Intersection of Three Degree and Evergreen / Babcock Blvd . – Aug . 4 , 1926
History at Your Fingertips
BY NICOLE TAFE Ross Township Historical Society President , and North Hills High grad , John Schalcosky creates first-ever interactive historical map for the North Hills .
I
am an obsessive researcher of all things historic , whether that be hyperlocal history or genealogy — whatever happens to interest me at the time ,” says John Schalcosky , president of the Ross Township Historical Society , whose passion has led to the area ’ s first interactive historical map online .
Schalcosky was born in Perrysville , graduated from North Hills High School and moved to Hollywood when he was 18 to follow his dreams of becoming a film director . He later attended UCLA for Film Music Composition and Conducting , but while there he became inspired more by the “ lost ” history of the town of
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Hollywood . Once Schalcosky moved back to Pittsburgh , he made it a point to find out the answers to all his questions .
He became involved in the Ross Township Historical Society in 2009 while in his 20s and was , at that time , the youngest member of the group . He was invited to join the board of directors and was eventually voted in as president of the organization .
“ I saw a unique way to spread the history of our township through social media — which at that time was in its infancy — and how we could use the platform for so much good ,” Schalcosky recalls . The online groups have generated thousands of memories for people for over a decade now .
The idea behind his interactive historical map project was to compile the most comprehensive history of the North Hills ever created and use Google Maps as the platform to share it , marking every single historical location — from the seemingly benign things ( locations of various farms ) to major historical events ( like the invention of the Big Mac ).
“ Ever since the digital age has met with historians , most of the information contained within this map was only available on dusty bookshelves and / or in people ’ s attics ,” says Schalcosky . “ By
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