Homestead is an industrial town along the Monongahela river south of Downtown Pittsburgh. Homestead Steel Works used to occupy the land along the riverfront. During World War Two the steel works was the largest in the world and employed 15,000 people. The entire town and surrounding community relied on steel manufacturing for a stable life. Steel manufacturing was not always a way to make a stable living, and that began to change at Homestead Steel Works. In the late 19th and early 20th century working in a steel mill was extremely hazardous and deadly accidents were almost daily in larger mills. Workers, especially immigrants and African Americans, were paid minimally and had to work 12 hour shifts every day and a 24 hour shift every other Sunday with the following Sunday off. Steel giants such as Andrew Carnegie and Henry Frick did everything they could to prevent workers rights movements and unions. In 1892 workers had had enough and unionized and staged a strike. Carnegie brought in Pinkerton Detective Agency to break up the strike. As Pinkertons attempted to land on the river of the mill shots were fired. A battle ensued and this became known as the infamous Battle of Homestead. The strike turned out to be a major setback for unionization of steel workers but Homestead Steelworkers played an integral role in the workers rights movement through the first half of the 20th century. The movement of steelworkers fighting for workers rights is captured in Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell. At the end of the novel, Dobie a second generation Slovak-American fought for rights that his ancestors did not. In his speech he said:
"And they’d still be pushing us around and the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights would still be nothing but a couple of papers in a glass case down in Washington if a lot of us hadn’t got together and started fighting for what we believed in...bad enough to die for them. Patrick Henry Junior - That’s me. Give me liberty or give me death. But he meant every word of it and by God I think I do too. Out of this furnace, this metal" (412)
The steel industry specifically in the Monongahela valley has always been at the forefront of workers rights.
For the last 50 years of Homestead Steel Works operation the workers lived more comfortable lives. Workers were able to frequently shop along 8th Avenue, which is Homestead’s main thoroughfare. The profits of the steel industry supported a large variety of businesses that residents could afford. The collapse of the steel industry and increased automobile use significantly contributed to the decline of the 8th Avenue business corridor. Businesses left and crime increased dramatically.
In attempt to save a town that was drifting out of existence, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and other public and private entities began a project called The Waterfront. The Waterfront was an attempt to bring shopping and entertainment back to Homestead. They based the Waterfront off of the model of suburban shopping malls. Vast parking lots and big box and chain stores sprouted up along the former mill site. To the pedestrian this might be more reminiscent of the former steel mill than 8th Avenue. This is not because of the industrial relics that have been preserved to remind users of the spaces past. The Waterfront is extremely large and imposing, to a pedestrian, like a mill worker, walking the area aimlessly is incredibly dangerous with sidewalks few and far between.
The Waterfront has been largely successful by most measures. Thousands of people visit the stores and entertainment venues bringing in tax revenue to a forgotten steel town. For a long period of time 8th Avenue stayed forgotten. Most shoppers coming over the bridge from wealthier Squirrel Hill need not to enter the rest of the town except for The Waterfront. Homestead has consistently lost population since the closing of Homestead Steel Works. The borough has less than half of its peak population. Unemployment is relatively low for residents that remain and that is largely due to The Waterfront. 25% of Homestead’s residents work in the services industry compared to 6% statewide. Unlike the steel mill, jobs at The Waterfront do not pay nearly as well. The low paying jobs contribute to the 26% poverty rate in the town.2
With the Waterfront booming and the town still fading, the Homestead-area Economic Revitalization Corporation was created to bring the focus back to the historic town itself. Through tax incentives and other measures they contributed to the renovation of the Carnegie Library and brought businesses and restaurants to 8th Avenue. After the renovation of the theater within the library music concerts and comedy shows. The entertainment aspect of The Waterfront has spread to 8th Avenue with the recent opening of an escape room which have become popular in recent years. People are locked in a themed roomed with various hints that hopefully will unlock the door before the time is up.Will 8th Avenue appears to be more bustling in recent years it still pales in comparison to before the closing of the mill.
Another major question in the revitalization of 8th Avenue is who are the new businesses targeted for and who uses them. Escape rooms for example range in cost between $20 and $30 per session. New restaurants are charging $10 for appetizers and $20 for entrees. In a town where 26% of the residents live in poverty these places are not accessible to them. As many other neighborhoods in Pittsburgh gentrify affordability becomes a big concern. One Homestead was a recent development on 8th Avenue aimed at affordable housing.
Change is inevitable in urban areas, especially areas that thrived off of one industry. In those cases, such as Homestead, every aspect of life is flipped around. The change from a milltown to a mall town stirs up plenty of emotions for those who have experienced this change. On The Waterfront this is especially real, “Because every inch of this geography contains a blistered history.”(57)3 Nearly everyone has nostalgia from their childhood and many of the memories are strictly tied to place; whether that be where you had your first kiss, played in the playground, parents worked, your house, nostalgia is heavily based on place. What happens when that place no longer exists? Slow or moderate change can bring upon nostalgia, especially if you have moved away for a period of time, but the spaces and places can still be familiar. To quote Jane Jacobs, when a city goes through a “Death and Life” cycle it is common to feel like a stranger inside your hometown. New places and faces can be alienating, even more so when you may not even be able to access them.4 It’s a unique experience to park your car where your ancestors may have died at work. The cars themselves represent caskets lined neatly in the organized graveyard parking lot. Inside the cars are people with memories of a place that no longer exists as they rest.
The Homestead-area Economic Revitalization Corporation recently disbanded stating that, “with new stores and businesses opening throughout the Homestead area, it seems like the time is right for HERC to step aside and let others lead redevelopment efforts.
“We’ve got a good thing going here now,” said Hahner, of Munhall, who is retired from the former Katilus Furniture Co. in Homestead.”5 With signs of classic gentrification and some equitable development occurring along 8th Avenue it remains up in the air for whom the corridor will be for in the coming years.
Work Cited
Bell, Thomas. Out of This Furnace. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993.
"Homestead, PA." http://www.city-data.com/. Web. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
Daniels, Jim, Jane McCafferty, and Charlee Brodsky. From Milltown to Malltown: Poems. Grosse Pointe Farms, MI: Marick Press, 2010.
Jacobs, Jane. The Death And Life Of Great American Cities. New York : Vintage Books, 1992. Print.
"Homestead-area Economic Revitalization Corporation To Disband." https://monvalleyinitiative.com/. Web. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.