02/13/2026
Happy Valentine/Galentine’s Day, Swissvalians. Here are a few Swissvale-y valentines for yinz. If you have more ideas, post in the comments!
( and , do you even remember coming up with some of these?? It was 3 years ago on a story question. -Laura)
♥️Bonus Valentines-ish Local History:
The last slide is a reminder of the 1915 “heart balm” case that kept Swissvale in all the local (and some national) papers for years. This story is a long-time favorite of ours, and we did a program about it at a couple years ago.
The papers described Henry Denniston as a “hermit who has for years been living a life of seclusion on his farm in Swissvale with his only companion, his “cook and pastry maker,” Charlie.
The Denniston property included all of what’s now Les Getz park plus a good bit of the surrounding area, including some of current-day Church St. The family mansion (rebuilt after a fire in 1905) is still standing on Mansion Place.
In 1915, Nettie Richardson, a hotel clerk who lived in Mt Washington and was distantly related to the Dennistons, claimed Henry had proposed to her before cutting off their engagement. She was about 40 at the time and he was 76. Nettie sued Henry for $500,000, leading to a five-year legal battle.
In the end Henry settled for $30,500 (about 500k in today money and still a lot for this kind of case) and died five years later, in 1925.
Henry and a few other Dennistons are buried in one of the fancy mausoleums right in the middle of .homewood.cemetery. Nettie is buried nearby in a joint grave with her mother.
