Trip #110 Lappe Lane, Spring Hill-City View, Pittsburgh took place on March 4, 2018, and was published on March 21, 2018.
It makes me a little wistful when I discover a flight of stairs has gone missing. What happened? Why was it torn down? At one time, a wooden flight of 56 steps was in this spot on Shirls Street. This location is the terminus of Lappe Lane, which, if you look at a map, is a very long, meandering, and somewhat disconnected path traveling from the base of Spring Garden to the northern reaches of Spring Hill. I was hoping that a little trace of these stairs might remain, but no, the only wood in view were some old railroad ties marking off a parking space. Even the “way back” machine on Google Maps couldn’t take me to a time when I could see them. Stairs were here, but you’d never know it now. (Shown in photo: Will Simmons of Pittsburgh Orbit)
Field Notes: This flight is 100% gone. According to Bob Regan’s notes, at one time there had been a wooden flight that connected Shirls to Fabyan, but the historical view in Google Maps (which dates back to 2006 for this street) doesn’t show anything. Also shown in the photo is Will Simmons of Pittsburgh Orbit who came along for a stairstepping adventure as part of an article he wrote about the mis.steps project.
Want to visit these stairs? You can locate them on the Pittsburgh City Steps Plan website!
See the Risograph print of this photo and story in the Mis.Steps Shop.
Be a good neighbor! Have you visited these stairs and found them in poor condition or that illegal dumping (large items like tires, old furniture, and construction debris) and trash were abundant in the area? There are two things you can do to take action and make our city steps cleaner and safer for everyone! First, grab a photo if you can, and submit a report to Pittsburgh 311. All problems, both broken stairs, and railings, as well as trash and dumping, should be reported to the city. You can easily do this online or by calling. If the location has an abundance of illegal dumping and trash, also contact Allegheny Cleanways, letting them know the location and the nature of the garbage. Thank you!!
