What boroughs outside of Pittsburgh have lots of brick rowhouses?

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by eschaton

2. On the Ohio, there is some old brick in the McKees Rocks/Stowe area, particularly in McKees Rocks Bottoms, but frame seems to predominate here as well.

Just some of the brick row houses in McKees Rocks (this is just The Bottoms area -- most are brick):

Discovering Historic Pittsburgh: McKees Rocks: Historic Row Homes of "The Bottoms"

[Hopes]

The assessment website lists many in the late 1800s. I just scrolled through quite a few of them. I said "most" and "majority." There's X number of houses in these towns and only a small percentage of them were built in the early 1800s.

Etna didn't even exist until the early 1800s. It was called Centerville in 1826 and Stewardstown in 1838. It's boom time was 1885 to 1915. The War Streets are much older, and Allegheny City had and industrial boom much earlier. This is relevant because the booms are when most housing is built for workers.

Millvale was probably older because it was part of Allegheny City until the late 1800s. In 1870, the population was 668. That means most housing was built after 1870.

Sharpsburg has the richest and oldest recorded history of the three. By 1850, the population was 1,426.

I found these to be interesting reading:

Etna, PA History 1

Etna, PA History 2

The Borough - Facts & History - Millvale

Sharpsburg News

Sharpsburg, PA History 1

Sharpsburg, PA History 2

[aw_now_what]

The Allegheny County assessment website is completely unreliable as far as age of houses. Older houses, at least.

Millvale was never ever part of Allegheny City.

Few brick rowhouses in or around Pittsburgh predate the Civil War. The oldest brick Pennsalt houses in Natrona might be an exception, and there are a small number on the North Side and West End.

Brick rowhouse construction was much more associated with demand for land and the socio-economic status of intended residents than where bricks were being manufactured.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by aw_now_what

Millvale was never ever part of Allegheny City.

The wiki for Millvale has a link to a map saying otherwise on the Allegheny City wiki page.

[PreservationPioneer]

You really need to look at the GM Hopkins maps, Hopes, which I provided a link to. They indicate that many of these towns were densely built up with houses as early as 1886. Of course, some of these houses are long gone. Many of the very old sections of the North Side were demolished long ago. Some towns like Sharpsburg may actually have older houses than the city. I'm not saying early 1800s - those are extremely rare in and outside of the city. But I have found pre Civil War homes in many of Pittsburgh's suburban areas. In particular, there are canal era houses in the river towns, some dating to the 1820s (the Spang Mansion in Sharpsburg). Some of the brick rows in Natrona are circa 1860.

[Hopes]

I'll definitely check it out tomorrow! I always get lost when I try to find stuff in those map archives. I'll try. I promise!