my story

Hi. I’m the house on the corner of Park and Swissvale Avenues in Wilkinsburg – the one by the bus stop. Most houses can’t talk but thanks to people who care about me I have a voice. In 1875, Caroline Richmond owned this land. She and her husband David, who was an ice man, built me and their lives on this lot. Back then there was a stream that ran down Water Street - now called Swissvale Avenue and over to Montier into a pond right about where the basketball courts are now. In the winter, the pond would freeze and I remember that David’s company would chip away at it and make ice for everyone in Wilkinsburg. I really liked Caroline and David and their kids Mary, Frances, Caroline and Davie – the kids were 7, 5 and two years old when they built me and little Davie was born here – inside my walls. Caroline, David and the kids lived here for almost 30 years.