Towns and Nature: Pittsburgh, PA: Washington's Landing/Herr's Island

(Satellite, the island in the Allegheny River)

The island contained stockyards and slaughterhouses, then warehouses and now residential units, offices & parks. It was renamed Washington's Landing when it was cleaned up in the 1990s for residential use and when the 30th Street Bridge was built for easy access.

Note that it also has an extensive marina.

Street View, Apr 2023

Street View, Nov 2020

Street View, Nov 2022

Rather than do a Google search, I'm going to recognize that pghbridges has written a better history than I would write.

The island was settled by Benjamin Herr who operated a water powered mill in the back channel. Federal regulations required that livestock being transported by railroad must be given rest stops. Stockyards were constructed on Herr's Island. Over time, the stockyards were expanded; slaughterhouses and processing factories covered the island.
Later the stockyards were closed and replaced by warehouses. Sculling teams from local universities discovered the still waters of the back channel and used this area for training. Herr's Island was rechristened Washington's Landing by the City of Pittsburgh as part of the clean-up and rehabilitation of the former industrial brownfield site. A new 30th Street bridge was built for reliable access by vehicles.
With the raised environmental consciousness of the early 1990s, Herr's Island was rediscovered, cleared and cleaned as part of a residential and recreational development which includes a marina, recreational trails and riverside park areas.
[pghbridges]

Stockyard pens would explain the strange graphic inside the loop of track on the island. The island was accessed by B&O on the upstream end and by Pennsy on the downstream end.