Suburb of the week: Oakdale (Pittsburgh, Carnegie: homes, school district, landlord)

[eschaton]

Oakdale is a small (0.47) square mile borough located to the west of the city of Pittsburgh. Nestled between North and South Fayette, it is home to around 1,450 people.

Oakdale was incorporated in 1892. Very little information is available about it online other than some local disasters, like a 1918 TNT explosion that killed 200 people in a factory. It appears that the borough went through two major population booms, one up until the 1920s, and a second in the 1960s. More recently, the Borough apparently suffered damage due to heavy flooding during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, which caused much of the borough to be evacuated and many local businesses to be destroyed.

Looking on streetview, Oakdale appears to have more of a "rural" looking building typology than the "small city" look more common in the old boroughs of Allegheny County. Some streets do have some nice "grand old homes" however.

I honestly don't have too much else to say here, other than my former landlord lived here.

[svband76]

Oakdale falls into the little lost country-ish towns, like Rennerdale. Oakdale is rather close to the great quiet Panhandle Trail which runs from Carnegie to Weirton WV.

[Copanut]

Not a bad little area, small town feel. My wife and I pass there riding the Pan Handle Trail.

[okaydorothy]

Its a cute little place. I walk there quite a bit when the weather is good. Its South Fayette school district.

[guy2073]

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

Its a cute little place. I walk there quite a bit when the weather is good. Its South Fayette school district.

I always thought it was West Allegheny school district

[lifepgh2op]

Lots of homes in South Fayette Township have an Oakdale mailing address, but the Oakdale Borough (proper) is actually in West Allegheny School District.

Oakdale has a small-town rural feel, with a few popular businesses located near the Panhandle Trail, such as Helicon Brewing and Pepperoncini's Restaurant. There's a funeral home, diner, gas station, spa, PNC Bank, and a handful of other walk-able businesses in the "downtown" area.

[okaydorothy]

Originally Posted by guy2073

I always thought it was West Allegheny school district

Sorry. Yes, many of the homes are West Allegheny, however, some are also South Fayette.

[shadowfax]

My late husband used to work for a small custom sign manufacturing company in Oakdale. The company was called Walbridge and they made porcelin coated steel letters and signs. The place jsut looked like a run down garrage and the owner used it for a tax write off. He treated his employees pretty well and my husband enjoyed working there.

Many of those signs are still to be seen around the area. They went out of business years ago but I recently drove past the area and the building is still there and in much better shape. There is a tree on the side of the road that is a well known landmark, It has a bole on it that looks like a moose's nose.