Then & Now 1926-2026: Bedford Dwellings Religious Buildings

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Bedford Avenue looking northeast.1

Bedford Dwellings Neighborhood

One of the five neighborhoods collectively known as The Hill District, Bedford Dwellings is a neighborhood named after a public housing project from the 1930s & 1940s. It is a strip of land, a block wide for most of its length, situated between Bedford Avenue and the cliff that overlooks the Strip District and Allegheny River. While no redevelopment projects were undertaken in this neighborhood during the official “Urban Renewal” era (approximately 1949-1970s) per the City’s 1970 report, the neighborhood has been erased and redeveloped multiple times in the last 100 years.

The 1923 G. M. Hopkins map shows a mix of uses along this 1-mile section of Bedford Avenue. There are blocks of small lots partially built out with homes, the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, the Entress Brick Company and a few other small businesses, the Municipal Hospital, and the Tuberculosis League Hospital.

By April 1932, Entress Brick Company is replaced with Greenlee Field, the first baseball park built by a Black businessman. “At Forbes Field, Yankee Stadium, and every other major league stadium where Negroes played, they weren’t allowed to use the locker facilities. But tonight [opening night] the men of the [Pittsburgh] Crawfords and the Black Yankees didn’t have to change at a boardinghouse or on a bus. Tonight, thanks to Gus Greenlee, they slipped out of their sweaty uniforms and muddy cleats in the dignity of their own locker room.”2

Unfortunately, the city had a different vision for the use of the land and Greenlee Field closed after only 4 years. The “Housing Authority offered Greenless $38,000 for the land and threatened to seize it if he didn’t take the deal.”3 The Housing Authority then built its first public housing development.

Today, as the Housing Authority works to replace their 20th-Century housing units with 21st-Century housing units across the city, some parts of the Bedford Dwellings neighborhood have been redeveloped, again, using HUD HOPE grants and others are slated for their next redevelopment project funded by the federal Choice Neighborhoods grant program.

The two religious sites listed in the 1926 city directory were located near the part of the neighborhood most built out with housing per the 1923 G. M. Hopkins maps. One likely succumbed to the same project that erased Greenlee Field; the other survived and today shows a strong presence both in the church building and in nearby properties.

Neighborhood Statistics (Out of 70 in this Series)

  • 67th largest by acreage
  • 53rd highest number of sites (multi-way tie)
  • 32nd most sites/acre

Locations

The map below shows the locations of the 2 congregations listed in the 1926 directory for Bedford Dwellings (the dotted line marks the neighborhood boundary).

What are they now?

The table below matches the 2 congregations listed in the 1926 directory with the current use of the site.

1926 Congregation NameBy 2026 the Congregation’s Building is:
Macedonia Baptist Churchstill Macedonia Baptist Church
New Light Baptist Churchreplaced with a community baseball diamond

Photos

  • Macedonia Baptist Church 2026
  • New Light Baptist Church site 2026

Footnotes

  1. On left: beginnings of the demolition of the 1938 Bedford Dwellings public housing;
    Center: the 2000s community center from the HUD HOPE VI grant redevelopment;
    On right: rowhouses in the Middle Hill neighborhood that illustrate what the housing pre-1938 in Bedford Dwellings neighborhood might have looked like. ↩︎
  2. Whitaker, 90-91 ↩︎
  3. Whitaker, 121 ↩︎

For more on this series, visit our introductory post.

Sources:

G. M. Hopkins & Co. Bedford Dwellings. Plate 30A. 1923. https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt%3A23v0130a

G. M. Hopkins & Co. Crawford-Roberts. Plate 11B. 1923. https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt%3A23v0111b

G. M. Hopkins & Co. Middle Hill. Plate 29A. 1923. https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt:23v0129a

Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh. A Report to the People: Public Housing in Pittsburgh, 1938-1953. Pittsburgh, 1953. https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_b74e0198-8ee1-4b50-93d6-b631adc3dc44/

Housing Authority City of Pittsburgh. Bedford Dwellings Redevelopment Planning. https://hacp.org/bedfordconnects/

Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. A Community Profile of Bedford Dwellings. 1974. https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735070065887

Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. A Development and Renewal Program for Pittsburgh, Summary Documentation, Pittsburgh Community Renewal Program. Pittsburgh, 1970. https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_d1f07da0-9303-4aee-a162-04c83a0eaaa0/

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “HUD Secretary Ben Carson Designates the Bedford Hope Center as New EnVision Center.” October 16, 2020. https://archives.hud.gov/news/2020/pr20-174.cfm?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Whitaker, Mark. The Untold Story of Smoketown: The Other Great Black Renaissance. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2018.

