Allegheny County Pennsylvania moved the 6,000 ton county morgue a city block in 1928 to accommodate a new county office building. And they rotated it 90 degrees too.
Two wooden causeways, similar to those used in shipbuilding, were constructed. Steel rails were placed on the causeways and metal wheels connected to beams supported the bottom of the building used by the rails.
Workers installed cribbing underneath the bottom of the morgue via the basement then used hundreds of jacks to lift the morgue from its foundation. It was an exercise in precision as one wrong move could cause the whole thing to come crashing down.
After getting the building off the old foundation, it was lowered onto the causeway where a team of workhorses slowly turned a winch, inching the building along the rails until it finally reached its new home.
All in all, the move took about three months. So what was the coroner and his staff supposed to do in the meantime? After all, people were still dying in the City of Pittsburgh. Why, his solution was to keep working in the building as it moved, of course!
Yes, you did indeed read that correctly.
the Dress-Oravetz House Moving crew came from one of the Baltic countries because they had the expertise
The coroner and his staff continued to work in the building throughout the move, conducting routine paperwork, autopsies, and inquests, all while enduring the occasional jolting and jarring of the building as it moved. It just required the building and rebuilding of ramps in order to get to the entrance. Just be sure to watch your step.
The employees continuing to work in the building posed another interesting challenge as special connections had to be made for the plumbing, sewer, water, and telephone lines. As the building moved, so did the connections.
95 years later the morgue remains in use but by a different county department. The Medical Examiner (the elected coroner position was eliminated) and the Crime Labs outgrew the available space and relocated.
The building can be seen in the movie ‘Concussion’
