Philanthropist
Throughout the late 19th century, Mary Schenley made many gifts of money to churches and public schools in Pittsburgh.
More significantly, perhaps, she donated land to the city of Pittsburgh in 1889 for Schenley Park; to Western Pennsylvania Institute for the Blind for a school in 1890; and in 1895, she gave the oldest relic in Pittsburgh, the old Blockhouse at the Point, which is the only remnant of Fort Pitt, and adjoining property, to the Daughters of the American Revolution.
She also donated the 19 acres (77,000 m2) of land on which the Carnegie Institute, a gift of Andrew Carnegie, was built. Carnegie paid visits to Mary Schenley at her villa, Mont Fleury, at Cannes, in the south of France.
Mary Schenley died in London in 1903. Her Pittsburgh real estate holdings at the time were worth more than $50 million. Much in the city of Pittsburgh still bears her name, including Schenley High School, Schenley Hotel, Schenley Bridge, Schenley Plaza, Schenley Quadrangle, Schenley Tunnel, and the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain.
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