Neighborhoods in the Wings

The City of Pittsburgh’s planning Department identifies 18 separate neighborhoods on the North Side.  Over the past few decades several of the neighborhoods, through their community –based organizations, have been highlighted to a broader public by annual or biennial house and community tours. These tours have helped to put those neighborhoods on “center stage.”  The tours not only publicize the neighborhoods to the Greater Pittsburgh community, but they also engender a strong sense of identity and pride within the neighborhood itself.

Over the last decade or more, the Allegheny City Society has taken a position over to draw attention to several of the North Side communities that are “in the wings” --- ready to be share the spotlight of identity and place. The ACS has a goal to develop a series of community tours focusing on the history, the present characteristics, and the future potential of these “neighborhoods in the wings.” 

The first of this series of tours and discussions will highlight the community of Spring Garden/East Deutschtown. The Society is seeking funding for a tour and discussion program  encouraging   participants, particularly residents of the community to share in an experience highlighting the story and the future potential  of this neighborhood.

The Allegheny City Society will conduct two free half-day tours of the East Deutschtown/Spring Garden neighborhood in June, 2015 (specific date to be decided). The Society will work with residents and business owners in the community in developing the plan for the tours. Each tour will begin and end at the St. Michael’s and All Angels Lutheran Church. The morning tour will begin at 9:00 and end at 11:30. The afternoon tour will begin at 1:30 and end at 4:00.  Both groups will be at the church between 11:30 and 1:30 for a free picnic lunch. During this lunch period  a format for  group discussions will focus on the ties between the history of the community, the nature of the present day features of the neighborhood, and the directions that Spring Garden/East Deutschtown might go in the future. 

Local community groups, businesses, and institutions will be invited to set up information tables at the lunch site. Following the afternoon tour the individuals involved in organizing  this event will meet to recap the  effectiveness of the tour and the discussions at lunch. ( The Allegheny City Society has conducted many of these “school bus tours” of neighborhoods. Good planning between the Society and community leaders has led to consistent positive feed back.

The community of  Spring Garden/East Deutschtown is one of the oldest and most historic sections of the North Side. The neighborhood, from its origins, was  primarily  composed of working and middle class families, many of whom settled here as immigrants from central and eastern Europe.  The economic base of the community was rooted in the many industries and shops related to meat and leather processing, railroading, and, of course the several plants of the Heinz  Company. 

In recent decades,  the economic base declined significantly, and the heart of the neighborhood was drastically altered by the highway developments of Route PA-28 and I 279. Two factors that are playing a role in the potential transformation of the neighborhood are:
(1)  business development in the vacated plants in the Spring Garden valley as well as interest in development along the intersection of the “completed’  highways  --- 28 @ 279, and
(2) a growing awareness of the potential restoration and preservation  of a solid core of mid- 19th century housing and commercial structures. 

The community  has survived years of municipal neglect and is at the beginning stages of a vibrant  resurgence.  The goal of this proposed program is to build on the history of the community as well as to encourage residents to become prideful of what they have and how they can build on these assets. Community preservation is at the heart of this proposed program.