ALCOA Research Lab

I went to 1-3 grades there. Miss Fink, Miss Bowser, Miss Stahl. Then moved to Parnassus, PA (part of NewKen of course)

DESCRIPTION: The Alcoa Research Laboratory is in a park-like setting on Freeport Road
overlooking New Kensington and the Allegheny River Valley. The building's design shows influences
of neo-CIassicism and the Art-Deco style and was executed by renowned Pittsburgh architect Henry
Hornbostle. The two-story building is 275' long with 108' wings at each end and a total of 56,000
square feet of floor space. There are a number of one-, two-, and three-story wings adjoining its rear
(east) facade. The main (west) facade features twenty-one bays, each of which is separated by
inscribed decorative limestone pilasters. The multi-light windows of the first and second floors are
separated by a band of ornate aluminum panels. An intricately detailed aluminum railing serves as a
parapet wall and extends around the flat roof of the main building. The entrance contains four bays
that project beyond the main facade. A stone stairway leads to the entrance, which features ornate
aluminum gates; the double doors leading to the interior entrance hall contain panels with floral and
shamrock motifs of hand-wrought aluminum. The entrance hall has marble floors. Aluminum stair
railings, light fixtures, baseboards, heating grates, door jambs and knobs are found in abundance
throughout the main building. There are also crafted aluminum chairs and desks, and in the basement
there are three ornate aluminum bookcases reportedly made for the Hunt family. An aluminum
elevator in the center of the building was used for carrying heavy equipment and supplies to the upper
floors where the laboratories were located. The rear wings to the main building contain buff-brick
walls, structural steel frames, and multi-light pivoting windows. A 135' tall brick chimney rises above
one of the wings and the main building.
HISTORY: Aluminum is one of the most plentiful elements in the world, forming about eight percent
of the earth's crust. Aluminum occurs in nature in combination with other minerals, and although a
process was developed to separate aluminum from other minerals in the late 1820s, this separation
process was too expensive to be commercially feasible. Charles Martin Hall discovered an electrolytic
process of making aluminum that was commercially applicable in 1886. Hail's process for making
aluminum was a dual method in which a powder called "alumina" (aluminum oxide) was produced
from bauxite ore by a chemical process in a digester. The alumina was then transformed into
aluminum by a smelting process in a flux of cryolite, activated by an electric current in "pot lines" of
steel cells. Paul Heroult, a French chemist, simultaneously discovered a similar process in a crude lab
in a tannery in Gentilly near Paris and received an American patent in 1886. A heated dispute
between Hall and Hercouit ensued over patent ownership during this period.
In 1888 Hall convinced a group of Pittsburgh capitalists headed by Captain Alfred Hunt to invest in
his new aluminum-producing process. Hunt furnished $20,000 capital and an experimental laboratory
on Smallman Street in Pittsburgh. Andrew Mellon and his brother Richard K. Mellon, Pittsburgh
bankers, provided venture capital to Hall's new Pittsburgh Reduction Company. On Thanksgiving
Day 1888, Hall and his assistant Arthur Vining Davis turned out the first ingot of aluminum and a
new industry was born. The Smallman Street experimental plant had increased its production from
fifty pounds to 500 pounds of aluminum per day by the time the firm constructed a new facility along
the Allegheny River in 1891 (see entry below).
The Pittsburgh Reduction Company name was changed to Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) in
1907,

What year was this photo taken? When I lived there It was a field where we played(40s)football and basketball. Remember, it caught fire a few times.

Parsec Sam wrote:

What year was this photo taken? When I lived there It was a field where we played(40s)football and basketball. Remember, it caught fire a few times.

Hey Sam, How's the man who loves women who love men, at least you used too, doing??
I think the pic isn't the Alcoa lab. I think it's the building owned by Alcoa that's near St. Pete's Church. The lab had a white brick wall surrounding it. We referred to that big field as "the lab field", that was covered with knee high grass where one could sometime kick out native ringnecks, and rabbits. I recall seeing bobwhite quail there too. Hey Sam, do you remember the waterfall that was near the lab?

Olderndirt wrote:

<quoted text>
Hey Sam, How's the man who loves women who love men, at least you used too, doing??
I think the pic isn't the Alcoa lab. I think it's the building owned by Alcoa that's near St. Pete's Church. The lab had a white brick wall surrounding it. We referred to that big field as "the lab field", that was covered with knee high grass where one could sometime kick out native ringnecks, and rabbits. I recall seeing bobwhite quail there too. Hey Sam, do you remember the waterfall that was near the lab?

Hey Bob:I am doing great and I still do! I am having a great time in Ukiah, CA, which is 145 miles North of San Francisco. It is beautiful up here. The Symphony and the Playhouse are co-producing my play Cancel Christmas, so I came up to help them promote it. They had a great turn out for the auditions, the Mendicino Book Store is selling my book and I was interviewed on the radio yesterday. I return to LA on the 15th. There is another theater group producing the play in LA Harbra, plus it is being done in New Jersey and in Utah. Overseas it is being done in Poland and the Georgia Republic - It is getting around.
Are you back in Crooked Creek? It must be beautiful this time of the year. I send my regards.

Bob: I forgot to mention that some time ago I posted a photo of the ALCOA Lab from Freeport RD. The photo oon this thread looks like it was taken from the side street below the lab. I also looked on the map and the outlying street around the field looks the same. That street wasn't there when I grew up.

