Pittsburgh Neighborhoods: History of New Homestead

A Brief History of New Homestead

history of New Homestead

New Homestead is a community located in the 31st ward of Pittsburgh. It’s history is tied closely to the borough of Homestead, which surrounds the northeast corner of the neighborhood.  The area first saw settlers in the 1770s. Approximately 100 years later, the town was chartered in 1880. Soon, a railroad, glass factory and an iron mill were erected, which added to rapid growth and wealth in the area. Andrew Carnegie bought Homestead Steel Works in 1883. In July 1892, there was an extremely violent clash (The Homestead Strike) between Pinkerton guards and locked-out steelworkers. In 1900, the population of the neighborhood was around 12,000 and 7,000 of those were employed in the plants. Due to immigration from Europeans shortly thereafter, the population jumped from 18,713 to 20,452 in 1920. During the early ’40s, in order to prepare for World War II, half the population was moved as the U.S. government added to the steel mills to have the capacity for armor plating for the war ships and war tanks. In 1986, Homestead Works closed. It was torn down in the early ’90s and is now the Waterfront retail and restaurant complex. By the time the 2010 census came around, the population was only 3,165. It began financially recovering in 2002 with retail like the Waterfront.

There are multiple famous people from the original neighborhood and sister neighborhood (and independant borough of Homestead).   NFL quarterback for our Pittsburgh Steelers Charlie Batch and actor Jeff Goldblum are just a few of the many.

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