Larimer (Pittsburgh): Difference between revisions
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Larimer is a neighborhood in the East End of the City of Pittsburgh. It is |
Larimer is a neighborhood in the East End of the City of [[Pittsburgh]]. It is surrounded on all sides by small valleys, or "runs" in the vernacular: branches of Negley's Run a border between Larimer and Highland Park on the North-West, and between Larimer and Lincoln-Lemington on the North-East, while the last bit of Two-Mile Run, the present site of the East Busway, forms a border between Larimer and Homewood on the South. |
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The neighborhood takes its name from [[William Larimer]], who grew up in nearby [[Westmoreland County]] and, after making a fortune in the railroad industry, built a manor house overlooking [[East Liberty(Pittsburgh)/East Liberty]] along a path that came to be called "Larimer Lane" and later Larimer Avenue. |
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Larimer's daughter, Rachel, married James Mellon, son of [[Thomas Mellon]], which brought the land in what is now Larimer into the Mellon clan's control. As with East Liberty, the Mellons sold or rented land in what is now Larimer and used the proceeds to build Pittsburgh's coal, steel, and gas industries. A number of James Mellon's heirs used Larimer as a middle name, and they ensured that the present-day neighborhood took the name as well. |
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Larimer was settled by Italians from [[Abruzzi]] and elsewhere in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These settlers were slightly better-off than their kinsmen who moved to Bloomfield around the same time: the residents of Bloomfield built modest frame row-houses, while those in Larimer built slightly nicer detached brick homes with small yards. Before long, Larimer residents built and ran concrete foundries and commercial bakeries along Lincoln Avenue toward Two-Mile Run (some of which still exist today), and a successful commercial district at the crossing of Larimer Avenue and Meadow Street, near the community's spiritual home of Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church (1892). |
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As with other neighborhoods in Pittsburgh's East End, the 1960s were a turning point for Larimer. Some residents began to move to the suburbs in the early part of the decade, and this process was hastened by the [[urban renewal]] of [[East Liberty]] and the construction of a 320-unit [[housing project]] near the entrance to Larimer from East Liberty. Today, aside from a few remaining businesses along Lincoln Avenue, no vestige of the neighborhood's Italian community remains (Our Lady Help of Christians was closed in ). The once-proud brick houses are now either abandoned or neglected by absentee landlords, and the residents, largely [[African-American]] are among the poorest in Pittsburgh. |
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Revision as of 14:28, 2 August 2005
Larimer is a neighborhood in the East End of the City of Pittsburgh. It is surrounded on all sides by small valleys, or "runs" in the vernacular: branches of Negley's Run a border between Larimer and Highland Park on the North-West, and between Larimer and Lincoln-Lemington on the North-East, while the last bit of Two-Mile Run, the present site of the East Busway, forms a border between Larimer and Homewood on the South.
The neighborhood takes its name from William Larimer, who grew up in nearby Westmoreland County and, after making a fortune in the railroad industry, built a manor house overlooking East Liberty(Pittsburgh)/East Liberty along a path that came to be called "Larimer Lane" and later Larimer Avenue.
Larimer's daughter, Rachel, married James Mellon, son of Thomas Mellon, which brought the land in what is now Larimer into the Mellon clan's control. As with East Liberty, the Mellons sold or rented land in what is now Larimer and used the proceeds to build Pittsburgh's coal, steel, and gas industries. A number of James Mellon's heirs used Larimer as a middle name, and they ensured that the present-day neighborhood took the name as well.
Larimer was settled by Italians from Abruzzi and elsewhere in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These settlers were slightly better-off than their kinsmen who moved to Bloomfield around the same time: the residents of Bloomfield built modest frame row-houses, while those in Larimer built slightly nicer detached brick homes with small yards. Before long, Larimer residents built and ran concrete foundries and commercial bakeries along Lincoln Avenue toward Two-Mile Run (some of which still exist today), and a successful commercial district at the crossing of Larimer Avenue and Meadow Street, near the community's spiritual home of Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church (1892).
As with other neighborhoods in Pittsburgh's East End, the 1960s were a turning point for Larimer. Some residents began to move to the suburbs in the early part of the decade, and this process was hastened by the urban renewal of East Liberty and the construction of a 320-unit housing project near the entrance to Larimer from East Liberty. Today, aside from a few remaining businesses along Lincoln Avenue, no vestige of the neighborhood's Italian community remains (Our Lady Help of Christians was closed in ). The once-proud brick houses are now either abandoned or neglected by absentee landlords, and the residents, largely African-American are among the poorest in Pittsburgh.