Nellie Bly

Statues at PIT Airport Now on View for All

History, , , , ,
Photo by Beth Hollerich

Among the amenities at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) are three statues.

The lineup includes legendary traveler and early investigative journalist Nellie Bly, founding father George Washington, and Pittsburgh Steelers legend Franco Harris.

All three statues are here on loan from Pittsburgh’s Heinz History Center. And they are popular stops for selfies. But because the statues have been located lost post-security in the Airside Terminal, only ticketed passengers could pay the statues a visit.

Not anymore.

This week PIT moved all three historical to the pre-security Landside Terminal so that all travelers and all visitors can see the statues.

The relocation of the statues was prompted by the recent passing of Franco Harris. He died on December 20, just days before he and football fans were to mark the 50th anniversary of Harris’ now-legendary football play that became known as the “Immaculate Reception.”

After Harris died, “fans flocked to his lifelike figure in Pittsburgh International Airport’s Airside Terminal to pay their respects,” said PIT spokesman Bob Kerlick. “We received a lot of requests after Franco passed away for non-travelers to visit the statue which we could not accommodate. Now the statues are open to all.”

Want to see Nellie Bly, George Washington, and Franco Harris at Pittsburgh International Airport?

You’ll now find them behind the Information Desk near the primary TSA checkpoint in the Landside Terminal.

If you go, take a selfie and send it along to Stuck at the Airport and we’ll add it here.

Nellie Bly landing soon at Pittsburgh Int’l Airport

Aviation history, History, , ,
Nellie Bly – Courtesy Library of Congress

We take a short break from coronavirus coverage and anxiety today to give a cheer for Pittsburgh International Airport, which is celebrating Women’s History Month by putting a statue of legendary traveler and early investigative journalist Nellie Bly in the terminal.

Bly, the pen name for Elizabeth Seaman Cochran, grew up in Western Pennsylvania and in 1885 went to work for the Pittsburgh Dispatch, which is now the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She moved to New York City in 1887 to work for the New York World and wrote a groundbreaking expose of the terrible conditions at a mental institution by posing as a patient.

In 1889 she set off for a trip about the world, determined to break the fictional record of Phileas Fogg, whose journey was described by Jules Verne in his 1873 novel, “Around the World in Eighty Days.”

Bly left Hoboken, New Jersey by ship and completed the trip in 72 days, 6 hours 11 minutes and 14 seconds, traveling by horse, rickshaw, sampan, burro and other vehicles along the way.

Courtesy University of Iowa Libraries

“Round the World” board game. Courtesy University of Iowa Libraries.

Her 1890 book chronicling the adventure is “Around the World in Seventy-Two Days.”

Pittsburgh International Airport already has two statues in the terminal: George Washington and Franco Harris, a legendary Pittsburgh Steelers player.

Those statues are stationed in the PIT terminal as promotions for the city’s Heinz History Center and are popular spots for selfies.

At the end of March, to mark Women’s History Month and the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, the Heinz History Center will add Nellie Bly’s statue to the PIT terminal.

Courtesy PIT Airport. Photo by Beth Hollerich