Manchester Park, Manchester: 1820 Fulton Street
The internet is a gluttonous and greedy collector of digital images, and while its holdings may be far-reaching, it has some shallow spots. I ran aground on one of these online sandbars while investigating Manchester Park at the intersection of Fulton Street and Columbus Avenue.
Walking around, there are tennis courts and a tot park with an accessible swing, a graffiti-covered public pool with a fountain shaped like a dolphin, a community center in a former AME church, the construction of a new mosque, a few century-old brick buildings with blue condemned notices, empty lots in various states of growth and decay, and a housing development called Columbus Square with a giant sign reminding everyone that the final phase of development is underway and only a few lots remain.
The spaces before me represent a wide swath of time, and I’m curious about the progression. Pittsburgh Historical Maps and the City Photographer Collection provide a view of long ago: Columbus Ave was known as Island Way in 1835, the neighborhood was densely populated in 1923, and in 1970, the public pool was a few blocks away. Google Street View helps with not-so-far-away times (such as Columbus Square’s gradual transformation starting in 2011). Still, a lot remains unanswered for the 40 years between the historical and modern-day. What did the pedestrian overpass connecting Fulton Street to California Avenue look like and why was it removed? When did the city demolish the old Columbus Square so the new version could exist? Why did they move the pool to its current location? And most importantly, did kids like the dolphin fountain?
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