A Tale of Two South Sides

*E Carson Street (Looking East from 17th Street)*

John F Kennedy visited the South Side in 1960; Charles Lindbergh visited in 1927. Both saw the Carnegie Library at 22nd and Carson, as well as the St Joseph Hospital on Carson next door. Both witnessed the steel mills making eternal night. Earlier in 1896, when Willa Cather walked from Carson Street to 17th Street, the steel mills were new. In the 1780s Major Ormsby of the English army was deeded a huge swathe of wilderness comprising South Side Flats and South Side Slopes. In 1811, his son in law, Dr Bedford, plotted narrow streets between 17th and 6th for the village of Birmingham (named after Bedford’s home of Birmingham, England). East Birmingham (stretching from 17th Street to 27th Street), was annexed to the City of Pittsburgh in 1872.

*Bedford Square, with the Market House and WYEP*

In the mid-1900s, Carson Street was a vibrant commercial street boasting four movie theaters: The Liberty (in the 1200 block of East Carson Street), The Rex (1602 East Carson Street), The Royal (or Novelty) Theater (1715 East Carson Street), and The Arcade (1915 East Carson Street). Market House, in the middle of Bedford Square, was the central market. The bull on the wall facing Carson Street signifies the building as a market. Today the first floor is a senior citizen’s center, while the second floor is still a gym where the members play pickleball. The village green of 1811 transformed into glass industries from 1820 to 1885. The Salvation Army building on 9th street is the former site of the Ripley Glass factory.

During this time, the South Side was predominantly made up of German, English, Irish and Welsh immigrants. Joseph Keeling, a German Immigrant from Hanover in 1821, had leveraged his talents to acquire substantial land holdings in the South Side. His coal mine on St Patrick Street (near South Side Park’s Goat Fest) had a railroad running along 21st Street to the Mon River. He was also a founding board member of the Iron and Glass Bank (now a part of First National banking system). The bank building at 1114 Carson Street was built in the prestigious neoclassical architectural style (highlighting Doric columns), a symbol of the wealth the bank had accrued since its initial opening in 1871 at 1203 Carson Street.

In addition, several buildings remind us of the German heritage of the South Side. 1739 East Carson Street is the Mary Morhoff building. The building is Second Empire style, built in 1873 with a sloping mansard roof and dormer windows. In the 1890s, the Lorch Furniture Store took over the building. In the 1930s, the Lorch’s were replaced by Lublin furniture. The Kaufmann family started their business on the South Side at 1915 Carson Street and eventually moved to the larger downtown location. The Brashear Building at 20th and Sarah Streets honors the revered Brashear, a self-made optic maker and astronomer. The Maul Building, built in 1910 at 1704 E Carson Street, is named for the banker Frederick Maul, president of the German Savings and Deposit Bank. Also distinctive of German architecture is 1327 E Carson Street (now a saloon), featuring a terra cotta façade with molded heads. James Sankey, after working in the Jones and Laughlin steel mills, created the famous Sankey brick in 1861, which was patented and made of pulverized slate. The brickyard was called the quarry (hence the name for Quarry Street). The headquarters was 2112 Carson Street, which is now Buddy’s Brews on Carson.

The South Side has as many as 20 churches.

Welsh immigrants, suffering in the 1881 smallpox outbreak, prayed at the Welsh church at 1930 Sidney Street at 20th Street (now the VFW South Side Post). The City Theatre Company at 1300 Bingham Street is a converted German Methodist Church. In 1997, the City Theatre expanded by buying the ‘American Building’, an American renaissance style building (highlighting patterned brickwork and large, semi-circular-arched windows with decorative keystones). Copies at Carson rents the street level. Another church, at 21st and Sidney (which used to house the Rudberg Law Office) was the site of the Trinity Evangelical Church.

*The City Theater, which was originally a Church*

More churches were built with second floor sanctuaries, like the 14th and Bingham church and the South Side Presbyterian Church at 20th and Carson. This church has a basketball court, with a meeting hall on the ground floor and the sanctuary on the 2nd floor. Steel eventually supplanted glass, so the Jones and Laughlin and Oliver steel mills sprawled from 10th Street to 28th Street around the turn of the 20th century. These riverside industries recruited eastern European immigrants (with many Germans moving upslope to Pius Street).

The Polish community was originally centered along the Strip’s Penn Avenue but relocated to the South Side. As a result, St Adalbert Church was built between 14th and 15th Streets bordering on the railroad. The church was famous for the Song of the 5 Saints church bells that would ring for St Adalbert, St Joseph, St Casimir, St Ladislaus and St Anthony. In 1901, the St Adalbert Church School had 600 hundred students; in 1928 1,200 students.

*The Auditorium Condominiums on 15th Street. These 14 condos were originally the auditorium of the St Adalbert church.*

Lithuanian immigrants attended St Casimir Church at 22nd and Sarah. In 1992, the church was closed, and the interior pews, organ and other artifacts were moved to Holy Trinity Church in Pilviškiai, Lithuania (today the church has been converted to condominiums). Additionally, the Lithuanian community bought the German Turnhalle Athletic Club at 1721 Jane Street and made it the Lithuanian Hall, which was sold in 2014. The building still retains the symbolic Lithuanian white horse and knight.

The Serbians attended St George Church at 16th and Roland (now condominiums) and built a Serbian Club at 2524 Sarah Street. This is across the street from The Brix at 75 South 26th Street, which was originally the company store for Jones and Laughlin, called the Mercantile Store.

The Ukrainians attended several churches. The 1 st St John’s Greek Orthodox Church, at 7th and Carson, is the most photogenic of South Side churches with its popular onion dome. Later, the Ruthenians broke off from St John’s and set up their own church, the 2nd St John’s Greek Orthodox Church on Carson between 6th and 7th Streets. Ruthenia was a political region which is Western Ukraine today. Close to this is The Traveler’s Rest Hotel at 27th and 6 th Streets, built in 1883 for the Byers Wrought Iron Pipe Co.

Across the street lie open lots, waiting for a new vision.