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39-432: As the region formerly known as the city of Allegheny grew in the early 18th century from a borough of hundreds to a city of thousands, people including many German immigrants began to settle in the valley between Nunnery Hill and Spring Hill . The corridor became a dense offshoot of Allegheny's Deutschtown section, with residences developing alongside factories and other industrial structures. Mass transit first arrived in

78-409: A "Greater Pittsburg" in a special election held on June 12, 1906 and was effected on December 9, 1907, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court 's landmark decision Hunter v. City of Pittsburgh handed down on November 19 that year. It was approved by the federal government in 1911. The annexation was controversial at the time, as an overwhelming majority of Allegheny City residents were opposed to

117-487: A $ 65 million project by Alcoa Properties, Inc. The construction project razed about 518 buildings (including the Boggs & Buhl department store) - many of them taken by eminent domain - to make way for 2 professional buildings, 4 apartment complexes totaling 840 units, 50 townhouses, a shopping mall, and a 3-acre (12,000 m ) public square. The public square was the object of an international design competition sponsored by

156-557: A 3000-acre tract of land north of where the Allegheny River merged with the Ohio River . John Redick created an initial town plan for Allegheny City - which featured 36 city blocks surrounded by a common grazing area - the following year. That initial 36-block area is today's Allegheny Center. It is still surrounded on three sides by the former grazing area, now a public park called Allegheny Commons . On either side of this park are

195-523: A bus garage. By the middle of the 19th century, the "Made in Allegheny" label could be found not only on basic iron but on rope, plows, cotton cloth, wool, food, paper, paint, steam engines, wagons and carts, meat, soap, candles, lumber, linseed oil, furniture and a host of other diversified products. Railroad lines were built along the north side of the Allegheny for the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago and

234-452: A good attorney." Allegheny City Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh , with its southwest border formed by the Ohio River , and is known today as the North Side . The city's waterfront district, along

273-564: A highway. Public planning meetings for the East Street Valley Expressway, as the project came to be known, commenced in 1963 and continued through the decade, during which time a highway cut through the Manchester neighborhood and some 850 families and dozens of businesses fled the wrecking ball in the newly-dubbed Allegheny Center . Government planners thus faced heightened resistance from local residents — especially members of

312-487: A hub for those residents of what was now Pittsburgh's North Side . But the area deteriorated as: 1) Allegheny's wealthiest residents, who had founded Allegheny Country Club in 1895, moved the club to Sewickley in 1902 and began moving their residences along with it; 2) the Great Depression caused an economic slowdown; and 3) rationing during World War II prevented much investment in the buildings. As one example of

351-630: The Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny in Allegheny City. St. Anthony Chapel Built on Troy Hill between 1880 & 1892 by Father Suitbert Mollinger, the chapel houses the largest collection of religious relics outside of the Vatican and features life sized Stations of the Cross statues. Allegheny was the location of Exposition Park and Recreation Park , which were the earliest home fields of

390-531: The National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The Teutonia Männerchor is a private membership club with the purpose of furthering choral singing, German cultural traditions and good fellowship. The club features a number of heritage activities and celebrations, including choral singing in German and folk dancing. The Priory is the name for two historic landmarks – the 1852 St. Mary's German Catholic Church and

429-584: The North Side Study , and just as the fervor for urban expressways had already begun to wane, civic leaders including Mayor Richard Caliguiri, Governor Dick Thornburgh, and Pittsburgh Steelers owner and Northsider Art Rooney celebrated the expressway's groundbreaking. Optometrist and HEART organizer Marty Krauss told a reporter, "I can assure you that the people celebrating today live comfortably. They live in places like Mt. Lebanon or Fox Chapel. They are not threatened by relocation. If they would be, they could get

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468-824: The Old Post Office Building , and the Buhl Planetarium buildings were not demolished. Major portions of the neighborhoods of Allegheny West , Manchester , Central Northside , California-Kirkbride ( Old Allegheny Rows ), and East Allegheny are listed on the National Register of Historic Places , including the Mexican War Streets in Central Northside. Allegheny was an industrial city and had numerous commercial areas, churches, and social organizations, packing houses, tanneries, soap factories and glue factories that provided opportunities for employment to

507-701: The Pittsburgh Pirates professional baseball team (founded as the Allegheny Base Ball Club). On the North Side of Pittsburgh today are PNC Park , home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Acrisure Stadium (formerly Heinz Field), home of the Pittsburgh Steelers . These facilities replaced Three Rivers Stadium , which was the shared home of both teams. The Felix Brunot mansion on Stockton Avenue

