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Braddock

Once a thriving commercial destination amidst the industrial center of steel production in the Monongahela Valley, the small town of Braddock, Pennsylvania suffered through a brutal postindustrial decline in the 1980s. When its massive economic engine sputtered out, Braddock lost ninety percent of everything—its buildings, its businesses, its people.

Yet Braddock remains a richly historic area populated by wonderful and resilient people. Amidst the remains of housing and commerce a community grassroots effort to revitalize the town is taking shape.

Layers of Braddock’s History Compiled by Jonathan Kline and Christine Brill Pre-Colonial: Territory rules by Queen Allequippa and the Delaware Tribe
1742: 1st European settlement west of the Alleghenies by John Frazier and his family at Turtle Creek
1753-54: George Washington visits area
1755: Braddock’s Defeat on land of present day Braddock, North Braddock, and Rankin
1791: Purchase of 328 acres of land, called Braddock’s Field, by George Walla
1794: Whiskey Rebellion
1850: 1st Braddock industrial facility opens, a barrel plant
1861: McVay-Walker Foundry built, the mother of Braddock’s steel industry
1873: Carnegie-McCandles & Co. organized what became the Edgar Thomson Steel Works
1887: Carnegie Library of Braddock established, the first Carnegie Library
1919: National Steelworker Strike
1924: Braddock direct road connection to the Lincoln Highway
1950-60: Apex of Braddock’s population and industrial/commercial activity. Population at +/- 20,000
1970s: Decline of the Steel Industry. Migration of population to other urban centers and to suburban Braddock/Pittsburgh
1990: Population of Braddock at 4,468
2000: Population of Braddock at 2,912

Braddock Opportunities • Among the most affordable real estate in Alleghenty county: Braddock’s average home currently sells for 6K.

• The installation of an Urgent Care medical facility and Community College of Alleghenty County and job training campus has been approved by Braddock Borough Council and is currently in development at the former UPMC Hospital site.

• Seniors: Opened in March 2010, The Avenue Apartements Senior housing complex offers low income seniors amenities they might not find elsewhere such as numerous healthy living, crafts, exercise and social services for the residents.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_676262.html

• Braddock’s buisness climate is on the rebound. In sharp contrast with suburban office parks, we have affordable rentable office space in a unique and inspirational setting.


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