We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Pittsburgh's City Council voted unanimously to designate Howe Spring (Shady Side), Voegtly Spring (Spring Hill), and Catahecassa Spring (Schenley Park) as City Historic Landmarks. The move caps our efforts to have the springs designated and recognizes the importance of each spring as well as the dozens of springs that once dotted the landscape through each of Pittsburgh's neighborhoods.

While many springs, like Poland Springs and Deer Park, are nationally designated these exist in an entirely rural setting. With this designation, Pittsburgh becomes the only major metropolitan city in the country with historically designated springs. This is a product of our unique geography, hydrology, and history of philanthropy.

So what's next? There's more work to do!

Over the next year we'll be working to nominate more springs, most notably in Oakwood and in Lawrenceville. And we also have progress to make on restoration because of the three nominated, water only flows through Voegtly Spring. Alterations to Howe Springs and Catahecassa Spring have been made over the years to specifically stop the flow of water so we will continue to work with our partners to ensure they're restored to their former glory.

More on that shortly but for now, let's all take a moment in this unusual spring-like weather to revel in Pittsburgh's latest landmarks!

Many thanks to Pittsburgh CitiParks, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the Spring Hill Civic League, Chatham University Archives, the University of Pittsburgh Archive Service Center and all of our other partners who made this nomination possible.

A special thanks to Councilman Gilman, Councilwoman Harris, and Councilman O'Connor for being so supportive of their constituents and the unique history of their Districts.

And let's not forget, the first day of Spring (March 20th) is just around the corner...