Hays (Pittsburgh)
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Hays is a
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, ...
in the 31st Ward of the east side of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 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 ...
. It is represented on the
Pittsburgh City Council The Pittsburgh City Council serves as the legislative body in the City of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city ...
by the representative of District 5 (Corey O'Connor). It occupies ZIP codes 15227, 15207, and 15236. It is named after James H. Hays, who opened a coal-mining operation called Hays and Haberman Mines in 1828. Hays was first settled in 1789 when still part of Baldwin Township by John Smalls, who named the area Six Mile Ferry Village. The H.B. Hays and Brothers Coal Railroad was a
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
railroad that ran from the coal mine along Streets Run to the
coal tipple Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...
at Six Mile Ferry. The neighborhood was formerly the site of the
Hays Army Ammunition Plant Hays Army Ammunition Plant was an , 1,650-employee foundry established in 1942 in the Hays neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At first it produced shells and breechblocks for the Navy. Though owned by the Army, the plant was operated by th ...
, built by the U.S. Navy in 1942. The plant was transferred to the Army in 1966, and during its heyday between World War II and the Vietnam War employed more than a thousand people. In 1970 the plant was put on standby status until disposition in 1988. In 1993 the site was donated to the
Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) is the City of Pittsburgh’s economic development agency, committed to creating jobs, expanding the City’s tax base, and improving the vitality of businesses and neighborhoods. The URA achi ...
. The closing of the plant has led to an enormous loss of population: in 1940 the population was 2,238, while in 2010 the population was only 362.


History

In 1901, the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Hays was formed from the northern of Baldwin Township. Annexation to Pittsburgh was completed on Jan. 7, 1929.


Streets Run

The
Streets Run Streets Run is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Monongahela River in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. This urban stream drains portions ...
watershed is a beautiful yet flood-prone area of the city. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection first investigated the erosion occurring in Streets Run in 1956. Major flooding occurred there in 1968 and 1980, and more recently in 1994, 1995, 1999, and 2000. Currently, there is a flood protection project in the works to remedy this situation which includes a concrete rectangular channel, wider banks, stormwater retention dams, and enforcement of existing regulations, such as those concerning the eroding
CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
railroad line.


Hays Woods

Hays encompasses the area known as Hays Woods, a + woodland, the largest undeveloped tract of land in the city of Pittsburgh (even larger than
Frick Park Frick Park is the largest municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, covering . It is one of Pittsburgh's four historic large parks. History The park began when Henry Clay Frick, upon his death in 1919, bequeathed south of Clayto ...
). Hays Woods is the best example of the city's natural environment and has six streams, including a waterfall. The area is home to nesting
bald eagles The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
. The parcel of land including Hays Woods was identified as a possible site for a thoroughbred racetrack and housing development after developer
Charles Betters Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
' application to
strip mine Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in whic ...
the area was declined. In 2016, the parcel was signed over to the city of Pittsburgh and is slated to become the largest park in Pittsburgh.


Bald eagle nesting

After an absence of about two centuries,
bald eagles The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
were spotted in the Hays Neighborhood in January 2013 and were reported to the
Pennsylvania Game Commission The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) is the state agency responsible for wildlife conservation and management in Pennsylvania in the United States. It was originally founded years ago and currently utilizes more than 700 full-time employees and ...
. The eagle pair produced a single fledgling in 2013, and three fledglings in 2014. The eagle presence produced a large amount of fanfare on the
Great Allegheny Passage The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) is a rail trail between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cumberland, Maryland. Together with the C&O Canal towpath, the GAP is part of a route between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., that is popular with through ...
which provided people with a place to view the eagles.


Surrounding communities

Hays is bordered by the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Arlington to the north, St. Clair to the northwest,
New Homestead New Homestead is a neighborhood in the 31st Ward of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA's southeast city area. It has a ZIP Code of 15207 and 15120, and it is represented oPittsburgh City Councilby Corey O'Connor. Surrounding communities New Homestead ...
to the east and Lincoln Place to the southeast. Three boroughs also border Hays: Baldwin to the southwest, north and southeast,
West Homestead West Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, on the Monongahela River. Heavy industries associated with nearby steel mills existed here. Established were axle works, brickworks, and manufactories of mac ...
to the east and
West Mifflin West Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census. It is named after Thomas Mifflin, 1st Governor of Pennsylvania, signer of the Un ...
to the south. As a result of the portion of Baldwin Borough from Becks Run Road to the end of East Carson Street and the western end of West Homestead, there is no direct border of Hays to the Monongahela River.


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


Further reading

*


External links


Hays Neighborhood Map

Streets Run Watershed

Hays Woods
{{Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Neighborhoods in Pittsburgh