Editing History of Pittsburgh (section)

==Renaissance I (1946–1973)==
{{redirect|Pittsburgh Renaissance|the basketball team|Pittsburgh Rens}}
[[File:ThreeRiversStadium.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The multi-purpose [[Three Rivers Stadium]] was built in 1970 as part of the Renaissance I project. It was imploded in 2001.]]
Rich and productive, Pittsburgh was also the "Smoky City", with smog sometimes so thick that streetlights burned during the day<ref name="Lorant"/> as well as rivers that resembled open sewers.  Civic leaders, notably Mayor [[David L. Lawrence]], elected in 1945, [[Richard K. Mellon]], chairman of [[Mellon Bank]] and John P. Robin<ref>{{Citation| title = Robin Chosen Head of Industrial Plan| newspaper = Pittsburgh Press| location=Pittsburgh, PA|date=July 30, 1955 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=H-wdAAAAIBAJ&dq=regional%20industrial%20robin&pg=1399%2C3591383}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Copage |first1=Eric V. |title=John P. Robin, 87; Led the Redevelopment of Downtown Pittsburgh |newspaper=New York Times |location=New York, NY |date=July 30, 1955 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/13/us/john-p-robin-87-led-the-redevelopment-of-downtown-pittsburgh.html |access-date=February 10, 2014}}</ref> began smoke control and urban revitalization, also known as [[Urban Renewal]] projects that transformed the city<ref name="Lorant"/> in unforeseen ways.

"Renaissance I" began in 1946.  Title One of the [[Housing Act of 1949]] provided the means in which to begin.  By 1950, vast swaths of buildings and land near the Point were demolished for [[Gateway Center (Pittsburgh)|Gateway Center]]. 1953 saw the opening of the (since demolished) [[Pittsburgh International Airport#Growth of a Major Airport|Greater Pittsburgh Municipal Airport terminal]].<ref name="WQED"/>

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the lower [[Hill District]], an area inhabited predominantly by poor Blacks, was completely destroyed. Ninety-five acres of the lower Hill District were cleared using [[eminent domain]], forcibly displacing hundreds of small businesses and more than 8,000 people (1,239 black families, 312 white), to make room for a cultural center that included the [[Mellon Arena|Civic Arena]], which opened in 1961.<ref>{{cite web |title=Building the Igloo |work=Pittsburgh Heritage Project |url=http://www.pittsburghheritage.com/projects/Igloo/History.htm |access-date=April 14, 2007 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629201856/http://www.pittsburghheritage.com/projects/Igloo/History.htm |archive-date=June 29, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Other than one apartment building, none of the other buildings planned for the cultural center were ever built.

In the early 1960s, the neighborhood of [[East Liberty (Pittsburgh)|East Liberty]] was also included in Renaissance I Urban Renewal plans, with over {{convert|125|acre|km2}} of the neighborhood being demolished and replaced with garden apartments, three 20-story public housing apartments, and a convoluted road-way system that circled a pedestrianized shopping district.  In the span of just a few years during the mid-1960s, East Liberty became a blighted neighborhood. There were some 575 businesses in East Liberty in 1959, but only 292 in 1970, and just 98 in 1979.

Preservation efforts by the [[Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation]], along with community neighborhood groups, resisted the demolition plans.  The neighborhoods containing rich architectural heritage, including the [[Mexican War Streets]], [[Allegheny West (Pittsburgh)|Allegheny West]], and [[Manchester (Pittsburgh)|Manchester]], were spared. The center of Allegheny City, with its culturally and socially important buildings, was not as lucky. All of the buildings, with the exception of the [[Allegheny Post Office|Old U.S. Post Office]], the Carnegie Library, and Buhl Planetarium were destroyed and replaced with the "pedestrianized" [[Allegheny Center Mall]] and apartments.

The city's industrial base continued to grow in the post-war era<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GPhPAAAAIBAJ&pg=1342%2C701126 |title=Pittsburgh Booms While Rest of U.S. Begins to Slacken |newspaper=The Evening Independent |date=March 22, 1949 |access-date=February 10, 2014}}</ref> partly assisted by the area's first agency entirely devoted to industrial development, the [[RIDC]].<ref>{{Citation |last=White |first=William A. |title=Power Firm Turned Lake Area Into Gigantic Chemical Shore |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh, PA |date=June 26, 1956 |page=1 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6MAbAAAAIBAJ&dq=john-robin%20regional&pg=5253%2C3268754
}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Development group files for charter |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |location=Pittsburgh, PA |date=August 4, 1955 |page=28 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GJtRAAAAIBAJ&dq=regional%20industrial%20robin&pg=2812%2C6517783}}</ref> [[Jones and Laughlin Steel Company]] expanded its plant on the [[Southside (Pittsburgh)|Southside]]. [[H.J. Heinz]], [[Pittsburgh Plate Glass]], Alcoa, [[Westinghouse Electric (1886)|Westinghouse]], [[U.S. Steel]] and its new division, the Pittsburgh Chemical Company and many other companies also continued robust operations through the 1960s.<ref name="Lorant"/> 1970 marked the completion of the final building projects of Renaissance I: the [[U.S. Steel Tower]] and [[Three Rivers Stadium]].<ref name="WQED"/> In 1974, with the addition of the fountain at the tip of the [[Golden Triangle (Pittsburgh)|Golden Triangle]], [[Point State Park]] was completed.<ref>{{cite web |title=History, Point State Park |work=Pennsylvania State Parks Website |url=http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/point.aspx |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20110514165416/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/point.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |access-date=April 14, 2007}}</ref> Although air quality was dramatically improved, and Pittsburgh's manufacturing base seemed solid, questions abound about the negative effects Urban Renewal continues to have on the social fabric of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, however, was about to undergo one of its most dramatic transformations.

Like most major cities, Pittsburgh experienced several days of rioting following the [[assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.]] in April 1968. There were no further major riots, although tension remained high in the inner-city black neighborhoods.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://juh.sagepub.com/content/39/2/147.abstract?etoc |first=Alyssa |last=Ribeiro |publisher=Journal of Urban History |year=2013 |pages=147–171 |title=A Period of Turmoil: Pittsburgh's April 1968 Riots and Their Aftermath; 39#2 |access-date=February 10, 2014}}</ref>