10/02/2026
Looking west along Carson Street, approaching the Duquesne Incline, on August 28, 1919, as compare with a similar Google Map view from March 2025.
The 1919 photo was taken from a spot just west of the southern end of the Point Bridge. Streetcar tracks can be seen veering off to the right towards a Pittsburgh Railways Car Barn and office building. Further down, the large brick building is the W. W. Lawrence Paint and Varnish Company.
An improvement project was underway along this section of Carson Street, with granite paving blocks stacked high along the side of the street to the left.
Beyond the bricks, the first building on the left is Point Bridge Station, a transit stop that also appears to be a stop on the railroad line which passes behind the buildings. Maps show a passenger platform along the tracks leading to a tunnel exiting beside the building.
Next to the Point Bridge Railroad depot is the lower passenger station for the Duquesne Incline. Opened in May of 1877, the historic Pittsburgh funicular, which runs from Carson Street up the slope of Mount Washington to Grandview Avenue, will celebrate its 150th year in 2027.
The pedestrian walkway above Carson Street that leads to the incline building was built in 1932. This safety improvement was in response to a rising number of fatal pedestrian accidents along this busy stretch of the roadway.
Two years earlier, a Pittsburgh Press study ranked Carson Street, from Steuben to Smithfield Street, as the fifth deadliest stretch of road in the city. See comments for the Press feature from July 10, 1930.
Visible beyond the incline building are some warehouses and a tall grain elevator. Off into the the distance, smoke stacks rise from the Carnegie Steel Hoop Company's Painter Mills.
Note: Next to the tunnel leading from the railroad platform to the Point Bridge Station, a second tunnel was built leading to the lower end of the Indian Trail Steps. This was an ambitious set of wooden city steps built in 1909 along the slope of Mount Washington from Carson Street to Grandview Avenue in Duquesne Heights.
With nearly 1000 steps and a length of nearly one mile, this became a popular alternative path for hilltop residents who worked in the factories below. The steps were removed in 1935. Learn more about the Indian Trail Steps here ... https://www.brooklineconnection.com/history/Facts/IndianTrailSteps.html
Vintage photo from the Historic Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection.