Then & Now 1926-2026: Arlington Religious Buildings

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Clover Street looking south from Charcot Street

Arlington Neighborhood

Arlington Avenue follows the crest of a ridge with the Arlington neighborhood draped over the southern slope and the South Side Slopes neighborhood draped over the northern slope. While I didn’t encounter any friendly local residents on the street to be nebby with, the style and density of the neighborhood suggests that it is a similar age to Allentown. Presumably built largely before cars, when people could have commuted to the industries on the river flats by street car or incline.

Neither of the two religious sites from the 1926 directory are still active. One was converted to a residential use. The site of the other one was replaced with a public school, though the congregation had moved to a newer church built next door. However, both the school and the church now sit vacant.

Neighborhood Statistics (Out of 70 in this Series)

  • 33rd largest by acreage
  • 53rd highest number of sites (multi-way tie)
  • 58th most sites/acre

Locations

The map below shows the locations of the 2 congregations listed in the 1926 directory for Arlington (the dotted line marks the neighborhood boundary).

What are they now?

The table below matches the 2 congregations listed in the 1926 directory with the current use of the site.

1926 Congregation NameBy 2026 the Congregation’s Building is:
St. Henry Catholic Churchreplaced with now vacant school
St. James Lutheran Evangalical Churchconverted to residential

Photos

  • former St. James Lutheran Evangelical Church (2026)
  • 1926 St. Henry Catholic Church site (2026)

For more on this series, visit our introductory post.

Sources:

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

Then & Now 1926-2026: Allentown Religious Buildings

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Walter Street looking southwest from Climax Street

Allentown Neighborhood

Allentown features a tight grid gently folded over undulating terrain. Densely-packed, modest houses line narrow roads. A resident across from one of the religious sites, who was interested in what I was photographing, shared that her house was built in the 1880s. In those pre-automobile days, residents may have commuted downhill to the industries along the river flats by way of the numerous inclines, one of which used to have a terminus not far from where we were standing and talking.

Three of the jobs I’ve held in my decades of working in Pittsburgh included some element of work in this neighborhood. Much of the neighborhood felt the same as I remembered it from my prior encounters. Long-standing neighborhood restaurants mixed in between vacant storefronts and newer ventures lined the commercial district. Vacant lots and vacant houses sit scattered among the residential blocks. However, I was impressed that some long vacant lots had new infill housing designed for those wanting to age-in-place or people with accessibility needs.

The neighborhood was never targeted for any large-scale Urban Renewal efforts, but individual properties that are vacant, abandoned, or tax delinquent have been demolished from time-to-time. This implies patterns of change, including population loss and disinvestment. The 5 religious sites from 1926 reflect that with each one featuring a unique outcome today: one remains religious, one is now a secular use, one sits vacant, one is a vacant lot, and one is a parking lot.

Neighborhood Statistics (Out of the 70 in this series)

  • 50th largest by acreage
  • 38th highest number of sites (multi-way tie)
  • 18th most sites/acre

Locations

The map below shows the locations of the 5 congregations listed in the 1926 directory for Allentown (the dotted line marks the neighborhood boundary).

What are they now?

The table below matches the 5 congregations listed in the 1926 directory with the current use of the site.

1926 Congregation NameBy 2026 the Congregation’s Building is:
Bethlehem Lutheran Evangelical Churchconverted to a community center
First Methodist Episcopal Churchdemolished
Progressive Spiritualists Churchreplaced with a parking lot
St. George (German) Catholic Churchvacant
Trinity Methodist Episcopalchanged to a different religious institution

Photos

  • First Methodist Episcopal Church site (2026)
  • former Bethlehem Lutheran Evangelical Church (2026)
  • former St George Catholic Church (2026)
  • former Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church (2026)
  • Progressive Spiritualists Church site (2026)

For more on this series, visit our introductory post.

Sources:

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

Then & Now 1926-2026: Allegheny West Religious Buildings

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View of West North Avenue, Allegheny West

Allegheny West Neighborhood

Allegheny West is a neighborhood that features a blend of stability and destruction in its built environment.

Allegheny City’s Millionaires Row once occupied this part of town. It is a dense neighborhood, with a mix of uses. While the houses are frequently attached, many have front porches that provide a buffer from the street. Architectural ornamentation is common and the sidewalks are often paved in brick.

