Category: default || By jt3y

"KB," who moved to McKeesport in 1991, wrote this week with some great questions! (It gave me a chance to show off my command of useless information.) Her letter begins:

"The one thing I seem to notice most about McKeesport is that there are a lot of abandoned houses here. A lot of these house are huge and very beautiful and I started to wonder why no one lives in these houses, or why they are never offered up for sale. I was hoping maybe someone who runs this Web site is from a family that has lived in McKeesport for generations because I would love to know about these old houses."

Well, first, a belated welcome to McKeesport (Our Fair City) and thanks for writing!

Second, my family has lived in McKeesport for three generations --- on one side of my family, this was the first place they arrived after Ellis Island --- and like a stray cat that someone fed, we just won't go away.

Each of those old houses has a different history, I guess, but in general, here's what happened. It's kind of a complicated story.

About 55,000 people lived in McKeesport during World War II, which was the highest population it ever had. In fact, there may have been even more people living there, but they didn't get counted in the Census. Everyone wanted to live in McKeesport because of the high-paying jobs available for work in the steel mills and other factories. Lots of steel and parts made from steel were needed for the planes, tanks and ships used during the war. My grandmother worked in one plant --- called "Woodses' Works," after the man who founded it, named W. Dewees Woods --- that made steel parts for airplanes, for instance.

After the war, people started moving out to the "suburbs" --- in McKeesport's case, places like White Oak and North Huntingdon --- because the taxes were lower and the cost of living was cheaper. Plus, they were tired of the crowded and "dirty old city" and felt living out in the suburbs was cleaner and better. (Of course, if you've been on Lincoln Way lately, you know it's plenty crowded, and all those idling cars make it pretty dirty.)

That trend only accelerated in the 1960s and '70s, only people started moving farther out from McKeesport --- Penn Township and Pleasant Hills, for instance. In the 1970s, part of the problem was the energy crisis, which made those great old houses very expensive to heat in the winter. To some extent, people panicked unnecessarily, and sold their houses very cheap. All this caused the population of McKeesport to begin to seriously decline.

In the early 1980s, that suburban flight was combined with another problem: the steel mills in and around McKeesport started to lay off workers, and many eventually closed. Many younger people moved to Florida or Texas or California, or other places where they thought they could find jobs. Since no one was moving into McKeesport, they sometimes abandoned their houses. In other cases, people who were laid off couldn't afford to pay their taxes or their mortgages, and their houses were repossessed by the banks. Because no one wanted to pay the back taxes that were owed on the properties, they couldn't be sold.

By the 1990s, there was another problem; although the young families had left, many retired people stayed. When those older people started to pass away, sometimes their relatives didn't want their old houses; in other cases, they didn't have any relatives. Those houses were abandoned, too.

Today, that leaves McKeesport (and other towns, like Duquesne and Braddock, for instance) with a bunch of problems. There are great old houses that have been abandoned for so long that it would cost more to fix them up than it would to build a new house. There are other houses where so much in back taxes is owed that no one wants to buy them. And there are some houses that no one is sure who owns them.

It would be great if the city, or the county, or some non-profit group, could just take over these abandoned houses and tear them down or fix them up. Unfortunately, the laws don't make it easy. The laws are there to protect people's rights and prevent the government from taking over nice properties that other people wanted, but the people who wrote the laws didn't anticipate that there would someday be properties that no one would want!

"KB" continues:

"Back when McKeesport finally established itself was Huey Street known as 'Millionaire's Row'? That's what my boyfriend's mom told him it was called, because that's where all the 'well off residents' built their homes."

I haven't heard that Huey Street in particular was called this, but I know that the houses on Shaw Avenue were called "Millionaire's Row."

Generally speaking, by the way, in all of the old Mon Valley milltowns, the poor people lived near the rivers on the "flat" part of town, while the "well off" people lived up on the hills.

Believe it or not, living near the river wasn't considered a benefit back then. The rivers were filthy --- all of the sewage dumped directly into them --- plus the mills were always built near the rivers (they needed lots of water to cool off and run machinery), so the riverfronts had plenty of air pollution, too.

Also, before the dams and reservoirs were built on the rivers, the rivers flooded frequently.

One of the poorest sections of McKeesport, incidentally, used to be the part where the Youghiogheny River meets the Monongahela River. Known as the First Ward, it was considered a slum, and was cleared out in 1960 in the name of "urban redevelopment." The property was sold to U.S. Steel, which built the buildings that are now used by Camp-Hill Corp.

Now, of course, the riverfront is a hot property, and Mayor Jim Brewster would like to turn that "point" where the Yough and Mon meet into a recreation area. People in the 1900s would have been amused or amazed to think that someday a marina would be built on the river someday. (All those expensive new "townhouses" at the Waterfront in Homestead and Munhall would absolutely astonish them. So would the Waterfront, come to think of it.)

"KB"'s last questions concern the McKeesport-Versailles Cemetery:

"Is there any information on how big the cemetery used to be? ... I was also wondering if there are any old photos of Huey Street or the cemetery or any other street, because my boyfriend and I really would like to see what McKeesport looked like before all those pretty big houses became run down."

I don't think the cemetery was any bigger than it is now. In fact, I think it was probably smaller, and was added onto over the years as more and more people ... well, as more and more people died. (That's why they had to put a fence around it ... people were dying to get in. Haw haw haw. Sorry.)

As for photos, you're in luck. Out in Renzie Park is a great place called the McKeesport Heritage Center which is the official repository for old memorabilia --- photos, postcards, clothing, official city documents --- about McKeesport and vicinity. They have several photo albums full of just what you're looking for, along with some very large photos of McKeesport's neighborhoods and more.

You can also look at McKeesport's first school, built in 1832 down in the First Ward. (It was moved to Renzie Park when the First Ward was torn down.) The school has been restored, and it will remind you something out of a "Old West" movie or "Little House on the Prairie." There's no need to go to Disney World to see "fake" history --- we've got the real thing!

Officially, you have to be a member to do "research," but anyone can come in and look at the exhibits for free. Also, student memberships are either very cheap or free --- I don't remember which. I joined when I was in high school, and it's what got me interested in local history.

The Heritage Center is open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and it's located next to the tennis courts --- behind the big baseball field. You can call (412) 678-1832 for more information. (There is no admission charge to visit, but you may want to leave a donation, or purchase a souvenir --- the entire museum runs on membership dues and donations.)

By the way, "KB," not only did I really appreciate your email, I also liked the quotes you signed off with:

"Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them." --- Constance Newman

"The kind of ancestors we have is not important as the kind of descendants our ancestors have." --- Phyllis A. Wallace

Great words to live by, I think.