Cleaning Herron Hill Reservoir

Herron Hill Reservoir was drained for repairs in May 1965. (Credit: The Pittsburgh Press)

Workers performing repairs at Herron Hill Reservoir in May 1965. (Credit: The Pittsburgh Press)

Workers performing repairs at Herron Hill Reservoir in May 1965. (Credit: The Pittsburgh Press)

Herron Hill Reservoir was drained for repairs in May 1965. (Credit: The Pittsburgh Press)

Standing in roughly the same spot 49 years later, the water and other tower still comprise the view looking northeast. (Credit: Ethan Magoc/Post-Gazette)

The Cathedral of Learning can be seen at various angles from the top of Herron Hill. (Credit: Ethan Magoc/Post-Gazette)

A wide-angle look at Robert E. Williams Memorial Park and the Pittsburgh skyline in the distance. (Credit: Ethan Magoc/Post-Gazette)

A view of Downtown Pittsburgh and the Hill District looking west from the reservoir atop Herron Hill. (Credit: Ethan Magoc/Post-Gazette)

Most Pittsburghers would say Mount Washington offers the best view of their city.

Maybe so, but as Post-Gazette columnist Brian O’Neill wrote this week, Observatory Hill’s Brashear Reservoir is actually Pittsburgh’s highest elevation point at 1,370 feet. He found the elevation ranking doesn’t necessarily provide the best view of the skyline and surrounding area.

Reader Mike Cornell responded to his column: “Brian, you had the right idea but the wrong reservoir. Try the reservoir in Robert E. Williams (Herron Hill) Park.”

At The Digs, we made good on his suggestion and visited the park as the sun was setting.

It’s centered in the Upper Hill and offers equally impressive views to the north, south, east and west — an advantage over Mount Washington or the West End, where one’s eye is drawn toward the Golden Triangle.

The reservoir itself was built in the 1880s and now holds 14 million gallons, serving neighborhoods that include Bloomfield, Garfield, the Hill District, Point Breeze, Squirrel Hill and upper Oakland. In 2004, City Paper’s Chris Potter labeled the 19th-century construction “a desperately needed improvement for a rapidly expanding city.”

From 1920 through 1964, the city did not clean the reservoir’s bottom. Leaks developed and minor earth slides resulted, leading to a $150,000 repair job ($1.2 million in 2014).

The photos above — taken in the spring of 1965 — reveal the reservoir as it’s not often seen.

That is especially so today, when a fence and tarp-like covering extends across the two-acre space.