Oakland by Walter C. Kidney

Arcadia Publishing

Oakland, located two miles east of downtown Pittsburgh, is a place where people have gone to enjoy rustic tranquility, culture, socialization, entertainment, and education. Through more than 150 years, much has changed in this neighborhood. Where children once caught crayfish, a fantastic skyscraper rose, a Greek Revival villa yielded to a hospital, a trolley barn turned into a sports arena, a fountain was created on a buried bridge, and a hillside cow pasture became a university campus. Bit by bit, this municipal showplace came into being through an attempt to improve the Smoky City by establishing a sprawling museum complex, a vast park, universities, clubhouses, auditoriums, a glamourous hotel, apartments, and a model neighborhood of houses.

Walter C. Kidney, one of Pittsburgh's preeminent writers, is an architectural historian with the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Historical images reproduced here are from various institutions and individuals, including the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which partnered with the author and the foundation for this publication.