Schenley Park grew from the Mt. Airy Tract, a large property inherited by Mary Elizabeth Croghan, later Mary Schenley, whose 1842 elopement to England with Captain Edward Schenley led to a legal battle over her inheritance before she regained it after her father's death in 1850. In 1889, after Edward Bigelow, Pittsburgh's first Director of Public Works, sought land for a grand park system, Mary Schenley gave the City 300 acres of Mt. Airy Tract with an option to buy 120 more on the condition that the park bear her name and never be sold; the City purchased the additional land in 1891 and later added adjoining tracts to complete the park. Bigelow, later honored with a statue dedicated in 1895 and a boulevard named for him after his death in 1916, was widely regarded as the Father of Pittsburgh Parks. Mary Schenley also gave money to Pittsburgh churches and public schools, helped fund Riverview Park, donated the Blockhouse at what is now Point State Park, gave the land for the Carnegie Institute, and died in London in 1903. Many early attractions in Schenley Park later disappeared, including a 120-foot circular electric fountain on Flagstaff Hill, the Schenley Casino with its indoor ice skating rink, and a band shell near Panther Hollow Bridge; the Casino was destroyed by fire after only 18 months of use, and in the 1960s its site was used for the University of Pittsburgh's Frick Fine Arts Building. The golf course opened in 1902 and was renamed in 2007 for Mayor Bob O'Connor. Features developed in 1907 to 1909 that still remain in some form include the Schenley Oval and racetrack, Panther Hollow Lake, and the tufa bridges in the Panther Hollow Lake area, designed by George Burke and built in 1908. The park saw another period of growth in the 1930s and 1940s under Ralph Griswold, including construction of the Anderson Bridge, which carried the Boulevard of the Allies through the park and linked Squirrel Hill to Downtown. Schenley Park also reflects the broader history of Pittsburgh's urban parks, which were created during the Industrial Revolution as places of relaxation and escape, expanded from the late 1800s until World War II, declined after the war as automobile use encouraged movement beyond city limits, and are now valued again for recreation, health, social interaction, ecological restoration, and environmental benefits such as cooler air, cleaner water, wildlife habitat, and urban beauty.
