Suburb of the week: Sharpsburg (Pittsburgh, Lebanon: sale, houses, neighborhood)

[eschaton]

Sharpsburg is an urban borough located on the north bank of the Allegheny. It is located more or less between Etna and Aspinwall, also sharing land boders with O'Hara Township (both to the north and south, due to the weird discontinuous nature of that municipality) and with a small bit of Shaler. Practically speaking, however, Sharpsburg is almost an island to itself, with the river to the south, 28 (and a hillside) to the north (and Kittanning Pike the only road crossing 28), and the roads in and out of the borough to the east and especially the west a tangled knot of onramps and offramps. Sharpsburg itself may be a pretty walkable municipality, but you can't really walk into it from the nearby boroughs easily.

Sharpsburg's origin goes back to 1826, when one James Sharp purchased 257 acres of land at a sherriff's sale in what was then part of Indiana Township. Originally building only a log cabin for himself and his wife, he later opened the land to settlers and built a church and school for new residents. In 1841 the borough applied for incorporation, which was accepted the following year, making it one of the oldest incorporated settlements in the county. Sharpsburg has among the highest concentrations of remaining early 19th century homes in the county. These are often hard to distinguish due to remuddling, but one telltale sign is the "Federalist" style of windows - a row of five on the upper story, with the first story having door placed exactly in the middle and two windows to either side - usually with dual chimneys.

Owing to its flat land near the Allegheny River and strategic location, Sharpsburg was a site of early industrialization in Pittsburgh, being a center of production for iron, brick, and glass. These were initially transported via a canal which went through the borough, which not unsurprisingly, was where Canal Street is today. Later this canal was replaced by a railroad which essentially cut Sharpsburg in half. The railroad was enough of a psychological barrier that Sharpsburg ultimately developed separate fire departments and schools for each side of the tracks. The most famous part of Sharpsburg's industrial heritage, however, is likely that this is where H.J. Heinz co. got its start. The Sharpsburg glass works once made all Heinz bottles, and Heinz's first product before he got into the ketchup business - horseradish - was bottled in his own kitchen in the borough.

In a certain way Sharpsburg was lucky, because it did not develop the mega-mills seen in Lawrenceville, South Side, Schweitzer Lock, or Homestead, which given its constrained land area would have wiped out most of the borough's residential fabric. Instead it changed relatively little after 1920, when its population peaked at just under 9,000. The town went through a steady population decline, falling to only around 3,300 today, but there was relatively little in the way of outright blight and abandonment. That said, as time went on, the town became more and more impoverished, as more and more of the remaining blue-collar workers in the borough had the means to leave for newer suburban homes in nearby suburbs.

About a decade ago, things looked pretty bad for Sharpsburg. As Lawrenceville began to gentrify, a lot of the worse elements of "old Lawrenceville" - the drug-addicts, people with mental illnesses which should have been taken care of, etc - began relocating to Sharpsburg and the other Allegheny Valley river towns, like Millvale and Etna, which were just a short bus ride away from Lawrenceville. Over just the last few years though, it's become clear that Sharpsburg has now jumped on the gentrification train as well. There are now two breweries in town - Dancing Gnome and a branch of Mt. Lebanon-based Hitchhiker Brewing. Deeplocal recently relocated from the Strip District to the borough. And a new all-vegan ice cream place is opening up soon in the business district. With a nice walkable business district, an increasing number of "gentrified businesses," a tight urban feel, decent bus service into town, and access to the same school district as Fox Chapel, it's likely only a matter of time now until Sharpsburg goes bougie. The one drawback of the borough is aside from a few enclaves (like Heinz Terrace) the housing stock is pretty "Bloomfield-like" - lots of small frame houses remuddled until all historic charm is gone. But if you don't care about that, it can be a very attractive, affordable, and increasingly up and coming place to live.

[tyovan4]

Can anyone comment on the Native American ties/history of Sharpsburg?

There is a statue of Guyasuta in Sharpsburg (and the Boy Scout camp nearby is named after him as well).
Sharpsburg is also home to St Juan Diego Parish. (Juan Diego was the indigenous Mexican who witnessed the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and Juan is the first Roman Catholic indigenous saint from the Americas... I assume this name was due to a Native American connection - not due to a Mexican connection in Sharpsburg)

Thanks to anyone who can comment, I'm interested in learning more about this.

[PGH423]

That walkable business district looks nice and so does Heinz Terrace. Thanks for the excellent write-up (as usual).

[Copanut]

The Capital of One Way Streets.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Copanut

The Capital of One Way Streets.

Indeed. I have tried to explore Sharpsburg via car, and it's basically impossible. If you want to check it out, you have to do it on foot.

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Indeed. I have tried to explore Sharpsburg via car, and it's basically impossible. If you want to check it out, you have to do it on foot.

....which is the only worthwhile way to explore a neighborhood.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by PreservationPioneer

....which is the only worthwhile way to explore a neighborhood.

I agree. But now that I have two kids, it's damn hard to do. I can't just say "honey, could you watch the kids while I wander through a neighborhood aimlessly for four hours this Saturday?"

I'd ride my bike over there, but the two bridges both suck for cyclists. Highland Park Bridge is just a giant highway onramp. The 62nd Street Bridge at least has a sidewalk, but it ends with a flight of stairs, and riding on that section of Butler to even get over there is terrifying.

[chessimprov]

Aren't Sharpsburg and Millvale very prone to flooding though? I lived near both places in 2005.

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I'd ride my bike over there, but the two bridges both suck for cyclists. Highland Park Bridge is just a giant highway onramp. The 62nd Street Bridge at least has a sidewalk, but it ends with a flight of stairs, and riding on that section of Butler to even get over there is terrifying.

This is a good point, and worth discussing that bicycle access on both sides of the river as well as bike access across the river will be important for Sharpsburg's future. It is in such a prime location that if a connection were made through Heth's run and across the river with trails running along both banks of the Allegheny, Sharpsburg could be set to be a bicyclists dream with easy access to downtown, Lawrenceville, and all of the East End.

I know there were some plans for this at one point, including a river crossing on or near a rail bridge. Am I remembering that correctly?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by chessimprov

Aren't Sharpsburg and Millvale very prone to flooding though? I lived near both places in 2005.

Some of it is. Overall the risk appears to lower than in Millvale, with a lot of the borough either no-risk or in the 0.2% annual risk chance flood hazard zone. The highest-risk area ppears to be right around the business district actually.