The National Aviary began as part of the Pittsburgh Aviary-Conservatory, built by the city in 1952 on the site of the former North Side Conservatory. Initially consisting of a single structure of 3,640 square feet, a 1967 expansion increased space to 25,000 square feet, including the "wetlands room." Pittsburgh's dwindling urban tax base forced the city to cease funding the institution in 1991.
On October 27, 1993, by declaration of the U.S. Congress, the Pittsburgh Aviary was designated honorary national status and renamed the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. This was later signed by President Bill Clinton on November 8, 1993. A successful capital campaign was undertaken in 1995 to raise funds for essential renovations, completed in 1997, that thoroughly modernized the facility. In January 2005, the National Aviary created the Department of Conservation and Field Research, which so far has mainly focused on restoring bird populations in foreign countries with histories of extreme environmental degradation.
From 1826 to 1880, the Aviary’s location on the North Side was occupied by Western Penitentiary, the so-called sister to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. The prison was alleged to be less brutal than its notorious counterpart.
The Aviary site touched American history again when, in August 1863, it was pressed into service to house Confederate prisoners of war.
Cavalrymen serving under Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan were captured after a 1,000-mile raid that ran from Tennessee to northeast Ohio. Ignoring orders from Robert E. Lee, Morgan and nearly 2,500 troops destroyed bridges, disrupted railways, and waged a campaign of terror, seizing food and supplies as they tore through the countryside. Morgan’s Raid made it farther north than any other Confederate incursion in the Civil War, ending with capture by Union forces about 40 miles from Pittsburgh. (Despite his defeat, Morgan’s Raid turned the Kentucky enslaver into a daring folk legend, though his memorial in Lexington was relocated in 2018.)
More than 100 of “Morgan’s Men” were held in Western Penitentiary, with various accounts of deaths that winter and an escape attempt. A list of the “rebel prisoners” names was published in the Daily Pittsburgh Gazette, noting almost all were officers hailing from Kentucky. The soldiers were transferred to a New Jersey military fort seven months later, “well-clothed” and “looking hale and hearty,” the Pittsburgh Gazette wrote, in March 1864.
Since its opening and reopening (which also required unearthing a subterranean dungeon), people have experienced odd happenings in the building. In Haunted Western Pennsylvania, Patty A. Wilson reports Aviary staff have seen “shadowy figures that dart around” and heard “phantom footsteps through the halls” and banging noises in the basement. Birds react to unseen phenomena. Radios malfunction. In the 2013 book, Wilson recounts an oft-repeated story from a staff member who was preparing birds’ food in the morning and saw a radio flip on by itself, its dial moving “as if a ghostly hand was turning it.”
In the early morning and after closing, shadows have been seen, footsteps have been heard, and loud bangs coming from the basement ring in the staff’s ears.
Staff have the feeling of being watched as they go about their duties, caring for the birds.
Unseen spirit presences have been sensed in the hallways and in the atrium as well.
In the kitchen where staff prepare the birds’ food for their diet, the radio turned itself on and off in front of a female staff member.
Shadowy figures dart around the building.
Phantom footsteps are heard throughout the halls.
Banging noises are heard coming from the basement.
An employee witnessed a radio turning on by itself and something changing the channels.
