A Brief History of the Strip District
The Strip District Coffe Mug! Part of our Neighborhood Collection. Get yours right here!
The Strip District is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh that is only a half a square mile, running between 13th and 33rd Sts. with Smallman St. Penn Ave. and Liberty Ave. as its main streets. The Strip, as it’s affectionately called, was home to mills and factories over the years including the Fort Pitt Foundry, which made cannons during the Civil War era. Many famous companies were housed in the Strip at some point over the years, including Heinz Ketchup and U.S. Steel. The history of the Strip District is important to Pittsburgh.
In the early 1900s, the Strip became known for its wholesale of produce, meat and poultry. The 1920s saw the Strip as the economic hub of the ‘burgh. Today the strip is best known as an outdoor marketplace and weekend destination for Pittsburghers, young and old alike. Visiting Pittsburgh is also not complete without a trip to the Strip for good food, coffee, shopping and mixing with the local atmosphere.
Facts About the Strip District
Due to less being shipped by boat and train, a lot of the abandoned warehouses in the area were transformed into bustling restaurants, shops and bars. St. Stanislaus Kostka Church still lies in the Strip District after being built in 1891. Many additional warehouses are in the process of being turned into chic lofts. Uber has a fleet of Ford Fusions that they’re testing as driverless cars in the Strip District—pretty cool!
Pittsburgh’s history is tied closely with the history of the Strip District, mostly due to it’s proximity to down town and the Golden Triangle.
I like the redevelopment of the Strip, but there are now so many more people living, working and visiting there that it is hard to get around(and park). The sidewalks are small and many filled with vendors and the roads are narrow and cannot accommodate all the shoppers.