, the Pittsburg and Shawmut Railroad, Ralph C. John, and William Moesta.