South Side Market House Celebrates Centennial By Opening Time Capsule
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The South Side Market House has been a local landmark for 100 years. The roof and interior of an earlier market house were destroyed by fire in 1915, leaving only the four brick walls.
Reconstruction produced the building that stands today.
"This cornerstone here actually fell out last spring, and we had some workers come and repair it," says spokeswoman Sarah Johnston. "And what they actually found was the original time capsule that was placed in there from 1893."
She says the time capsule will be opened in a public ceremony Saturday morning.
"Tomorrow [Saturday] is the centennial celebration, from the last time it was rebuilt in 1915," she adds. "So we are having an inside-outside street fair."
It's been 75 years since the Market House actually served was a market house. But old times die hard. Occasionally, someone will still come in requesting produce.
The building has been transformed into a recreation and senior center. Art materials fill the shelves. There's an exercise room, and a newer roof covers the second floor gymnasium, which was renovated three years ago. The gleaming floor replaces one used by company teams, long past.
Boiling sausage and the makings for halushki keep cooks busy, preparing for hungry throngs at the Saturday celebration.
"We made 197 dozen pierogies," says Sarah Coultas, president of the advisory council. She says the Market House centennial is important.
"A lot of us have been coming here since we were kids. Our fathers used to be selling fruit down here, many years ago, when you could drive your horse and buggy through the place."
You can't do that anymore, but that won't stop the South Side Market House from putting on a super centennial.
Saturday activities run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information on the South Side Market House, log on to: http://www.phlf.org/spotlightonmainstreet/buildings/building08.html
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