Neighborhood of the week: Mt. Oliver (Pittsburgh, Allentown: houses, safe area, elementary school)

[eschaton]

Mt. Oliver is (confusingly enough) a city neighborhood directly to the east of the independent borough of Mount Oliver, which is an enclave surrounded by Pittsburgh. The existence of this neighborhood under the current name is relatively recent. Historically, this area was (similar to the neighborhood still to its east) called St. Clair, after the long-defunct Lower Saint Clair Township. After the opening of St. Clair Village, residents of the neighborhood sought a "rebranding" and decided they would rather be associated with the (at that time) stable and middle class Mount Oliver borough. Now that Saint Clair Village has been closed, and Mount Oliver has gone downhill, who knows if this will continue.

Regardless, the current neighborhood is very small, both in geography (74 acres) and population (likely now under 500). The neighborhood is basically exclusively residential, with the housing stock varying in age from detached wood-frame houses from around 1900 up through the streetcar suburban area and Pittsburgh's unique 1950's "bunker colonial" style. There are a fair amount of vacant lots in the neighborhood (particularly closer to St. Clair), but little in the way of blighted or abandoned houses. The neighborhood has Arlington Elementary school and a few churches, but no businesses.

Although the area gets a bad rep due to being part of the Southern Hilltop, from everything I have heard it's a very safe area when compared to nearby areas like Allentown, Knoxville, Mt. Oliver Borough, or Carrick, and has been so since St. Clair Village closed. Certainly there is no immediate hope for a revival, given the modest housing stock and lack of any neighborhood amenities, but there is also no reason to think that it is going to do anything more than continue its slow population decline into a backwater, quasi-rural area.

[urbanpreppie05]

Lived there for a year at the part where Mt Oliver, Pittsburgh and Baldwin meet. Super quiet. Miss it quite a bit...

[sky329]

Small lil town... Mt. Wash next week!!!

[Katarina Witt]

Mt. Oliver is a separate borough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_...,_Pennsylvania

[Rust Belt Kid]

Originally Posted by Katarina Witt

Mt. Oliver is a separate borough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_...,_Pennsylvania

Mt. Oliver is a city neighborhood directly adjacent to Mount Oliver which is a separate borough.

Talk about making things complicated. Also impressive that such a small community could stave off annexation.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Rust Belt Kid

Mt. Oliver is a city neighborhood directly adjacent to Mount Oliver which is a separate borough.

Talk about making things complicated. Also impressive that such a small community could stave off annexation.

Well, that's interesting and something I didn't know. I used to be a visiting nurse in that area of Pgh.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by urbanpreppie05

Lived there for a year at the part where Mt Oliver, Pittsburgh and Baldwin meet. Super quiet. Miss it quite a bit...

Likewise there are some nice streets in Carrick. Some have housing very nice houses, too, and seem to have residents that care for their places. But it's what is AROUND it that ruins it, I guess.
I am so unfamiliar with the City neighborhood of Mt. Oliver, but someone once affirmed exactly what you are saying - it is actually a nice little hamlet, tucked away.

[steindle]

I grew up in this neighborhood and my parents have lived there for 34 years. It really is a pretty pleasant, relatively well-preserved little hamlet. They have a back deck on their house (which is about as big -- 2,000 sq ft -- and well-maintained as something you might find in the East End for literally 1/3 or 1/4 of the price) with nice tree cover, and in the summer it is about as quiet and breezy a place to eat dinner as anywhere in the 'burbs.

And yet it's close enough to "downtown Mt. Oliver" (Brownsville in the Borough) that I could take a 15-minute walk to the 51C or 54C, which gave me access to virtually anywhere else I wanted to go as a teenager. It had its problems, but I had a great childhood there and even as the "South Hilltop" has increasingly gained a reputation for being tough, my parents don't have any problems. Over the July 4 weekend, I took my son on a long walk around the neighborhood, past my old elementary school (Philip Murray -- now Arlington, I think?) and up and down the streets my friends used to live on (some still do), and there were a surprising number of people out maintaining their yards, renovating their houses, and waving to us. It's a far nicer place than its reputation indicates.

Re: the confusion between the City and the Borough parts: This was always very annoying, growing up. On the few occasions I had to call 911, they would ask where I was in the city, I would say "Mt. Oliver," and every single time they'd say, "Call the Mt. Oliver police." Dozens upon dozens of times as a child, I needed to explain that, no, I know that Mt. Oliver is a borough, BUT IT IS ALSO THE NAME OF AN ADJACENT CITY NEIGHBORHOOD with like 500 residents! It eventually becomes laughable how many times you need to reiterate this as a resident.

[steindle]

P.S. It is all residential now, but when I was a kid there were at least 3 stores: A beer distributor on Fisher St., a bar & restaurant on Ormsby (Lauterbach's), and a candy store on St. Joseph St. (Taft's). I just drove past the old Taft's building about a week ago and it looks like it's sadly just turned into a residence recently, and Lauterbach's became the Ormsby Cafe, which closed a year or two ago, apparently because the owner was ill. Sad to see this stuff shuttered or not used for its original purposes, but I am cautiously hopeful that Brownsville Road will Rise Again, once the progress on Warrington spills over.

I know this nostalgia for places makes it sound like I am 85 years old, but I was born in 1983.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by steindle

P.S. It is all residential now, but when I was a kid there were at least 3 stores: A beer distributor on Fisher St., a bar & restaurant on Ormsby (Lauterbach's), and a candy store on St. Joseph St. (Taft's). I just drove past the old Taft's building about a week ago and it looks like it's sadly just turned into a residence recently, and Lauterbach's became the Ormsby Cafe, which closed a year or two ago, apparently because the owner was ill. Sad to see this stuff shuttered or not used for its original purposes, but I am cautiously hopeful that Brownsville Road will Rise Again, once the progress on Warrington spills over.

I know this nostalgia for places makes it sound like I am 85 years old, but I was born in 1983.

I see - I am a little older than you, as I surmised. How? Because I remember there NOT being a "Mt. Oliver" in the city proper. It just "came about" at some point.

Can we agree - it is what it is, and that is fine? Why does it NEED to grow? It provides to its residents what they want - QUIET (ah, if only to dream). Lush greenery... Proximity to a business district that isn't half bad.

The Ace hardware store up on the main drag still has the best customer service I've ever had the pleasure of having, for a hardware store. When I moved back to Pittsburgh, and needed stuff for the new place, they were amazingly helpful and kind.

Some things are fine as they are, right? Squirrel Hill comes to mind, too. Maybe one can argue that Summer Hill can be considered perfect for its attributes.

Let me stop at Carrick and Sheridan, though....