I'm not originally from here, so I can't ask Mom. People her age tell me that when they were children, they'd ride the streetcar to Braddock to shop the downtown (clothes, etc.). It was the best place to shop. My town is about 10 or 12 miles from Braddock, I think. The streetcar connected the industrial towns in the Turtle Creek Valley/Westinghouse Valley (Westinghouse, steel mills - Edgar Thompson steel works is in Braddock).
I think the streetcar line in this town was abandoned in the 1950's. Part of the right of way is in my front yard.
Greengate Mall was built six miles east of here in the 1960's. I'm sure it drew business away from places like Braddock.
Note the Westinghouse Bridge in the background of the picture of the river and mill. It carries US 30 over the Turtle Creek Valley.
I know middle class families who moved out of Braddock around 1980. There are racial stereotypes about the city, but I've only really been through it once, so I can't tell if it's true. There is a newer waterfront development across the Monongahela River from there, but it's on level ground near the river.
There is new development around Braddock, too. Braddock is out of the way as far as highways go. 376 is the closest, but it's pretty congested, and the streets that go to Braddock from there must be steep, windy and narrow. I don't know the exact route of the proposed Mon Valley Expressway, but it may help to improve Braddock.
