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Thursday, 19 August 2010 13:55

Written by Diana Nelson Jones

In November 2008,  7101 Apple St. in Homewood wore a condemnation notice. It was a city historic landmark but its condition was precarious. The Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh and Renew Pittsburgh rallied friends and volunteers to stabilize it.

This Saturday, they need your help with some lawn maintenance and debris clean-up. Join preservationists and students from Carnegie Mellon to do a good deed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a break for lunch. Bring a snack and some water and work gloves if you have them.

This is why we care: The Apple Street home — built in 1894 — was the home of this nation’s first black opera company, the National Negro Opera Co.  Mary Cardwell Dawson founded it in 1941 after having taught hundreds of people to sing operatically at a little school of music she ran above her husband’s electrical service shop in Homewood.

She recruited singers from churches. They are elevator operators, laborers, domestics, drivers, janitors, school children. Some had to barter for lessons. One woman ironed for her as repayment.

Financially strapped, they performed operas all over the country from 1941 to 1962, when Mary died. The company went with her.

You can learn more about the work the YPA does on its website: www.youngpreservationists.org.

YPA maintains a fund for the house’s restoration. Donations can be made to the YPA NNOC Fund and sent to: Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh, 110 E. Eighth Ave., Homestead, Pa. 15120.

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