{"nrhp_refnum":"74001742","name":"Monongahela Incline","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Grandview Ave. at Wyoming Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsburgh","county":"Allegheny County","state":"PA","lat":40.431881977000046,"lon":-80.00522830599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-06-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A passenger inclined plane (funicular railway) on the Monongahela Incline route running from West Carson Street near the Smithfield Bridge up to Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It operates with cars on parallel tracks, hauled by cables.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Pittsburgh's inclines were central to the city's hillside housing growth, since mills occupied the river flats and left little land for homes. It describes the Monongahela Incline as a surviving working part of the city's mass transit system, one of two inclines still operating in Pittsburgh. It also notes the Carson Street station's simplified Second Renaissance Revival design.","narrative":"The Monongahela Incline is a cable-hauled passenger inclined plane linking West Carson Street near the Smithfield Bridge with Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington in Pittsburgh. The company was chartered in 1867 to build and operate it, and the line began service on May 28, 1870. Samuel Diescher, who helped build it, rebuilt the original wooden structure in iron in 1882. A parallel vehicular plane was added in 1884, and the passenger plane was electrified in 1935. Two cars counterbalance each other on a 640-foot track, climbing and descending in about a minute and forty-five seconds. The Carson Street station is a simplified Second Renaissance Revival building of brick and stone. The incline is listed for its role in hillside housing and mass transit, and for its operating history as one of Pittsburgh's inclines still in service.","period_of_significance":"1869-1882","architect_builder":"John Endres and Samuel Diescher (construction assistance); J.S. Kirk (survey); John Roebling (cable specifications)","architectural_style":"Second Renaissance Revival (simplified, Carson Street station)","criteria":[],"status_note":"In operation as part of the city's mass transit system; the 1935 vehicular incline and its stations were removed; the Grandview station is a simple wood structure.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.627552-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/74001742.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001742/dde93165cb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001742/dde93165cb-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Suckindiesel at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monongahela_Incline.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Suckindiesel at English Wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monongahela_Incline.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997824","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monongahela_Incline","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6901799"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/allegheny-county/monongahela-incline-74001742/"}