You're right Sam, it's the lab building. I played there when they were building that church that's in the pic. in 54,55. It looks very different to me from this side of the building.
You're walking proof, Sam, that there's no business like show business. Keep on keepin on buddy. How'd you ever get "Cancel Christmas" all the way to Poland??? You sure can promote Sam.
I'll be in Crooked Creek for another week, then driving to New Mex to meet up with my wife whose been down there over the past month. Crooked Creek got colored over the past 2 days and should be in full color in another 2 or 3 days.
Good luck with Cancel Christmas.

Bob: What do you mean by colored over? Are you talking about the leaves, or something in the creek? When you drive to New Mex, do you drive through Saint Louis? You're giving me an urge to travel. Especially around New Mex and Oklahoma. Maybe next year. Keep on Truckin'!

Can any tell me the history of the Aluminum Club? Thanks!

Parsec Sam wrote:

Bob: What do you mean by colored over? Are you talking about the leaves, or something in the creek? When you drive to New Mex, do you drive through Saint Louis? You're giving me an urge to travel. Especially around New Mex and Oklahoma. Maybe next year. Keep on Truckin'!

Hello Sam, The hills around Crooked Creek are full of large hardwoods that are pretty colorful this time of year. The creek is fine with an abundance of fish if you know where to wet a line.
Yep, I go through Indianapolis, St. Louis, Joplin, Tulsa, Ok. City, Amarillo, Clovis, Roswell and El Paso. I know the route by heart and don't need a map anymore. I take a GPS and follow it just to be safe. If you have the urge to see some country Sam, do it.

Olderndirt wrote:

<quoted text>
Hello Sam, The hills around Crooked Creek are full of large hardwoods that are pretty colorful this time of year. The creek is fine with an abundance of fish if you know where to wet a line.
Yep, I go through Indianapolis, St. Louis, Joplin, Tulsa, Ok. City, Amarillo, Clovis, Roswell and El Paso. I know the route by heart and don't need a map anymore. I take a GPS and follow it just to be safe. If you have the urge to see some country Sam, do it.

Just got back from branson, the trout fishing there is great and the trees are in full color. The fishing here in oklahoma
is slow because of all the rain, so don't waste your time wetting a hook here right now. the trees are just starting to turn now. you have a great trip.

ANDY wrote:

<quoted text>Just got back from branson, the trout fishing there is great and the trees are in full color. The fishing here in oklahoma
is slow because of all the rain, so don't waste your time wetting a hook here right now. the trees are just starting to turn now. you have a great trip.

Hey Andy, I've been contemplating taking some side trips going through Missouri and Oklahoma to do some fly fishing. I don't have a clue where to go. I assume there should be some decent trout water around the Bull Shoals area. What do you think?? Any tips would be appreciated.

Olderndirt wrote:

<quoted text>
Hey Andy, I've been contemplating taking some side trips going through Missouri and Oklahoma to do some fly fishing. I don't have a clue where to go. I assume there should be some decent trout water around the Bull Shoals area. What do you think?? Any tips would be appreciated.

Bull Shoals is good but Lake tennicomo (sp) was the best for us we caught our quota every day that we were there. They use a lot of power bait there, and i've caught trout on both flys and power bait.Good Luck.

ANDY wrote:

<quoted text>Bull Shoals is good but Lake tennicomo (sp) was the best for us we caught our quota every day that we were there. They use a lot of power bait there, and i've caught trout on both flys and power bait.Good Luck.

Thanks ANDY, I looked it up on the net and intend to fish the Lake Teneycomo area next year. I like the hip boot and fly fishing more than flat lake water.

I loved and still do love New Kensington,PA. I was born and raised there. I enjoy very much seeing pictures of it and hearing about the nightspots we had the Latesus Club,the Bachlors Club all the nightspots and good bands and danceing over at Cheswick with the huge Light. Those were the days. The big parades I was a majorette and I graduated in 1951, got married and moved to Calif, now I reside in Las Vegas, NV. Let's keep this going . Those were the best years of my life all the movie theaters, the Libery,Circle, was beautiful, The Ritz theater, Dattola. Every New Years Eve.we stood in line at the Liberty theater to see the Midnight Show.

maryann ameris wrote:

I loved and still do love New Kensington,PA. I was born and raised there.

Any relation to Tony Ameris?

To Tom R.in Cleveland,Ohio Yes ,he is my brother am sorry to say," I had no say about that.'' He could never hold a candle to my older brother Jimmy Ameris,who passed away. Tony is Trouble with a capital T. THANKS FOR GETTING IN TOUCH.

maryann ameris wrote:

To Tom R.in Cleveland,Ohio Yes ,he is my brother am sorry to say," I had no say about that.'' He could never hold a candle to my older brother Jimmy Ameris,who passed away. Tony is Trouble with a capital T. THANKS FOR GETTING IN TOUCH.

I remember him as a small but tough kid. He had a German Shepard for a while, like he needed one.

Dear Tom R. In Akron,OH. You got a hearty laugh out of me " Like he needed a German Shepard. Right" Like I said, I don't like him at all.However, I must say he is good at Karati and protecting himself.

Mary Ann:
I have a good friend, Monti Rock III, who lives in Las Vegas. He is an entertainer - I run a web site and a blog for him. He has all of the latest news in Vegas.