Who Built the Pyramid?

Edmund Kohler from 1927 newspaper

So who built the pyramid?

No it wasn’t Djoser or Khufu or other ancient Egyptians. We are talking about the pyramid monument that stood for a little over one hundred years on the Watch Tower Society’s plot in United Cemeteries, Ross Township, near Pittsburgh, PA.

From 1905 to 1917 the Watch Tower owned a cemetery company called United Cemeteries. Charles Taze Russell was buried there in November 1916. Most of the 90 acre site was sold at the end of 1917 to the Northside Catholic Cemetery, which adjoined their land. The Society just kept back certain small areas for their own use, the most notable one having a central monument in the middle of the plot. A seven foot high pyramid was erected in early 1920, designed to list the names of all those buried nearby.

When the Bible Students held a convention in Pittsburgh in 1919 some visited the grave and also visited the stoneworks “nearby” to see the pyramid under construction. It was natural that as well as new cemeteries springing up off what was now called Cemetery Lane, some companies would also provide monuments to order. One such company built the pyramid.

It was the Kohler Company, founded by Eugene Adrian Kohler (1865-1922). Eugene was born in Germany, came to America in 1892, was married in 1893, and was finally naturalised as an American citizen in 1917. He and his wife Lena had six children including Edmund Kohler (1894-1971), who joined the family business and eventually took it over. In the 1910 census Eugene is listed as Proprieter, Monumental Works.

Eugene died comparatively young from pulmonary tuberculosis, directly linked to his work as a stone cutter. He was buried in 1922 in the former Northside Catholic Cemetery, now known as the Christ Our Redeemer Catholic Cemetery. But it was Eugene who cut the stones for the pyramid. The monument was hollow, made up of four triangular sides leaning towards each other on a concrete base, with a capstone holding it all together. Originally it contained a casket full of books and documents and photographs as a kind of time capsule of Watch Tower progress and history. Ultimately, this “treasure” would cause the pyramid’s downfall.

While Eugene cut the stones for the pyramid, his son, Edmund, then sandblasted the sides to carve out the names of those buried nearby. When the pyramid was put together in early 1920 there were nine names inscribed over three of the four sides. As it happened, the idea was soon abandoned. More were buried there, in fact today one can safely say that the site is fully used, but no further names were ever added to the monument.

Edmund’s history is summed up in census returns from 1920 through to 1950. In 1920 he is stone cutter (monumental works), 1930 he is letter carver (monument), 1940 he is letter cutter (stone cutting company), and 1950 he is proprieter (monumental business).

On an undated business card the business is described as: Edmund Kohler, Modern Cemetery Memorials.

When he died, his obituary in the Tampa Tribune (Florida), 25 January 1971, stated the company’s title was Memorial Art Works.

In the mid-1960s, Edmund retired and the site was sold to Fred Donatelli Cemetery Memorials. They still operate there. The new company inherited some records from the Kohler business including those relating to the pyramid’s purchase and construction. However, in the early 1990s the Donatelli Company was visited by a representative of the Watch Tower Society, who was given the documents. We can be reasonably certain that the pyramid was broken into in early 1993 and the casket of memorabilia stolen. The edifice was left in a dangerous state, and it may be that the documents were needed to see how best to quickly repair it before a side fell on someone and killed them.

Move forward to recent times. The pyramid was broken into again on several occasions – probably because idiots didn’t realise the contents were long gone. It was patched up from time to time. But in 2020 the capstone disappeared (again) which held it all together. Also this time the cross and crown motifs were badly damaged on all four sides.

What was interesting this time is that someone took a photograph of the revealed space. Someone had written in the cement what appear to be the initials F K and the year 1919. Allowing for cement dust to encroach on this in part, we can reasonably assume that the Initials were E K.

Was that Eugene, or more likely Edmund? Yet again the whole structure was in a dangerous state, and the decision was ultimately taken that enough was enough and it was to be taken down and taken away.

It was finally taken down on September 1, 2021, and now lives on in photographs, as a time capsule of how things once were. What was nice to see is that the nine names on the pyramid sides - that disappeared with it - have been restored on simple stones now placed in the same area.

(With grateful thanks to Corky Donatelli who provided valuable information and sent me on my journey and James S Holmes, Watchtower of Allegheny Historical Tour, for the modern photographs)