Christopher Gist, the frontier scout, guided a young George Washington through the wilderness during the 1700s and saved the future president’s life twice. Seneca chief Guyasuta accompanied Washington on his expedition to Fort Duquesne and fought a losing battle to preserve Indian land and culture.
For more than 50 years, 12-foot tall sculptures of Gist and Guyasuta adorned a Manchester Bridge portal and welcomed people to the North Side. The bridge, which linked Downtown to Manchester, opened in 1915; four decorative sculptures were added to the portals in 1917.
After the bridge was demolished in 1970, these classical bronze sculptures were saved, exhibited outside the old North Side Post Office for many years, then stored. After a gentle cleaning that left their Statue of Liberty-green patina intact, they were unveiled Thursday in a new rectangular stone plaza at Art Rooney Avenue and North Shore Drive.
Key players in saving part of the city’s art history were Arthur J. Rooney II, president of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and his father, Daniel M. Rooney, chairman of the team and former U.S. ambassador to Ireland. For more than a decade, the four figures from the bridge were stored at Heinz Field.
“We grew up with this marvelous artwork,” said Mrs. Patricia Rooney, the wife of Dan Rooney, before the ceremony began.
“It’s where they belong,” added Arthur Ziegler, president of Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which owns the figures and agreed to have the Pittsburgh Steelers display them so long as the team maintains them.
Many of the 60,000 fans who attend games on Steelers Sundays cross the intersection, so the plaza’s five stone benches may prompt some to meet in front of Gist’s rifle or Guyasuta’s bow.
The plaza, which offers an excellent view of the city’s three rivers and Point State Park fountain, is next to Stage AE and in the shadow of Heinz Field. Now that they have returned to the North Shore, Gist and Guyasuta are just across the street from the sole remaining pier of the Manchester Bridge, which frames the Fred Rogers statue by Robert Berks.
Created by New York sculptor Charles Keck, the two sculptures are backed by a Cor-Ten steel wall; the installation is softened by new plantings of maples, shrubs, ornamental grasses and Kousa dogwoods.
One of the happiest audience members was Tom Averell, who is in his 80s, grew up on the North Side and used the Manchester Bridge.
“I walked across it. I didn’t have a car,” recalled Mr. Averell, adding that a wooden ramp at the end led to Fort Pitt Boulevard.
About 15 years ago, Mr. Averell, who lives in Ross, worked as a gofer at the Steeler alumni golf tournament held at Diamond Run Golf Club in Ohio Township. Mr. Averell asked Arthur J. Rooney II about the fate of the Manchester Bridge portals and later showed him a 1970 newspaper article about the bridge and the four sculptures at its portals. (The other two sculptures are Joe Magarac, the mythical steelworker, and Jan Volkanik, hero of coal miners.)
Mr. Rooney and Mr. Averell looked for Gist and Guyasuta in North Side warehouses. One day, Arthur Rooney II called his friend to say that all four sculptures were being stored at Heinz Field. In May, he called Mr. Averell again to invite him to Thursday’s ceremony.
Karamagi Rujumba, a spokesman for Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, said his organization is still working with the Manchester Citizens Corporation to find a permanent home for the figures of Joe Magarac and Jan Volkanik.
Marylynne Pitz: mpitz@post-gazette.com; 412-263-1648 or @mpitzpg.
First Published: July 8, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
Updated: July 8, 2016, 4:55 a.m.
