- Hill District (Pittsburgh)
Infobox Pittsburgh neighborhood
name = Bedford Dwellings
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width = 220px
population1990 = 2317
population2000 = 2109
area_sqmi = 0.179Infobox Pittsburgh neighborhood
name = Crawford-Roberts
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population1990 = 2459
population2000 = 5007
area_sqmi = 0.258Infobox Pittsburgh neighborhood
name = Middle Hill
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population1990 = 2829
population2000 = 2143
area_sqmi = 0.305Infobox Pittsburgh neighborhood
name = Terrace Village
caption =
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population1990 = 5073
population2000 = 2631
area_sqmi = 0.258Infobox Pittsburgh neighborhood
name = Upper Hill
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width = 220px
population1990 = 2590
population2000 = 2246
area_sqmi = 0.313The Hill District is a collection of
neighborhood s that was once considered by many to be the cultural center ofAfrican-American life in city-state|Pittsburgh|Pennsylvania in theUnited States . Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay once called the district "the crossroads of the world," referring to the neighborhood's heyday in the 1930s–1950s. It is known to many Pittsburghers as simply "The Hill". It is bordered by the Downtown on the west, the Strip District andPolish Hill on the north, the Bluff (Uptown) on the southwest, and Oakland on the east and southeast.History
Prior to 1930, the Hill District was inhabited by a diverse mix of residents, among them generations of Irish and Jewish immigrants. African Americans came to the North to escape
lynching s, poverty and repression in the South. However, conditions in the area not being much better (due to activities by one of the most dedicated units of theKu Klux Klan ), they retreated to the Hill District and established small businesses such as barbershops.The Hill became a cultural hotspot. The Crawford Grill, still known for its outstanding jazz, has heard the music of greats like
Lena Horne andGeorge Benson . [ [http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/district6/html/hill_district.html www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us] ]Ramsey Lewis ,Oscar Peterson ,Cannonball Adderley and others often played at ajazz club called "the old Hurricane Lounge". [Donald I. Hammonds, "Signs The Hill Coming Back," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 27 November 1986, C1.] According to WQED, "From the 1930s to the 1950s the Hill District thrived and was one of the most prosperous and influential black neighborhoods in America. It was thriving, bustling, and safe--a center for music, art and literature." [http://www.wqed.org/ecrc/pghist/logs/wylie.shtml] The area housed jazz legends such asStanley Turrentine andArt Blakey . WriterAugust Wilson , thePulitzer Prize -winning playwright, grew up there and set many of his plays in the area. ThePittsburgh Courier , an influential newspaper, was printed in the Hill. Its chief photographer,Charles "Teenie" Harris , documented life in the Hill for more than forty years, creating an unusually comprehensive photographic collection now housed at theCarnegie Museum of Art . ThePittsburgh Crawfords baseball team also played here. The team, which played in the Negro National League, featured players such asSatchel Paige , Earl Hord,Josh Gibson ,Jimmie Crutchfield andCool Papa Bell .One of the reasons for the decline of the Hill was an urban renewal project which tore down homes and businesses to make room for the Civic Arena. Public housing projects in the mid-1950s were intended to improve housing but became the centers of poor populations on welfare. Over 8,000 residents were displaced by the urban renewal project. Shifts in the steel and related industries caused a massive loss of industrial jobs in Pittsburgh. The decline of the steelmaking industry affected the entire region around Pittsburgh,
Western Pennsylvania , and Eastern Ohio. The Hill district is merely a small part of the region; i. e., it followed the pattern that happened across the rust belt.After the assassination of
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, the resultingrace riot made the area even more volatile. The crack epidemic in Pittsburgh in the 1980s adversely affected the Hill District, too. By 1990, the area population had declined to 15,000 from more than 50,000 in 1950. By 1990 most of the residents lived in public housing. Recently, a great deal of government money has been used to purchase property from absentee landowners. With the destruction of some of the public housing projects and construction of market-rate housing, though, the Hill is being gentrified.Neighborhoods
The Hill District comprises five distinct neighborhoods. A recent new development near Downtown is
Crawford Square . The neighborhoods are represented on the Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 6 (Downtown neighborhoods), and part of the Upper Hill is also represented under District 7. The 15219ZIP code covers all five neighborhoods, and the 15213 ZIP code covers part of Terrace Village and the Upper Hill.*Crawford-Roberts
*Upper Hill
*Middle Hill
*Bedford Dwellings
*Terrace VillageTrivia
The TV Show "
Hill Street Blues " ties its name origin back to the Hill District.Steven Bochco , a series writer for the show, attended college at the nearbyCarnegie Institute of Technology (nowCarnegie Mellon University ) and based the name of the show on the district.During the 1960s and 1970s the Pirates' Hall of famer
Willie Stargell owned a fried chicken store on the Hill. Patrons would receive free chicken if they were in the store at the time Stargell hit a home run. Pirates' radio announcerBob Prince coined the phrase "Spread some chicken on the Hill with Will."References
Further reading
*cite book | author=Toker, Franklin | title=Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait | location=Pittsburgh | publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press | origyear=1986 | year=1994 | id=ISBN 0-8229-5434-6
ee also
*
List of Pittsburgh neighborhoods
*Jews Hill (Pittsburgh) External links
* [http://www.carnegielibrary.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/hill/hill_n4.html Carnegie Library's History of The Hill]
* [http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/district6/html/hill_district.html City of Pittsburgh's Hill District page]
* [http://www.wqed.org/education/pghist/logs/wylie.shtml Wylie Avenue Days Program log] - Documents the Hill District's best years through the 1930s-1950s
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