Preservation association to sponsor video contest
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Kevin Kutz's "The Ship Hotel" is part of the collection at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
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The Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh has launched a new contest for the best short videos about historic preservation in the nine-county Southwestern Pennsylvania region. Students under the age of 25 are eligible to compete for a total of $500 in prizes, including a $250 first-place award.
YPA is inviting students to not only produce a short video about a historic site in their community that is threatened and in need of preservation, but also post the video on YouTube by March 20. Examples of sites that could be featured include an old hotel, church, movie theater or Main Street commercial area. The video must include a description of the threat to the site and a proposed solution. Interviews with community leaders, bankers, funders and elected officials are encouraged. Videos will be accepted from the following counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Washington and Westmoreland.
The winning videos will be featured at the upcoming Preserve Pittsburgh Summit, to be held 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 28 at the Frick Fine Arts Building, Oakland. Deadline for the contest is 5 p.m. March 20. State Sen. Jim Ferlo is sponsoring the cash awards.
Details about the video contest and Preserve Pittsburgh Summit are available on YPA's Web site, www.youngpreservationists.org.
Historian Brian Butko, who has written three books about the Lincoln Highway, is working on a book about one of its best known and most lamented landmarks: the Ship Hotel, destroyed by fire in the early morning hours of Oct. 26, 2001.
The heyday of the S.S. Grand View Point Hotel, better known as the Ship, was in the 1930s. Built in 1932 near Bedford as a hotel with a dining room, guest rooms and observation decks, it flourished until the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940. Although it had been closed for about 20 years before the fire, it remained a sentimental favorite of many.
Butko, editor of Western Pennsylvania History magazine, is looking for recollections about the Ship, which boasted of its views of "three states and seven counties."
"The Ship was larger than life; people adored it," he said. "They recall their honeymoon stay. Or being stranded there in a snowstorm, or just a Sunday drive with the family. I'd like to hear from visitors or workers who have an interesting story."
Contact him at brian@brianbutko.com or care of the Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222.
First Published January 20, 2009 11:10 pm
