912 Galveston Avenue

Ownership

Age of the House

Pittsburgh city directories published during the early 1870’s show that Reed & Craig was a carpentry firm with a shop located on Beech Avenue near Irwin Avenue (now Brighton Road). The firm was a partnership of William Reed of 69 Lincoln Avenue (840 North Lincoln Avenue) and John Craig of 101 Webster Avenue (now Sherman Avenue; house demolished), Allegheny City.

It is likely that Josephine N. Dale hired Reed & Craig to build her new home on Grant Avenue. The $1,400 that Josephine N. Dale borrowed from Reed & Craig, while much lower than the probable construction cost of 912 Galveston Avenue, may have been the unpaid balance of of the construction cost of 912 Galveston Avenue.

912 Galveston Avenue was originally known as 140 Grant Avenue. Most older Northaide neighborhoods received their current street numbers in 1899 and 1900. Grant Avenue became Galveston Avenue after the 1907 annexation of Allegheny City by the city of Pittsburgh, when many street names were changes to avoid duplication.

Through the Years

Residents

Josephine Dale

U.S. census records, Pittsburgh city directories, and biographical materials provide information on Josephine Dale, the first owner of 912 Galveston Avenue, and members of her family.

Occupants in 1900

George Geyser, a 25-year-old pattern maker, and his wife Mame, 20, had been married three years and had no children. Both had been born in Pennsylvania to parents born in Pennsylvania.

Aldus Fay, a 27-year-old clerk, and his wife Charlotte, 33, had two daughters: Helen E., three, and Marian R., two months. All family members had been born in Pennsylvania.

Occupants in 1910

Elmer H. Moore, 30, was a traveling stationery salesman. He and his wife of three years, Lillian, 19, had both been born in New Jersey.

Alonzo Curren, 30, was a machinist who was unemployed at the time of the census and had been unemployed during all of 1909. He and his wife Mamie, 22, were natives of Pennsylvania.

Joseph Ostrow, 23, was a ladies clothing salesman who had been born in Pennsylvania to Russian immigrant parents. His wife Lucy, 18, had been born in Massachuetts. The cojiple had been married one year.

Harry Husser, 34, a hotel chef, had been born in Germany and immigrated in 1900. Rose, 32, his wife of less than one year, had been born in Germany and immigrated in 1904.

The 21st Century

After enjoying life in Europe for 37 years as Department of Defense Overseas School (DoDDS) teachers, Carole and John Robert purchased the house in 2006. Extensive renovations occurred during their first year in their new home. Wooden floors were laid to replace the carpeting on the first two floors, new windows were installed, and the kitchen was remodeled. John and Carole refer to 912 Galveston as “their European cottage” because nearly all the furnishings in the house were purchased during their many years living overseas.

Neighborhood Development

912 Galveston Avenue was built several years after the area around Galveston and Beech Avenues began to develop as a desirable alternative to older sections of Allegheny City like the East and South Commons and lower Federal Street, which contained residential, commercial and industrial land uses.

Supplementary Material

• a copy of an 1852 map of Allegheny City and adjacent areas
• a copy of an 1872 plat map of part of Allegheny West, including Galveston Avenue
• a copy of a 1910 plat map of part of Allegheny West, including Galveston Avenue
• information on Josephine N. Dale, from The Social Mirror (1888), a book about prominent Pittsburgh area women
• the obituary of Josephine N. Dale, from the Pittsburgh Bulletin, a society magazine, August 27, 1898