Historical Society exhibit looks at how Mt. Lebanon was formed
John Conti, left, and Geoffrey Hurd, of the Historical Society of Mt. Lebanon, walk through the exhibit, "Shaping Mt. Lebanon: Why Our Town Looks the Way It Does."
"Shaping Mt. Lebanon: Why Our Town Looks the Way It Does," includes a reproduction of how a living room might have looked in one of the community's homes 100 years ago.
Relics from the 1920s and 1930s are included in the exhibit, "Shaping Mt. Lebanon: Why Our Town Looks the Way It Does."
MT. LEBANON – Most of the time, we don’t really give much thought to how our communities came to be.
The streets are the way they are. The homes are the way they are. We just traverse the streets as we carry on our daily lives and inhabit our abodes.
But an exhibit being presented by the Historical Society of Mt. Lebanon, “Shaping Mt. Lebanon: Why Our Town Looks the Way It Does,” explores how Mt. Lebanon was formed more than a century ago. Incorporated in 1912 at what was then the far reaches of the Pittsburgh metro area, it was, in the words of curator John Conti, “a premier example of an early automobile suburb.”
It was one of several turning up around the country at the time. Once a corner of Scott Township, Conti explained that Mt. Lebanon really began to grow — and take on its distinctive character — as a result of the automobile generally, and the opening of the Liberty Tunnels in 1924 specifically. In 1912, there were just six automobiles registered in Mt. Lebanon; by 1934, there were close to 4,000. Parts of the community were built with the automobile in mind, such as curving streets. Parts of Mt. Lebanon were modeled on the Kansas City, Kan., suburb Mission Hills — in fact, a neighborhood in Mt. Lebanon was given that name.
“The streets were designed to conform to the land,” Conti said. “The auto made it possible to have long streets. … They followed the contours of the land.”
The community became a refuge for affluent families who wanted to keep the grime, soot and crowds of Pittsburgh at a remove. Conti explained, while walking through the exhibit, “People who moved out here tended to have money.”
“Shaping Mt. Lebanon” also looks at the architectural styles of some of the century-old houses in Mt. Lebanon and how the design of the community drew inspiration from designs that took root in England and Germany in the 19th century, and how those ideas were imported to America.
Along with panels explaining the early days of Mt. Lebanon’s, there are also artifacts that might have been included in the township’s homes in the 1920s, including furnishings, books and a radio.
The Historical Society of Mt. Lebanon is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For additional information, go online to lebohistory.org.