{"id":2669,"date":"2012-08-07T00:18:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-07T00:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=2669"},"modified":"2015-01-07T17:22:15","modified_gmt":"2015-01-07T22:22:15","slug":"dec-5-1952-since-it-closed-in-2004-st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/07\/dec-5-1952-since-it-closed-in-2004-st\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Nicholas Church on Route 28"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tiled-gallery type-rectangular tiled-gallery-unresized\" data-original-width=\"800\" data-carousel-extra='{&quot;blog_id&quot;:1,&quot;permalink&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\\\/thedigs\\\/2012\\\/08\\\/07\\\/dec-5-1952-since-it-closed-in-2004-st\\\/&quot;,&quot;likes_blog_id&quot;:80752127}' itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\" > <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 800px; height: 643px;\" data-original-width=\"800\" data-original-height=\"643\" > <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 800px; height: 643px;\" data-original-width=\"800\" data-original-height=\"643\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/07\/dec-5-1952-since-it-closed-in-2004-st\/attachment\/2670\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"796\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"639\"> <img data-attachment-id=\"2670\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8cziiGxMV1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"936,751\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Pittsburgh Post-Gazette&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Title: 1952 St. Nicholas Church\\rSlug: TumblrHTY_1952_StNicholas.tif\\rThe Digs \\\/ Tumblr\\rDescription: Mourners gather at St. Nicholas Church on East Ohio Street for funeral of six children who died in a gas explosion in a home two doors away from the church. An explosion touched off by a minor automobile accident snuffed out the lives of six children of the Robert Mouils family Saturday, Dec. 5. 1992, but left the parents uninjured.\\rMoulis and his wife, RoseE, both 37, were dragged to safety by neighbors, but their five sons and a daughter died under tons of rubble when the three-story frame home collapsed.\\rThe blast took place shortly after midnight when a gas pipe line was broken after an automobile crashed into a wall in front of the Mouils home.\\rPlace: East Ohio Street, Pittsburgh\\rDate: 12\\\/05\\\/1952\\rRights: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\\rCreator: NA&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;1952 St. Nicholas Church&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Title: 1952 St. Nicholas Church&lt;br \/&gt; Slug: TumblrHTY_1952_StNicholas.tif&lt;br \/&gt; The Digs \/ Tumblr&lt;br \/&gt; Description: Mourners gather at St. Nicholas Church on East Ohio Street for funeral of six children who died in a gas explosion in a home two doors away from the church. An explosion touched off by a minor automobile accident snuffed out the lives of six children of the Robert Mouils family Saturday, Dec. 5. 1992, but left the parents uninjured.&lt;br \/&gt; Moulis and his wife, RoseE, both 37, were dragged to safety by neighbors, but their five sons and a daughter died under tons of rubble when the three-story frame home collapsed.&lt;br \/&gt; The blast took place shortly after midnight when a gas pipe line was broken after an automobile crashed into a wall in front of the Mouils home.&lt;br \/&gt; Place: East Ohio Street, Pittsburgh&lt;br \/&gt; Date: 12\/05\/1952&lt;br \/&gt; Rights: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette&lt;br \/&gt; Creator: NA&lt;\/p&gt; \" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8cziiGxMV1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=300%2C240&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8cziiGxMV1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=800%2C642&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8cziiGxMV1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?w=796&#038;h=639&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"796\" height=\"639\" data-original-width=\"796\" data-original-height=\"639\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" style=\"width: 796px; height: 639px;\" \/> <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <\/div>\n<div><em><strong>Dec. 5, 1952<\/strong><\/em>: Since it closed in 2004, St. Nicholas Church has been an empty, dark shell pressed hard against one of the area\u2019s busiest roads, Route 28. But for decades, the building served as a place for a community to gather for worship, to celebrate its happy times and, as was the case in December of 1952, to mourn in the wake of tragedy.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Constructed in 1900, St. Nicholas is the first Croatian church in America, and served new immigrants recruited to work in the area\u2019s steel mills and factories. Preservationists want to save the structure, but St. Nicholas Parish says it\u2019s being crippled by maintenance costs at its former church. The building\u2019s fate is being <a href=\"http:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/stories\/local\/neighborhoods-city\/pittsburgh-to-fight-st-nicholas-court-ruling-645979\/\" target=\"_blank\">appealed in court<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On a cold, rainy day 60 years ago, St. Nicholas served as a house of mourning as a shocked and saddened community passed through its doors to grieve the six children who died when a gas explosion destroyed their home, located just down the street from the church.<\/div>\n<div><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<div><em>(Post-Gazette photo)<\/em><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Order this photo at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/store.post-gazette.com\/divinity-cart\/item\/P505\/St.-Nicholas-Church-1952-Photo\/1.html\" target=\"_blank\">PG Store<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An empty, dark shell pressed against one of the busiest roads, Route 28, is now gone.<\/p>\n<p><a class='more-link' href='https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/07\/dec-5-1952-since-it-closed-in-2004-st\/'>Look at the pictures<span class='screen-reader-text'>St. Nicholas Church on Route 28<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[945],"tags":[961,970,1031,1046,1051],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8cziiGxMV1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=936%2C751&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/11\/19\/1991-worship-at-the-old-st-nicholas-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":2669,"position":0},"title":"Worship at the old St. Nicholas Church","date":"November 19, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"St. Nicholas Church hadn\u2019t been used in years, but photos of the now-demolished building are still poignant.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/tumblr_nf9obg9MCP1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C777&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2672,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/06\/dec-10-1952-st-nicholas-tragedy-children-perished\/","url_meta":{"origin":2669,"position":1},"title":"Explosion near St. Nicholas","date":"August 6, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"A big tragedy set in motion by a minor late-night automobile accident on Dec. 5, 1952.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8cxs47fu41rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=936%2C718&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2641,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/14\/may-25-1952-this-unusual-spiral-staircase-served\/","url_meta":{"origin":2669,"position":2},"title":"Twisted Carnegie Building","date":"August 14, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It was the first steel-framed skyscraper constructed in Pittsburgh.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8pgamTvGk1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=783%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2533,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/11\/march-10-1951-wabash-railroad-station-and\/","url_meta":{"origin":2669,"position":3},"title":"Wabash Railroad Station and Building","date":"September 11, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Built at the intersection of Liberty Ave and Ferry St, currently known as Stanwix St, the building served as a station of the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_ma049mwdsC1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C953&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1080,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/01\/08\/the-tragic-case-of-margaret-bankowski\/","url_meta":{"origin":2669,"position":4},"title":"The tragic case of Margaret Bankowski","date":"January 8, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"She was lying face up. 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