Spring Garden is a small
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
on
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
's
North Side. It takes its name from Spring Garden Avenue, which follows the floor of the valley that separates the two adjacent hilltop neighborhoods of
Spring Hill and
Troy Hill. Like those neighborhoods, Spring Garden was initially settled by the descendants of Germans and Austrians who had emigrated from Europe to
East Allegheny in
Allegheny City
Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed by ...
. These initial residents of Spring Garden worked in slaughterhouses, rendering factories, and tanneries located in this valley neighborhood.
A 1974 report by Pittsburgh's Department of Urban Planning explained that "Historically, this neighborhood because of its location and convenience for
industrial expansion out of the valley floor from the East North Side, has been of mixed industrial and residential uses. Today, the industrial uses are becoming marginal due to the age and lack of room to expand. This has left mostly row type residential uses to survive along the narrow streets on
the valley floor and hillsides."
Between 1974 and 2010, the neighborhood's population changed in several respects. In 1974 the neighborhood housed about 2,000 people and about 5% of the houses were vacant. In 2010, the neighborhood's population had declined to about 800 people and about 25% of the houses were vacant.
History
Until 1959 the neighbourhood was served by the ''1 Spring Garden'' trolley operated by
Pittsburgh Railways
Pittsburgh Railways was one of the predecessors of Pittsburgh Regional Transit. It had 666 PCC cars, the third largest fleet in North America (after Toronto (745) and Chicago (683)). It had 68 streetcar routes, of which only three (until April ...
.
Surrounding neighborhoods
Spring Garden has four borders including the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of
Troy Hill to the south and southeast,
East Allegheny to the southwest, and
Spring Hill to the west as well as
Reserve Township to the north, east and northwest.
See also
*
List of Pittsburgh neighborhoods
This is a list of 90 neighborhoods in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Generally neighborhood development followed ward boundaries, although the City Planning Commission has defined some neighborhood areas. The map of neighbor ...
References
External links
Interactive Pittsburgh Neighborhoods Map
Neighborhoods in Pittsburgh
Troy Hill (Pittsburgh)
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