The South Side Flats is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

's South Side area. It is located just south of the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , ), sometimes referred to locally as the Mon (), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in nor ...

. The neighborhood has one of the City of Pittsburgh's largest concentrations of 19th-century homes, which has prompted outsiders to call the neighborhood the City's Georgetown. It includes many bars and restaurants as well as residences. The main throughway in the South Side Flats is

East Carson Street East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

. The street is home to a significant portion of Pittsburgh's nightlife.

History

The South Side was once composed of a number of smaller communities. These included Birmingham and East Birmingham, both named for the

English Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefordshi ...

industrial center,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

; Ormsby, originally a part of East Birmingham, incorporated as a borough in 1866; South Pittsburgh, the area immediately adjacent to the

Smithfield Street Bridge The Smithfield Street Bridge is a lenticular truss bridge crossing the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The bridge was designed by Gustav Lindenthal, the engineer who later designed the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City. ...

, and Monongahela, named for the adjacent

. These boroughs were collectively annexed to the city in 1872. The South Side and much of the hillsides to its south had been granted to Major John Ormsby in 1763, in recognition for his assistance in the building of Fort Pitt. By the 1770s, Ormsby had built an estate on these lands and established a ferry for connecting his home with the community in Pittsburgh. In 1811, Ormsby's son-in-law, Dr. Nathaniel Bedford, laid out a town on the flats, naming it Birmingham in tribute to his native city. Bedford had come to Pittsburgh around 1770 and was the first practicing physician in the district known as Allegheny County. He named the streets after his Ormsby's children; names which the South Side streets still bear—Mary, Jane, Sarah, Sidney. Carson St. was named after a sea captain who lived in Philadelphia and was a friend of Dr. Bedford. In the early days it was part of the Washington Pike, the main road to

Washington, Pennsylvania Washington, also known as Little Washington to distinguish it from the District of Columbia, is a city in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The population was 13,176 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

. The nearby municipality of Mount Oliver would be named for John Ormsby's son Oliver Ormsby. The two areas were once connected by a coal incline run by the Keeling Coal Company, now the site of

South Side Park South Side Park was the name used for three different baseball parks that formerly stood in Chicago, Illinois, at different times, and whose sites were all just a few blocks away from each other. South Side Park I (1884) The first South Si ...

. Birmingham quickly became a sizable industrial center because of the easy access to river and rail transport. The region would first become a center of glass production, followed by a concentration of iron and steel manufacturing. In 1850, Benjamin Franklin Jones invested in a South Side iron works. During the depression of 1873, he formed a partnership with a banker, James H. Laughlin. The firm of

Jones and Laughlin Steel Company The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, also known as J&L Steel or simply as J&L, was an American steel and iron manufacturer that operated from 1852 until 1968. The enterprise began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard La ...

would eventually become the South Side's largest employer. By 1910, it would employ over 15,000 workers. The expansion of the plant in 1950 would require the demolition of residential homes between 31st and 33rd streets. The majority of workers who had settled in the area were immigrants of

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

. They found home throughout the Flats and Slopes of South Side and had brought much of their culture and traditions to the area. Many of the Eastern European churches, clubs and bars are still present in the South Side. The decline of the steel industry was a major blow to the neighborhood. In addition to layoffs at the J&L Plant, the Levinson Steel Company which had been located on the South Side closed in 1981. The facility had been located along the river between 19th to 21st streets, and was later converted into a

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

. A series of

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

s hit the South Side neighborhood in the early 1980s. Prominent buildings on the corner of 18th and Carson Streets and the Arcade Theater on Carson St. were also demolished by fire. The Arcade Theater had opened in 1929 and was the first theatre outside of

Downtown Pittsburgh Downtown Pittsburgh, colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle, and officially the Central Business District, is the urban downtown center of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River an ...

to have sound and air-conditioning. The early 1980s saw the beginnings of redevelopment on the South Side. The

Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. In 1966, PHLF established the Revolvi ...

helped establish and partner with the South Side Local Development Company in 1982. In 1985, the South Side's East Carson Street was selected to participate in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street Urban Demonstration Program. Community involvement played a major role in the redevelopment of the former J&L site. The Jones and Laughlin Company had merged with the

Ling-Temco-Vought Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) was a large American conglomerate which existed from 1961 to 2001. At its peak, it was involved in aerospace, airlines, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, meat packing, car rentals, and pharmaceuticals, ...