Parts of the neighborhood were impacted by “urban renewal.” The southern portion, between Ridge Avenue and the railroads, was designated as a “renewal” area on behalf of the community college. In 1970, the project was just getting started. It was projected that 10 families and 25 individuals would need to be relocated to make way for the community college campus. A few other areas of the neighborhood north of Ridge Avenue have also seen block-scale demolition and redevelopment into parking lots, warehouses, and a fast food restaurant.

One of the buildings from the congregations listed in the 1926 Polk Directory was lost through these smaller demolition/redevelopments. The other two buildings remain intact with the same congregations.

Neighborhood Statistics (Out of 70 in this Series)

  • 68th largest by acreage
  • 45th highest number of sites (multi-way tie)
  • 16th most sites/acre

Locations

The map below shows the locations of the 3 congregations listed in the 1926 directory for Allegheny West (the dotted line marks the neighborhood boundary).

What are they now?

The table below matches the 3 congregations listed in the 1926 directory with the current use of the site.

1926 Congregation NameBy 2026 the Congregation’s Building is:
Calvary Methodist Episcopal Churchstill Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church
Emmanuel Episcopal Churchstill Emmanuel Episcopal Church
North Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a parking lot

Photos

  • Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church (2026)
  • Emmanuel Episcopal Church (2026)
  • North Presbyterian Church site (2026)

For more on this series, visit our introductory post.

Sources:

Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. A Development and Renewal Program for Pittsburgh, Summary Documentation, Pittsburgh Community Renewal Program. Pittsburgh, 1970. https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_d1f07da0-9303-4aee-a162-04c83a0eaaa0/

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

Then & Now 1926-2026: Allegheny Center Religious Buildings

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View of the pedestrian mall, Allegheny Center

Allegheny Center Neighborhood

Reconstructing a neighborhood that has been almost completely reconfigured is difficult. Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Center neighborhood was once the center of Allegheny City, which was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. In the 1800s and first half on the 1900s, the heart of this bustling city was 36 blocks of dense, walkable, mixed-use activity. Most of the buildings and streets of these blocks were erased in the 1960s and 1970s when the City of Pittsburgh and the Urban Redevelopment Authority led a major, federally-funded, “urban renewal” project in the neighborhood. Four existing streets were converted into a one-way ring road, while most of the other streets were erased or converted to pedestrian plazas. The buildings were mostly demolished and replaced by parking lots and mid- to high-rise buildings within the ring road and parking lots and housing complexes outside the ring road.

To facilitate this “renewal,” 376 families, 1161 individuals, and 598 businesses were relocated outside the neighborhood by 1970. Unsurprisingly, given the scope and extent of this displacement in the name of renewal, only one of the buildings used by the 22 congregations listed in the 1926 directory survives. What is surprising is that a former parish house survives, which helped locate the former locations of several of the church buildings that used to sit nearby.

Neighborhood Statistics (Out of the 70 in this series)

  • 64th largest by acreage
  • 4th highest number of religious sites
  • 2nd most sites/acre

Locations

The map below shows the locations of the 22 congregations listed in the 1926 directory for Allegheny Center (the dotted line marks the neighborhood boundary). Note that there are only 20 pins because three congregations apparently shared the same space.

What are they now?

The table below matches the 22 congregations listed in the 1926 directory with the current use of the site.

1926 Congregation NameBy 2026 the Congregation’s Building is:
Arch Street Methodist Episcopal Churchreplaced with a parking lot
Central Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a community service building
Central Reformed Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a housing complex
Christ Episcopal Churchreplaced with a community service building
Church of the Soulreplaced with a parking lot
First Protestant Methodist Churchreplaced with a housing complex
First United Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a parking lot
First Allegheny Christian Churchreplaced with a small scale hospital
First Presbyterian Church of Alleghenyreplaced with a housing complex
Fourth United Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a park (tennis and basketball courts)
Fourth Spiritualistsreplaced with a parking lot
Gospel Tabernacle replaced with a parking lot
Metropolitan Church Missionreplaced with a parking lot
Ohio Street Episcopal Methodist Churchreplaced with a housing complex
Pentecostal Missionreplaced with a apartment building
Sandusky Street Baptist Churchreplaced with a parking lot
Second United Presbyterian Churchreplaced with a commercial building
Spiritualist Church of Truthreplaced with a housing complex
St. Cyprian Catholic Churchreplaced with a housing complex
St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Churchreplaced with a school baseball diamond
St. Peter Catholic Churchstill St. Peter Catholic Church
Trinity Lutheran Churchreplaced with a commercial building

