Braddock: A Pennsylvania town on the brink (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: real estate, violent crime)

[MrRational]

My mom was born in Wilmerding.
As a child there in the twenties getting on the trolley to Braddock was a big deal.

[Craziaskowboi]

What a lot of people don't understand about Pittsburgh's "suburbs" is that not all of them were meant to be suburbs. In the Pittsburgh area, everything located away from the rivers and major creeks is suburbia, while the little nuggets of land along the rivers are a combination of streetcar suburbs and factory towns.

Factory towns were heavily industrialized, and the factories were those towns' raison d'etre. They were the first to go into decline once suburbanization became a big trend after World War II. Nobody wanted to live near the nasty factories, and I can't necessarily blame them either. This is why the oldest of the post-World War II suburbs are located not only immediately around Pittsburgh, but also not far from the factory towns along the Monongahela River, which had more industry along its banks than the other two rivers combined. The houses in these towns are mostly substandard, essentially being the first instances of mediocre tract housing in the United States. Examples of factory towns include Braddock, Duquesne, Glassport and Clairton on the Monongahela River, Millvale and New Kensington on the Allegheny River, and McKees Rocks and Aliquippa on the Ohio River.

On the other hand, some river towns were designed to be getaways for the rich once upon a time, and they specifically shunned heavy industry. These were the streetcar suburbs. Because of the industrialization along the Monongahela River, these kinds of towns were located along the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers instead. These towns have held up much better than the factory towns, and remain some of Pittsburgh's more desirable suburbs. The houses in these towns are larger, and were built with much more care, unlike those in the factory towns. Examples of streetcar suburbs include Aspinwall, Fox Chapel and Oakmont on the Allegheny River, and Bellevue, Sewickley and Edgeworth on the Ohio River. (There are no such examples on the Monongahela River.)

For the most part, elevation dictates which areas are nice and which areas aren't so nice, and this goes for both the city of Pittsburgh and outlying areas. The higher the elevation, the nicer an area tends to be, and the lower the elevation, the less nice an area tends to be.

[Raven1976]

I don't understand why Braddock is like this when it's only 10 miles away from Pittsburgh. In relation to other cities, even a 10 to 20 mile radius is usually optimal for a quick commute to a bigger city.

I know around here everything within a 10 mile radius from NYC is packed and so is Chicago, etc.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Raven1976

I don't understand why Braddock is like this when it's only 10 miles away from Pittsburgh. In relation to other cities, even a 10 to 20 mile radius is usually optimal for a quick commute to a bigger city.

I know around here everything in a 10 mile radius from NYC is packed and so is Chicago, etc.

Two reasons...

1. Pittsburgh's population has dropped too, which means that it still has residential vacancies to absorb. It's part of why homes are such a bargain in Pittsburgh.

2. Braddock was built as a quintessential factory town, before the advent of the mass-produced automobile, with crappy tract housing built next to the nasty factory for the workers.

Really, who needs a crappy house in Braddock when you can still find a good deal on a nicer house in Pittsburgh?

[Caladium]

It's odd to think that property right on a river and within 10 miles of the downtown of a city that's actually doing pretty well wouldn't be doing better. I wonder if this town made some fateful decisions a few decades ago when other suburban areas were reinventing themselves.

[PeterRabbit]

^^^ What do you mean by a suburb reinventing itself? Can you give some examples?

[squarian]

Originally Posted by ctoocheck

Why do so many people in the video pronounce it "Bradawk"?

Primarily a local African-American pronunciation, probably derived from a southern-U.S. tendency, in turn derived from a largely now-lost regional English tendency, to place emphasis on a final vowel (e.g. BirmingHAM, Alabama vs. modern pronunciation of BIR-mi-nam, England; NorFOLK, VA but NARR-fok, England).

General Edward Braddock, born in Perthshire, likely would have spoken with a northeastern Lalands Scots accent, in which case he almost certainly would have pronounced his own name BraddICK, which is the general pronunciation of the placename in this region.

[BrianTH]

Pittsburgh has distressed sections right between Downtown and Oakland. I don't think a distressed section 10 miles down the river is all that surprising.

The difference between Pittsburgh and a lot of other older American cities is basically that for the last 25+ years, Pittsburgh has been dealing with the effects of the Steel Bust. So whereas in other cities there have been years of core area reinvestment and infill, the core of the Pittsburgh area still looks like a crazy quilt of good and bad areas.

But I expect the next 25 years in Pittsburgh to look a lot different than the last 25 years, and we are already seeing the differences. In fact, I expect Braddock will eventually be redeveloped. But eventually could be a long time.

[neurodistortion]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

In fact, I expect Braddock will eventually be redeveloped. But eventually could be a long time.

Redeveloped as in gradual revitalization or something much more dramatic like the complete teardown of the Homestead Works in favor of the development of the Waterfront, which might not be an accurate comparison but that's one form of renewal. In my opinion, just from seeing the condition of a lot of the downtown buildings still standing, a wrecking ball may be the only certainty ahead.

[PreservationPioneer]

Agree with a lot of this, Gnutella, but I just wanted to add a few things.

First of all, factory towns like McKees Rocks, Homestead, New Kensington, Braddock, Duquesne, McKeesport, etc. all had neighborhoods or streets within the town that contained grand homes. This may not be as evident today, because many of those grand Victorian homes have been torn down over the years, especially as their neighborhoods declined, but from exploring these communities I can tell you: Homestead has what remains of some very grand homes surrounding a large park. McKeesport has what remains of some very large and once-beautiful mansions, lined together along certain streets. Duquesne has a neighborhood of gorgeous, large, 1920s homes, that are still in very good condition. Living in McKees Rocks, I can tell you that while at least half of our neighborhood would probably qualify as tract housing, there is a good portion of the neighborhood that contains solidly-built, medium-sized brick four square homes. Also, on the Slopes above Island Ave are what remains of some significant homes, intermixed with the tract housing (once upon a time there were probably more). And along Church St., near St. Mary's church, are some old mansions (again, there were probably many more once). Braddock, surprisingly, has the faded remains of many old Victorian mansions. Many of these are abandoned and covered in ivy -- quite a sight! I can only imagine how many have disappeared over time. Also, I can tell you that New Kensington has some very fine streets with housing that at one time was anything but substandard.

As the fortunes of these communities fell, I'm sure the large older homes were the first to go. I think once upon a time, there were neighborhoods within these communities (especially McKeesport) that could have made Aspinwall or Oakmont look poor. So I think while it may be true that what exists in these neighborhoods today is mostly substandard, sixty or seventy years ago it may have been a different story. Just my two cents!

Originally Posted by Gnutella

The houses in these towns are mostly substandard, essentially being the first instances of mediocre tract housing in the United States. Examples of factory towns include Braddock, Duquesne, Glassport and Clairton on the Monongahela River, Millvale and New Kensington on the Allegheny River, and McKees Rocks and Aliquippa on the Ohio River.

On the other hand, some river towns were designed to be getaways for the rich once upon a time, and they specifically shunned heavy industry. These were the streetcar suburbs. Because of the industrialization along the Monongahela River, these kinds of towns were located along the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers instead. These towns have held up much better than the factory towns, and remain some of Pittsburgh's more desirable suburbs. The houses in these towns are larger, and were built with much more care, unlike those in the factory towns. Examples of streetcar suburbs include Aspinwall, Fox Chapel and Oakmont on the Allegheny River, and Bellevue, Sewickley and Edgeworth on the Ohio River. (There are no such examples on the Monongahela River.)