Rarely Seen Hill District (Pittsburgh, York: houses, neighborhoods, construction)

[ainulinale]

Pittsburgh's Hill District is composed of the neighborhoods: Crawford-Roberts, Middle Hill, Terrace Village, Bedford Dwellings and the Upper Hill. In the 30s through the 50s the Hill was a booming neighborhood nicknamed "The Crossroads of the World" and the last stop between New York and Chicago. In the 40s population density peaked with the neighborhoods Crawford-Roberts and the Middle Hill combining for an area nearly equivalent of Downtown Pittsburgh, yet having a population density of over 60,000 per square mile. Today, the Hill District is all but reduced to rubble, and is one of Pittsburgh's most dangerous neighborhoods.





























A chunk of Bloomfield:















From University of Pittsburgh archive.



From University of Pittsburgh archive.



From University of Pittsburgh archive.

[BrianTH]

Thanks for the pictures!

And you never know ... the Hill has a great location, and might make a comeback.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by ainulinale

Today, the Hill District is all but reduced to rubble, and is one of Pittsburgh's most dangerous neighborhoods.



.

You might be safer in the Hill than the hallways of Woodland Hills High School.

[EmEyeA]

from those last aerial photos posted it makes me wonder what could have gone wrong in the neighborhood to cause such a decline? In terms of buildings that remain it seems that maybe 1/4 has been left standing. that is a big difference even if it was 60 years ago!

[Katiana]

It was not the best area in the late 60s, when I was at Pitt. So if it was "happening" in the 50s, it went downhill very fast.

[ainulinale]

Originally Posted by EmEyeA

from those last aerial photos posted it makes me wonder what could have gone wrong in the neighborhood to cause such a decline? In terms of buildings that remain it seems that maybe 1/4 has been left standing. that is a big difference even if it was 60 years ago!

You may be right as there is only 1/4 of the population left. The Hill peaked at 48,000, now it only has 12,000. I would've loved to see that density back in the day.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by EmEyeA

from those last aerial photos posted it makes me wonder what could have gone wrong in the neighborhood to cause such a decline? In terms of buildings that remain it seems that maybe 1/4 has been left standing. that is a big difference even if it was 60 years ago!

As I understand it, part of what contributed to the decline of the Hill District were some ill-conceived development projects in the late 1950s, including some public housing projects, and most notably the construction of the Civic Arena, which required leveling a large part of the District and essentially cut if off from Downtown.

[luvlee]

I love these photos, haven't been home to the burgh in twelve years it's nice to see the old neighborhood a little.

To me it's beautiful, I can see and envision that with a little (or a lot) of TLC, the hill could come alive and be a haven for families and small minority owned business as it once was.

I lived on the hill as a teenager in the mid eighties and I was once told that it took me an hour to walk four blocks, because at seven in the morning or slightly before I had to stop and talk to every person I saw, knock on every door and say hello to everyone.

I was walking from my home on Herron at Centre avenue to my grandma's at Wylie and Junilla. But that's just the way it was back in 1985, it felt like everyone was family. Yeah it was a little run down in spots, but the love and community were undeniable...

I miss those days back when a neighborhood was a neighborhood.

[luvlee]

Does anyone have any photos of Wylie avenue, let's say circa 1983-1996

In the blocks between Herron and Chauncy?

Maybe of Flora's grill and grocery (as it was called when it opened) going up or opening day.

Or of the old drug store, where doc and his sister used to run it, right at the corner of Wylie and Junilla or of all the houses in that area before they were torn down, or of the lot on Humber way (runs behind and parallel to Wylie, between Junilla and Chauncy)

They used to have tent meetings in that lot.

I'm a nostalgia buff and I like things that are a little off the beaten path, so to speak.

[enigmakairos]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

As I understand it, part of what contributed to the decline of the Hill District were some ill-conceived development projects in the late 1950s, including some public housing projects, and most notably the construction of the Civic Arena, which required leveling a large part of the District and essentially cut if off from Downtown.

I can confirm that. Wrote a thesis on it, in fact. Pretty good summary too, so there's not much I can add without going into lots of unnecessary detail.

If you're interested in wonderful photos of the Hill District in its heyday, you can get this book, or check out the Carnegie Museum of Art's photo collections, here. They include a lot of Teenie Harris' images in addition to other Pgh collections.