Brookline Neighborhood

Brookline is a neighborhood that grew rapidly with advances in transportation technology and routes. The Mt. Washington Transit Tunnel (1904) provided efficient street car access between the southern neighborhoods and downtown Pittsburgh while the Liberty Tunnels (1924) provided efficient automobile access. A steep climb up a wide curve at one end of the neighborhood follows the old street car route up to the main business district on Brookline Blvd. Other steep, but straighter, climbs provide multiple access points from the valleys on the east and west to the expansive residential neighborhoods.

The earliest residential booms grew out from the street car line and business district and the automobile access along the Pioneer Avenue ridge in a mostly grid-like pattern. Later, a post-WWII residential boom created additional residential sections with the curvilinear roads and cul-de-sacs popular in that suburban-centric time period, but perhaps also more compatible than a grid to the topographic variety of these areas.

Urban renewal brushed over this neighborhood, but only for the development and expansion of two parks in largely undeveloped parts of the neighborhood. In 1970, the Department of City Planning estimated that at most 7 families would need to be relocated for one of the parks.

Since then, Brookline has remained relatively stable, with significantly less vacancy than the City’s average. Six of the seven religious sites remain active for religious worship, although only two of those are still the same congregations as in 1926.

Neighborhood Statistics (Out of 70 in this Series)

• 2nd largest by acreage
• 21st highest number of religious sites (multi-way tie)
• 61st most sites/acre

Locations

The map below shows the locations of the 7 congregations listed in the 1926 directory for Brookline (the dotted line marks the neighborhood boundary).

What are they now?

The table below matches the 7 congregations listed in the 1926 directory with the current use of the site.

1926 Congregation Name	By 2026 the Congregation’s Building is:
Brookline Methodist Episcopal Church	changed to a different religious institution
Brookline United Presbyterian Church	changed to a different religious institution
Church of the Advent	still Church of the Advent
Grace Lutheran Evangelical Church	changed to a different religious institution
Paul Presbyterian Church	changed to a different religious institution
Resurrection Catholic Church	still Resurrection Catholic Church
St. Mark’s Lutheran Evangelical Church	converted to residential use

Photos

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For more on this series, visit our introductory post.

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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/

Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. Geodetic and Topographic Survey. Sheet 62. https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A015e1927/viewer

Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. PGHSnap. City of Pittsburgh. 2011.

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