The Frick Park and Environmental Center is a nature park and educational building that is a perfect example of a green, energy efficient, biophilic space. Aside from its name, the casual observer would be completely unaware of the fact that the space exists because Pittsburgh’s Henry Clay Frick, a ruthless late 19th, early 20th century industrialist, supported the project from his own earnings. After he acquired much wealth in the coke and steel industries, Frick’s daughter, Helen, asked for the park as a gift to help give the children of Pittsburgh a place to enjoy nature (Standiford 302). Ironically, Frick’s capitalistic prominence that led Pittsburgh to be one of the most polluted cities in the country also funded the park and center now known for its environmental awareness and energy efficiency. This irony actually depicts the transformation Pittsburgh made from being the steel capital of the world to now being an ecologically friendly city whose priorities are much more centered around parks and greenhouses than furnaces and steel mills.
H.C. Frick, nicknamed “the King of Coke”, alongside Andrew Carnegie, primary owner of the wildly successful Carnegie Steel Company, were the forefathers behind Pittsburgh’s success in industry and helped Pittsburgh coin the nickname “the steel city” (Standiford 53). Frick started independently of Carnegie as a coke producer, making the substance that helps create steel then selling it to manufactures like Carnegie (Standiford 55). Frick gained the attention of Carnegie by his company’s success and his no-nonsense business practices. Later, the two of them partnered in the Carnegie Steel Company, a relationship that would earn them millions but also one that would end in hatred. Carnegie’s appointment of Frick as chairman of the company led to the deadly Homestead strike in 1892, an infamous day to both partners and the steel industry (Standiford 163-174). Frick’s method of maximizing company profits by minimizing labor workers’ wages was a strategy that was largely responsible for his industrial success, but resulted in the workers rebelling against the company and fighting any force that got in their way. (Standiford 57). The battle of Homestead, which put the Carnegie-Frick relationship in turmoil, eventually helped cause the end of a successful business partnership and friendship. Decades later, with the two men nearing their death beds, Carnegie reached out to Frick, hoping to settle their differences. Frick responded by saying “Tell (Carnegie) I’ll see him in Hell, where we both are going.” (Standiford 15). Aside from his stubborn business practices, Frick was also known for his relentless work ethic. He was once attacked by an enraged steel worker, surviving multiple gunshot and stab wounds, and retuning to work in less than a week (Standiford 210-211). Frick’s toughness and cutthroat behavior toward his company and employees give people varying opinions about his character and leadership. Even though former Pittsburghers may have felt Frick’s ferocity as a businessman, current Pittsburghers probably feel very differently, since they are free to enjoy Frick’s new legacy, Frick Park.
“It seemed to (citizens of Youngstown, Morgantown, or Cleveland) strange and fabulous as (the fragrance of Pittsburgh) overpowered the sulfur dioxide to which they were accustomed, and they would say to each other, “Oh to be in Pittsburgh, in beautiful Pittsburgh!”” (Long 1). This quote came from a fable called How Pittsburgh Returned to the Jungle, which told the imaginary story about how Pittsburgh transformed from a steel town to a nature town. Although the story was fake, the transformation was real, and Frick Park was both a witness and contributor to this remarkable change. Opening in 1927 with 151 acres and expanding to 644 acres in the past 90 years, Frick Park lived to see the downfall of the steel industry and helped create a city that can now be considered green (Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy 1). Not only has the park exposed Pittsburghers to nature in the traditional sense such as urban isolation, wildlife, and hiking trails, but it now includes the rebuilt Frick Environmental Center, an accurately self-proclaimed “living laboratory” (Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy 1). The environmental center replaces the old center that burnt down years ago, and serves as an educational building that teaches people of all ages how to enjoy the nature of Frick Park. The center prides itself on using both net zero energy and net zero water by the installation of solar panels and use of clever water retention systems. The building is also one of the city’s thirty-nine LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings, adding to its green contribution to Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy 1). One of the aspects the center teaches is the concept of biophilia, the idea that humans are innately attracted to nature and other living organisms (Wilson 1). With the eradication of the steel mills and the formation of places like Frick Park, Pittsburgh and Pittsburghers are now more biophilic than ever.
It is safe to say that when Henry Clay Frick roamed the streets of Western Pennsylvania over a century ago he did not view Pittsburgh as the environmentally friendly space that it is today. Frick saw the city and the people in it as tools needed to succeed in the steel industry. He could explain everything one needs to know about how steel is produced from coke and iron ore and how to under pay employees to benefit company owners, but would not know a thing about what it means to be energy efficient or biophilic. Ironically, when people hear Frick’s name today, many of them will not think about the steel industry and the polluted skies of Pittsburgh from the late 19th and 20th centuries. Instead, a lot of them will think of Frick Park and Environmental Center, the place they go to appreciate and learn about nature. Although Pittsburghers may have mixed feelings about what Henry Clay Frick did during his time as a steel industry leader, it is doubtful that anyone will feel ambivalent about the space he and his daughter left behind for all of us to enjoy.
Works Cited
Conservancy, Pittsburgh Parks. “Frick Park | A Regional Park in Pittsburgh PA.” Pittsburgh Park Conservancy. Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
Standiford, Les. Meet You in Hell Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America. N.p.: Paw Prints, 2010. Print.
Long, Haniel. "How Pittsburgh Returned to the Jungle." Notes for a New Mythology. Chicago: Bookfellows, 1926. N. pag. Web. 11 Apr. 2017
Wilson, Edward O. Biophilia. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U, 2003. ProQuest. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017.