Edward V. Babcock

Unlike his predecessor "Joe the builder", Babcock's administration had little time to implement much policy, they were too busy dealing with the triple threat of a massive steel strike that created much social dissension and unrest, the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that hit Pittsburgh especially hard, all this while at the family dinner tables and company lunch rooms around the city the women's suffrage movement tested the strength of families and employers.

Babcock hired Paul B. Riis, a nationally prominent landscape architect, as the first director of the new Allegheny County Bureau of Parks in 1927.

Riis laid the groundwork for North and South Parks, including major landscaping and road systems.

He used layered stones, a rich palette of native plants, and winding waterways to define the park's character and create spaces "suitable for human play."

In 1932, new County Commissioners hired architect Henry Hornbostel, who had designed many of Pittsburgh's greatest buildings, as Bureau of Parks director.