Look to your right for a raised urban plaza featuring low, square concrete planters, striking geometric pavement, and neat rows of trees. Welcome to Mellon Square! This is not just any park, it is a brilliant piece of engineering. Back in 1953, it became the very first Modernist park built completely over an underground parking garage.
Remember that gleaming aluminum skyscraper we admired a few minutes ago, the Regional Enterprise Tower? After World War Two, the Aluminum Company of America wanted to pack up and move their operations to New York. But a powerhouse banker named Richard King Mellon stepped in. He convinced them to stay by proposing that shiny new headquarters, and as a massive sweetener, he promised them this magnificent plaza right across the street. The Mellon family poured four million dollars into creating it, which is over forty-five million in today's money!
But the ground beneath these black, white, and green tiles holds even older stories. Take a look at your screen to see a bronze historical marker located in the square. In 1881, right here in a building called Turner Hall, the world's very first labor union was founded, eventually becoming the American Federation of Labor, a massive national union coalition. And forty years later? The very first live radio broadcast of a theater performance went out to the world from a stage on this exact block.
If the space feels a bit cinematic to you, you might recognize it from the 2002 thriller The Mothman Prophecies. When the park opened, its nine massive circular bronze fountain basins were the absolute largest ever cast, and you can check your app for a close-up of the beautiful water feature.
The square is open every day from six in the morning until eleven at night for you to enjoy. Take a moment to soak in this historic oasis. Whenever you are ready, we can wander over to our next stop.