546-530: The Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority . The entire Allegheny Redevelopment Area encompasses approximately 79 acres (320,000 m ) on the North Side, about a half-mile from downtown Pittsburgh. The project converted what had been an open, walkable business district into an enclosed mall called Allegheny Center Mall that had few pedestrian entrances and sat above an underground parking garage. The central portion of East Ohio Street

585-571: The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad railroads in Allegheny. When workers in Pittsburgh struck against the Pennsylvania Railroad after wage cuts in July 1877, railroad workers on these lines also went on strike. The Teutonia Männerchor Hall in the East Allegheny (Deutschtown) neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a building constructed in 1888. It was listed on

624-748: The 19th century to 1907, Allegheny Center was thus the hub of downtown Allegheny City . The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh (consisting of the old Allegheny Post Office and Buhl Planetarium joined by a 2006 addition) is located within it, as is the old Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny (now the New Hazlett Theater and the Children's MuseumLab). Allegheny Center is also home to the National Aviary , situated within West Park . After 1907 (when Pittsburgh annexed Allegheny City ), this area continued to be

663-497: The Allegheny and Ohio rivers, became Pittsburgh's North Shore neighborhood. The area of Allegheny City included the present Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Allegheny Center , Allegheny West , Brighton Heights , California-Kirkbride , Central Northside , Chateau , East Allegheny , Fineview , Manchester , Marshall-Shadeland , North Shore , Perry South , Spring Hill–City View , and Troy Hill ; most of Perry North ; and parts of Northview Heights and Spring Garden . Allegheny

702-580: The East Street Valley. By 1981, 805 families and individuals had been relocated and 134 business had been relocated or closed. Meanwhile, 133 families, 130 individuals, and 88 businesses still required relocation. The turmoil and heartache of relocation for residents, many of whom were working class, was compounded by deindustrialization and rampant unemployment in the Pittsburgh region during the 1970s and 1980s. On June 16, 1982, nearly three decades after

741-533: The Highway Emergency and Relocation Team, or HEART, who sought fairer treatment and better recompensation for affected property owners — as well as from historic preservationists, who fought for a route alteration unveiled in 1974 that would spare St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church . There was relatively little remonstration against the expressway itself. In 1963, PennDOT estimated that there were either 480 or 640 families living within proposed rights-of-way in

780-538: The Lower North Side in the image of a prosperous, car-friendly, " towers in the park " city center began as early as 1939, when a local coalition called the Federation of Civic Bodies advocated for slum clearance, street improvements, and real estate development. Plans coalesced further in 1954 with the publishing of the North Side Study . Again, planners and business leaders expressed their intention to overhaul much of

819-488: The Lower North Side's built environment in order to remove blight, increase commerce, reduce traffic congestion, and provide more parking. They proposed several new highways, one of which would connect car-owning suburbanites to Downtown Pittsburgh and the North Shore via the East Street Valley. Though it was not explicitly stated within the North Side Study , most if not all of the valley's residents would be displaced by such

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858-546: The University of Pittsburgh for education, astronomical research, and public lectures and tours. Allegheny Center (Pittsburgh) Allegheny Center is a neighborhood on Pittsburgh 's North Side . Its zip code is 15212, and it has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by both council members for District 6 (Downtown, North Shore ) and District 1 (Northside). In 1783, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania established

897-420: The adjacent 1888 home for Bavarian Benedictine priests and brothers. Once a largely German parish, the church later merged with nearby Italian and Polish congregations. The church and rectory have since closed. The buildings are operated as a banquet hall and a bed-and-breakfast . Although Penn Brewery began in 1987, it is housed in the old Eberhardt & Ober Brewery (1882–1906) buildings. Penn Brewery makes

936-428: The annexation bill passed into law. Allegheny City residents tried unsuccessfully for years to have the annexation overturned in court. The population of Pittsburgh rose from 321,616 in 1900 to 533,905 in 1910, which included the 132,283 who lived in Allegheny in 1910, when the last separate census of Allegheny was taken. When the two cities were joined, both of the old ward systems were discarded. A new ward system

975-571: The award-winning Penn Pilsner and a number of other specialty beers. The " tied house " (brewery owned restaurant) features a full German menu and live music. Saint Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church , nestled in the hillside above the Allegheny River, was the first Croatian Church built in the United States. The structure was razed in January 2013. Ridge Avenue, in its heyday between 1890 and 1910,

1014-479: The city of Allegheny. Robinson, who contrary to some popular tellings did not actually serve in the Mexican War , subdivided his land and named the new streets after the battles and generals (Buena Vista Street, Filson Way, Monterey Street, Palo Alto Street, Resaca Place, Sherman Avenue, Taylor Avenue) of that war. Through his foundation matching fund, Andrew Carnegie contributed to the financing and construction of

