Series 3: Point Park Commission Records, 1936-1943

Series 3 contains reports and research material of the Point Park Commission, which Mayor Scully created in October of 1940 for the purpose of establishing a National Historic Park commemorating the sites of Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne. The work was supported by extensive research the City Planning Department conducted from 1936 to 1938, including the collation and transcription of all changes of title to the pieces of land comprising the Point area.

At its first meeting on November 14, 1940, the Commission hired surveyor John W. Towns to complete studies designed to locate the foundations of Fort Pitt. Using the data collected by the Planning Department, Towns created plans of streets and parcels of land as they appeared over time on the sites of the forts. Beginning in January 1941, Archeologist Wesley L. Bliss led excavations with a team of workers supplied by the Works Projects Administration. The first masonry remains of Fort Pitt were found on February 2, 1942, under the northerly sidewalk of Liberty Ave just west of Barbeau St.

Part One of the Commission’s Report, which contains Wesley Bliss’s findings, was published on December 31, 1943, and includes detailed information on the archaeological, physiographical and historical background of the Point area. A projected Part Two of the Commission’s Report was to include site recommendations, construction costs, drawings, and a statement regarding the relationship between the City of Pittsburgh and the Department of the Interior toward creating a National Historic Site at the Point. Though Part Two was never published, an Appendix to Part One (Box 19, Folder 11) includes some material that was to be expanded in Part Two, including site valuations and correspondence with the National Park Service.