Photos

  • Arch Street Methodist Episcopal Church site (2026)
  • Central Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • Central Reformed Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • Christ Episcopal Church site (2026)
  • Church of the Soul site shared with two other congregations (2026)
  • First Allegheny Christian Church site (2026)
  • First Presbyterian Church of Allegheny site (2026)
  • First Protestant Methodist Church of Northside site, adjacent to a Spiritualist site (2026)
  • First United Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • Fourth United Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • Gospel Tabernacle site (2026)
  • Ohio Street Methodist Episcopal Church site (2026)
  • Pentecostal Mission site (2026)
  • Sandusky Street Baptist Church site (2026)
  • Second United Presbyterian Church site (2026)
  • St. Cyprian Catholic Church site (2026)
  • St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church site (2026)
  • St. Peter Catholic Church (2026)
  • Trinity Lutheran Church site (2026)

For more on this series, visit our introductory post.

Sources:

Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. A Development and Renewal Program for Pittsburgh, Summary Documentation, Pittsburgh Community Renewal Program. Pittsburgh, 1970. https://pittsburgharchives.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_d1f07da0-9303-4aee-a162-04c83a0eaaa0/

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

Then & Now 1926-2026: Pittsburgh’s Religious Buildings

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View of Pittsburgh from West End Overlook

Why Religious Buildings?

In 2010, as I travelled around different neighborhoods in Pittsburgh for work, school, and play, I began to notice a number of former religious buildings that were being used for secular purposes from child care to community centers to homes. Yet, I only heard people talk about one or two that made the news for the controversial way in which they were now used, particularly the brewpub that brewed in the former altar space. This inspired me to try to identify how many former religious buildings in Pittsburgh were being used for secular purposes and what those new uses were. While I have since learned that this is a moving target, I have become more and more fascinated about what these buildings tell us about the history of the city and the people who’ve lived here.

Eventually, I will write a book about Pittsburgh and its communities featuring Pittsburgh’s former religious buildings. In the meantime, I’m broadening the parameters of my research to gather information about former religious buildings that have been demolished or that sit vacant.

Why 1926?

The more I learn about 1926, the more it seems a significant moment in Pittsburgh’s history. It sits in the middle of the city’s final decade of significant population growth, which gets a boost from the numerous boroughs annexed that decade. The city’s boundary in 1926 only encompasses 85% of what will become the city’s full extent after the last annexation in 1955. While the City adopted zoning in 1923 with two types of residential districts (one for single-unit and two-unit dwellings and one for any number of units), in 1926, it added a third type of residential district for only single-unit dwellings.

Granted, given my day job, this last fact may be the reason I’ve become so focused on the year 1926. However, since we are now exactly 100 years later, it seems worth elevating 1926 and 2026 to another “Then & Now” series.

Scope of the Series

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory of 1926 identifies over 500 listings under the category “Churches.” Over the next couple of years, this Then & Now series will visit these sites by neighborhood to identify what they look like in 2026. I expect there will be 71 posts in this series occasionally interrupted by other posts, including the monthly public art posts and annual Bridge Madness series.

In 2026, there are 90 neighborhoods officially recognized by Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning. Only 70 of these will be featured in this series. The others do not have religious sites that are listed in the 1926 city directory. This is because they were were largely undeveloped at that time, not yet annexed to the city, or both (parts of the neighborhood undeveloped and other parts not annexed).