1053-511: The merger. Previous Pennsylvania law had directed that a majority of the voters in each merging municipality had to approve an annexation agreement. In 1906, the State Assembly passed a new law that authorized annexations if a majority of the total voters in both combined municipalities approved the merger. The annexation was rejected by the residents of Allegheny City by a 2:1 margin, but was approved by much more populous Pittsburgh residents, and

1092-453: The neighborhood in the early 1880s in the form of horse-drawn streetcars operated by the People's Park Passenger Railway Company. By 1907, when Pittsburgh annexed the valley along with the rest of Allegheny, the East Street Valley was home to a school, a lumberyard, a soap factory, a singing society, two meatpackers, three churches, and numerous other small shops and institutions. Efforts to remake

1131-519: The neighborhoods of Allegheny West and East Allegheny . Because Allegheny City was intended by the Pennsylvania Legislature to serve as the county seat of Allegheny County , the central blocks of Redick's 36-block plan were designed for public uses, including a market house and post office. The main thoroughfare was East Ohio Street, which stretched from Allegheny West through Allegheny Center and then to Allegheny East and beyond. From

1170-480: The northern suburbs to shop. The mall's stores began closing in the 1990s, and the mall gradually became a successful office complex. Today, the 36-block area initially planned by John Redick consists of the Allegheny Center Mall - now Nova Place, which contains 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space in the old mall concourse, plus two of the office towers, restaurants, including Federal Galley,

1209-513: The observatory to the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh ) in 1867, after which it was used for astrophysical, solar, and planetary studies. The observatory maintained a successful subscription time service to railroads via telegraph for many years. A new Allegheny Observatory was built between 1900 and 1912 in today's Riverview Park. It is owned and operated by

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1248-464: The primarily German immigrants who settled there. The H.J. Heinz Company built its factory in Allegheny City, close to the Chestnut Street bridge (this has been replaced by the 16th Street Bridge ). Heyl & Patterson Inc. , a manufacturer of railcar dumpers and ship unloaders, also established a factory in Allegheny City. The surviving structures are now occupied by a furniture warehouse and

1287-400: The trend, the landmark Boggs & Buhl department store, which had done a thriving business among Allegheny City's wealthy residents, steadily lost money after 1931 and was closed in 1958. In the 1950s, community leaders discussed how to revitalize the historic hub of Allegheny City and established a modern plan for Allegheny Center. Designed by architects Deeter & Ritchey, it involved

1326-412: Was closed, and drivers were forced to take a new ring road around the mall and the other blocks of Redick's initial plan to proceed east or west. The mall, opened in 1965 and anchored by Sears , F. W. Woolworth Company , and Zayre , had some initial success, but it did not revive the business fortunes of Allegheny City, which continued to decline after Interstate 279 allowed area residents to drive to

1365-424: Was commonly referred to as "Deutschtown", derived from the German word Deutsch , referring to the language and ethnicity. Allegheny annexed adjoining municipalities such as the boroughs of Manchester, Spring Garden and Duquesne, and the areas that became Brighton Heights, Observatory Hill, Perry Hilltop, Summer Hill, Spring Hill and Troy Hill. The annexation of Allegheny by Pittsburgh began with voting in favor of

1404-457: Was established made up of 27 wards. In the new ward system, Allegheny was divided into wards 21 to 27. Its past territory is easily seen by viewing a map of the city wards. In the 1960s, Pittsburgh undertook a massive urban redevelopment project that demolished the historic core of Allegheny City, leaving only the Commons of Allegheny Center and its surrounding neighborhoods. The Carnegie Library ,

1443-491: Was known as "Millionaires' Row". After 20 years, the area began to decline as some residents moved further out. The entire North Side community began to fray after having been annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. In the late 19th century, Allegheny became known for its stately homes, occupied by some of the area's wealthy families. One such area became known as The Mexican War Streets. The Mexican War Streets were laid out in 1847 by William Robinson Jr. , who had earlier been mayor of

1482-489: Was laid out in 1788 according to a plan by John Redick . The lots were sold in Philadelphia by Pennsylvania 's state government or given as payment to Revolutionary War veterans. It was incorporated as a borough in 1828 and as a city in 1840. Prior to the 1850s, most of the area was still largely farmland, but was subdivided into residential lots, first for the growing German population and later for Croat immigrants. It

1521-605: Was once used as a station on the Underground Railroad . Fugitive slaves from the South stopped here for food and shelter. While Pennsylvania was a free state, many slaves continued to Canada to gain more distance from slavecatchers. The original Allegheny Observatory was built in 1859 near Perrysville Avenue, by prominent Allegheny citizens who formed the Allegheny Telescope Association. The association donated

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