(LTV) Corporation in 1974. The company would merge its J&L Steel subsidiary with

Republic Steel Republic Steel is a Mexican steel manufacturer that was once America’s third largest steel producer. It was founded as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899. After rising to prominence during the early 20th Century, ...

to form LTV Steel in 1984. The South Side J&L/LTV plant shut down in 1986. Once closed, City of Pittsburgh Councilman Otis Lyon wanted the site's Bessemer converter building, an open hearth building, four smokestacks, and a J&L sign to be preserved. The plan fell through when it was determined that these structures posed a safety hazard, although the J&L sign is mothballed beneath the

Panhandle Bridge The Panhandle Bridge (officially the Monongahela River Bridge) carries the three lines of the Port Authority Light Rail Network across the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The name comes from Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary Pi ...

for future use. Riverboat gambling was considered for the site and in 1993, and the City of Pittsburgh Urban and Redevelopment Authority (URA) purchased the site with money loaned by a potential developer for $9.3 million. The URA eventually redeveloped the site to be the

Southside Works SouthSide Works is an open-air retail, office, entertainment, and residential complex (often referred to as a lifestyle center) located on the South Side of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. and just across the Monongahela River from ...

complex. The project has brought national retailers to the eastern end of the neighborhood.

Geography

The South Side Flats is located at 40°25′43.76″N 79°59′8.08″W and covers . The South Side Riverfront Park runs the majority of the border of the Flats to the Monongahela River. It hosts a myriad of events, like the annual Pittsburgh

Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節, first=t, p=Duānwǔ jié, cy=Dyūnńgh jit) is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or earl ...

. The

Three Rivers Heritage Trail The Three Rivers Heritage Trail is an urban rail trail paralleling the riverbanks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Allegheny County for about , often on both sides of the rivers, and offering views of the city. The trail is promoted and maintaine ...

also runs through the park.

Surrounding and adjacent neighborhoods

The east-west section of the South Side Flats are bordered by the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of South Shore to the west and

South Side Slopes South Side Slopes is a neighborhood in the South Side area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The neighborhood comprises the hills from the South Side Flats neighborhood along the Monongahela River from the Liberty Bridge (west) to beyo ...

to the south. The Flats then curve to follow a north-south direction; this segment is bordered by the Pittsburgh neighborhood of

Arlington Arlington most often refers to: *Arlington, Virginia **Arlington National Cemetery, a United States military cemetery *Arlington, Texas Arlington may also refer to: Places Australia *Arlington light rail station, on the Inner West Light Rail in S ...

to the west and a very small section of

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

to the south. The Flats run adjacent to three Pittsburgh neighborhoods across the Monongahela River and are directly linked via bridges. The Birmingham Bridge connects the Flats with the

Bluff Bluff or The Bluff may refer to: Places Australia * Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town * The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich * The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality * Bluff River (New ...

to the west. The north end of the Hot Metal Bridge connects the Flats with

South Oakland Oakland is the academic and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and one of the city's major cultural centers. Home to three universities, museums, hospitals, shopping venues, restaurants, and recreational activities, this section of the city also in ...

to the northeast (left turn at end of bridge) and Hazelwood to the east (right turn).
, map of South Side Flats. Retrieved 2010-11-21

Demographics

According to the 2000

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, there were 5,726 people living in the neighborhood and 3,613 total housing units within its boundaries. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 95.2%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.6%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.2% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.2% from other races, and 1.0% from

two or more races Multiracial Americans, also known as mixed-race Americans, are Americans who have mixed ancestry of two or more races. The term may also include Americans of mixed-race ancestry who self-identify with just one group culturally and socially (cf. t ...

. Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 1.3% of the population. Out of the total number of housing units, 86.7% were occupied. There were 9.2% of households with those under the age of 18 and 31.0% with those over the age of 65. The population of the South Side Flats increased from 2000 to 2010, and much of the demographics did as well as a result of gentrification. Households with those over the age of 65 decreased from 31% in 2000 to just 11.8% in 2010. According to the 2010

, there were 6,597 people living in the neighborhood and 4,326 total housing units within its boundaries. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 93.0%

, 3.0%

, 0.1% Native American, 2.2% Asian, 0.0%

, 0.4% from other races, and 1.2% from

. Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 2.5% of the population. Out of the total number of housing units, 87.3% were occupied. 66.8% were renter occupied units, while nearly half of the vacant properties were listed for rent or rented but not occupied.

Trivia

Kaufmanns Department Store was founded as a tailor shop on Carson St. on the South Side in 1871. The South Side had the first electric railway in the City of Pittsburgh. The line started at 13th and Carson and traveled to Mount Oliver Borough. The base of the

Knoxville Incline The Knoxville Incline was a broad gauge inclined railway that ran between Pittsburgh's South Side and Allentown neighborhoods. The incline was built in 1890 and had a track gauge of . History The charter for this railway entered the plannin ...

was at 12th Street on the South Side. The incline was built in 1890, had an 18-degree curve, and was the longest incline ever built in Pittsburgh.

Gallery

File:Bedford School, Pittsburgh (exterior).jpg,

Bedford School Bedford School is a 7–18 Single-sex education, boys Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bed ...

, built in 1850, at 910 Bingham Street. File:FirstAssociatedReformedChurch.jpg, Former First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (now Gypsy Café), built 1854, at 20 South 14th Street. File:CityTheatreSouthSidePittsburgh.jpg, City Theatre, built in 1859, at 1300 Bingham Street. File:BirminghamPublicSchool.jpg, Birmingham Public School, built circa 1870, at 118–128 South 15th Street. File:EastCarsonStreetHistoricDistrict.jpg, East Carson Street Historic District in the South Side Flats neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. File:SamuelF.B.MorseSchool.jpg, Samuel F.B. Morse School, built in 1874, at 2418 Sarah Street. File:St.AdalbertChurch.jpg, St. Adalbert Church, built in 1889, at 160 South Fifteenth Street. File:St.JohntheBaptistUkrainianCatholicChurch.jpg, St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, built in 1895, at 109 South Carson Street. File:FormerGarrisonFoundry-MackintoshHemphillCo.jpg, Former Garrison Foundry-Mackintosh Hemphill Company Offices, built in 1895 and 1902, at 901-911 Bingham Street. File:SouthSideHighSchool.jpg, South Side High School, built in 1898, and then added to in 1924, at the corner of East Carson and South 10th Streets. File:DuquesneBreweryBuilding1899.jpg, The old

Duquesne Brewing Company The Duquesne Brewing Company was a major brewery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from its founding in 1899 until its dissolution in 1972. The brand was revived under the name Duquesne Brewing Company in 2008, in order to re-establish the beer in We ...

Building, built in 1899, at Mary and 21st Streets. File:SouthSideCarnegieLibraryPittsburgh.jpg,

South Side Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

, built in 1909, at 2205 East Carson Street. File:SouthSideMarketBuilding.jpg, South Side Market Building (aka the "South Side Market House"), built in 1915, at South 12th and Bingham Streets (Bedford Square). File:PolishFalconsBuildingPittsburgh.jpg,

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

site at 97 S. 18th Street. File:DuquesneBrewingClockPittsburgh.jpg, The Duquesne Brewing Company Clock (with AT&T logo on the face), built in 1933, at Mary and 21st Streets.

References

External links

Interactive Pittsburgh Neighborhoods MapBrashear AssociationCity of Pittsburgh Council District 3The South Pittsburgh ReporterSouth Side Chamber of CommerceSouth Side Community Council

South Side Local Development Company