Edward Manning Bigelow (1850–1916), Known as the “Father of Pittsburgh’s Parks”

Edward Manning Bigelow (1850–1916), known as the "Father of Pittsburgh's Parks," was an 1880 American city engineer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended Western University of Pennsylvania (today's University of Pittsburgh) as a civil engineering student. Bigelow planned major improvements in the city's infrastructure, such as new boulevards, water and sewer systems, and parks, many of them in today's Oakland neighborhood. The city engineer was transformed in 1888 into Director of Public Works, a position Bigelow held for three terms of office, first from 1888 to 1900, again between July 1901 and Nov. 1901, and then from 1903 to 1906. In 1911 the Governor of Pennsylvania named Bigelow as a commissioner of the newly formed State Highway Department from 1911 to 1915. As head of city planning in 1900, he started work on a system of grand boulevards [including Beechwood, Grant (later named Bigelow), and Washington Boulevards] to connect the urban parks he planned. Oakland as a City Beautiful Community is primarily the work of three visionaries: Edward Manning Bigelow, Andrew Carnegie, and Franklin F. Nicola. Andrew Carnegie’s gifts were the Carnegie Museums, Library, and Music Hall, and the buildings of the Carnegie Technical Schools, now Carnegie Mellon University.