Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh)
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Lawrenceville is one of the largest neighborhood areas in Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is located northeast of downtown, and like many of the city's riverfront neighborhoods, it has an industrial past. Lawrenceville is bordered by the Allegheny River, Polish Hill, Bloomfield, the Strip District and Stanton Heights. The city considers Lawrenceville three neighborhoods, Upper Lawrenceville, Central Lawrenceville, and Lower Lawrenceville, but these distinctions have little practical effect. Accordingly, Lawrenceville is almost universally treated as being a single large neighborhood.
History
Lawrenceville was founded in 1814 by William B. Foster, father of composer Stephen Foster, who was born there in 1826. It is named for Captain James Lawrence, hero of the War of 1812, famous for his dying words, "Don't Give Up The Ship!"[2] Lawrenceville was selected as home to the Allegheny Arsenal, due to "The area's accessibility to river transportation and its proximity to what was then the nation's only iron producing district". Incorporated as a borough on 18 February 1834, Lawrenceville was annexed to the city of Pittsburgh in 1868.[3] One of the original buildings, a log home built in the 1820s, survived until July 2011 at 184 38th Street.[4]
As seen on older maps, two sizable islands once sat opposite Lawrenceville in the Allegheny river: Herrs Island (now known as Washington's Landing), which stretched from roughly 28th street to 37th street, and McCullough's Island (sometimes labeled Wainwright's Island or "Good Liquor" Island), which stretched from roughly 35th street to 40th street.[5] Washington's Landing is named after an event in 1753 in which George Washington was thrown from his raft while crossing the Allegheny River and scrambled to safety on a nearby island. However, Washington did not actually land on Washington's Landing—he landed on McCullough's Island.[6] Although Washington's Landing still exists, McCullough's Island, which sat much closer to the mainland, does not. It is not clear what happened to McCullough's Island. It is possible that it simply eroded away into nothing, or—considering how narrow the channel was between it and Lawrenceville—it might have been incorporated into the mainland.[6][7]
Present
Today, Lawrenceville is undergoing a revitalization, and has been noted by The New York Times as a "go-to destination".[8] Transplanted young hipsters and those who have lived in Lawrenceville for their entire lives dwell side by side, as the neighborhood's affordable housing has become a major draw for those looking to renovate an older home at a reasonable cost. The neighborhood is one of the premier art, live music, and dining hubs of Western Pennsylvania.[9]
As of 2007, real estate price appreciation was the second highest in the city, after the South Side, according to Carnegie Mellon University.[10]
Many art galleries have opened up all along Lawrenceville's main artery, Butler Street, and the surrounding area, along with clothing boutiques, furniture stores, and a number of new restaurants and coffee shops.
It has a zip code of 15201 (15224 is also Lawrenceville between 39th and 40th streets between Penn and Liberty), and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 7 (North Central East Neighborhoods). Lawrenceville is home to 6 engine and 6 truck. This is one of 29 fire stations in the city of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire has discussed closing the truck company which would leave the neighborhood without an aerial in the immediate area.
The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC opened a new facility in Lawrenceville on May 2, 2009, moving all patients from Oakland.[11]
Some of the scenes for the movie Love and Other Drugs (2009), starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, were filmed in Lawrenceville.[12]
See also
- Central Lawrenceville
- List of Pittsburgh neighborhoods
- James Callahan (Pittsburgh Pirates NHL), founder of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Pirates in 1925.
- Robert Craddock - Soccer player
- The Bulletin (Pittsburgh), a monthly community newspaper serving Lawrenceville
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "PGHSNAP 2010 Raw Census Data by Neighborhood". Pittsburgh Department of City Planning PGHSNAP Utility. 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2013. External link in
|publisher=(help) - ↑ Bloom, Albert W. (Jan 14, 1953). "Pittsburgh today made up of many villages". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 23. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
- ↑ Negley, W. B. (1876). "Allegheny County; its Formation, its Cities, Wards, Boroughs and Townships". Atlas of the County of Allegheny. Philadelphia: G.M. Hopkins & Co. p. 4.
- ↑ O'Neill, Brian (May 15, 2011). "Passions stirred anew for an old log house". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- ↑ "Ward 15". G.M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia. 1872. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
- 1 2 "Lawrenceville: Washington Crossing Bridge". Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
- ↑ Evans, Mark A. "Site: PGHBW 4-3: A View of the Point from Grandview Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA". University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
- ↑ "A Design District Takes Shape", Jeff Schlegel, The New York Times, October 14, 2007.
- ↑ Machosky, Michael (March 27, 2013). "Restaurant restoration: Lawrenceville’s Butler Street caters to foodies". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ↑ "Real estate prices higher in some places", Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 2, 2007.
- ↑ Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC Completes Historic Move to Lawrenceville With Successful Patient Relocation Retrieved June 2, 2009
- ↑ Montanez, Virginia. "Jake, Call Me". Pittsburgh Magazine. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
Further reading
- Toker, Franklin (1994) [1986]. Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-5434-6.
- Information about the new hospital.
- The Allegheny Arsenal by Allan Becer
- Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
- Lawrenceville
External links
Media related to Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh) at Wikimedia Commons
Coordinates: 40°27′55″N 79°57′56″W / 40.46525°N 79.96543°W