History of East Hills
The East Hills is the easternmost neighborhood in the City of Pittsburgh. Bordered by Homewood on the west, and the suburb of Penn Hills on the east, this Pittsburgh neighborhood has an elusive and hard-to-find history. Once the home of the East Hills Shopping Center, a suburban-type outdoor mall that contained Hornes, G.C. Murphy, Kresge and a Thorofare supermarket. Opened in 1960, the mall began to suffer in the 1970’s with the opening of the Monreoville Mall, further east in Monroeville. Many plans since the 1970’s have failed to revitalize the mall, which was ultimately demolished.
This area is also home to Dornbush Street, a little known street with historic Pittsburgh stairs… also the second steepest street in Pittsburgh with a 32% grade.
In recent years an active community organization, East Hills Community Services, has taken a roll in aiding the revitalization of housing, public recreation areas and organizations and activities for residents of the area. If we are able to uncover more history of this neighborhood… we will update!