  • Neighborhoods Featured in the Series
    • Allegheny Center
    • Allegheny West
    • Allentown
    • Arlington
    • Bedford Dwellings
    • Beechview
    • Beltzhoover
    • Bloomfield
    • Bluff
    • Brighton Heights
    • Brookline
    • California-Kirkbride
    • Central Business District
    • Central Lawrenceville
    • Central Northside
    • Central Oakland
    • Chateau
    • Crafton Heights
    • Crawford-Roberts
    • Duquesne Heights
    • East Allegheny
    • East Carnegie
    • East Hills
    • East Liberty
    • Elliott
    • Esplen
    • Fineview
    • Friendship
    • Garfield
    • Greenfield
    • Hazelwood
    • Highland Park
    • Homewood North
    • Homewood South
    • Homewood West
    • Larimer
    • Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar
    • Lower Lawrenceville
    • Manchester
    • Marshall-Shadeland
    • Middle Hill
    • Morningside
    • Mt. Oliver
    • Mt. Washington
    • North Oakland
    • North Shore
    • Perry North
    • Perry South
    • Point Breeze
    • Point Breeze North
    • Polish Hill
    • Shadyside
    • Sheraden
    • South Oakland
    • South Shore
    • South Side Flats
    • South Side Slopes
    • Spring Garden
    • Spring Hill-City View
    • Squirrel Hill North
    • Squirrel Hill South
    • Stanton Heights
    • Strip District
    • Swisshelm Park
    • Terrace Village
    • Troy Hill
    • Upper Hill
    • Upper Lawrenceville
    • West End
    • West Oakland
  • Neighborhoods Annexed after 1926
    • Carrick (1927)
    • Hays (1929 & 1951)
    • Knoxville (1927)
    • Lincoln Place (1929)
    • New Homestead (1931)
    • Northview Heights (1931)
    • Overbrook (1927)
  • Neighborhoods Largely Undeveloped in 1926
    • Arlington Heights
    • Bon Air
    • Chartiers City
    • Fairywood
    • Glen Hazel
    • Oakwood
    • Regent Square
    • Saint Clair
    • Windgap
  • Neighborhoods w/Portions Undeveloped in 1926 and Portions Annexed after 1926
    • Ridgemont (a portion annexed 1928)
    • Summer Hill (a portion annexed 1929)
    • Westwood (a portion annexed 1927)

Sources:

Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory, 1926. Pittsburgh: R. L. Polk & Co. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735056286846/viewer#page/4/mode/1up

Go Fish 8

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GoFish! was a fundraiser in Erie, PA, in 2001. We were able to head straight toward this pair of fish in 2023 thanks to Amy H.’s map. “Kissing Fish” by Francis T. Schanz have had at least one makeover since 2001. The one on the left used to be pink and red and the one on the right seems to have had a little more purple tint in its blues. As our final fishing find of the trip, it was nice to get two for the price of one!

Pedestrian Bridges: Oakland

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The Oakland neighborhoods in Pittsburgh’s East End are the home to a number of institutions. Among them are Carlow College, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), multiple UPMC hospitals, the Phipps Conservatory (Phipps), the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children, and the Carnegie Institute complex (housing the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, the main Carnegie Library, and the Carnegie Music Hall). Institutions seem to have a predilection for pedestrian bridges and the ones in Oakland are no exception.

My first encounter with an elevated, enclosed pedestrian bridge was one of the ones in the UPMC hospital complex. The summer I turned six, my grandfather was admitted to the hospital and our trip to Pittsburgh to visit him included many impressionable firsts for me:

  • First time in a hospital
  • First time to walk across an enclosed, elevated pedestrian bridge
  • First time to encounter trick candles on a birthday cake

While I can now appreciate the importance of an enclosed pedestrian bridge to transport patients between facilities in a hospital without having to expose them to the unregulated outside air, I found it an odd and foreign structure when I was six. Decades later, outside of the use for hospital patients, I still find enclosed pedestrian bridges to be odd and foreign. I much prefer getting a breath of fresh air (even if it’s below freezing) to the often stale, manufactured air of these bridges.

Pittsburgh’s Underpass Mural

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Pittsburgh has been redding up for the NFL Draft with increasing fervor over the last several weeks. Among the actions taken was painting a series of railroad trestles that pass over a number of streets downtown. I was prepared to say, “how cool, but why couldn’t we spruce up the pedestrian experience with these trestles while we’re at it?”

However, gearing up to make that compliant, I finally noticed that two of them already have murals, despite my rant a few months ago about the lack of murals to spruce up the pedestrian experience when passing underneath railroad bridges in Pittsburgh compared to other cities. One takes it a step further and also has a series of lights strung over the sidewalk. I don’t know how long the mural or the lights have been in place, but my reaction to the mural this week was “oh yeah, I forgot this was there.”

In my defense, the third of the newly painted trestles I explored this week is the longest and darkest of these three, and the one I’ve walked under the most. It is also one of the top three I pictured when making my compliant in February. The other two being the one where this same railroad crosses over Merchant Street on the North Side and the one carrying the T tracks over First Avenue on the opposite side of downtown. I still maintain that these would benefit from the addition of a mural or other intervention.

In the meantime, I will enjoy the approach to our new black & gold trestles.