Hilltop Urban Farm, Pittsburgh, PA Masterplan : Click for larger view.
The Master Plan team included Aaron Sukenik (Hilltop Alliance), Ernie Sota (Sota Construction), Bernie Lamm P.E. (Common Ground), Beth Anderson R.L.A (InSite Design), Sarah Ashley Baxendell (Hilltop Alliance), Michael Sands (Prairie Crossing Foundation), and Nick Lubecki (Butter Hill Farm).
The main entry routes to the St. Clair neighborhood are from the North via Arlington Road to Mountain Avenue and from the South via Becks Run Road to Wagner Street to Mountain Avenue.
The Hilltop Urban Farm is currently under development through a site access agreement with the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh. The public can access the site by appointment only.
Originally wooded and then cleared during European settlement for land and residences, St. Clair, a south Pittsburgh neighborhood, became a part of the City of Pittsburgh in 1923.
The 1904 Plan of Partitions of the Estate of Ottilia Henger to Mary Meier, Mrs. Rise, the Engstlers, Louisa Henger, Elizabeth Cresswell, Joseph Henger and Joseph Keeling.
Several decades ago, families earned their living farming in the tiny neighborhood of St. Clair and selling their produce. St. Clair was partitioned from the Estate of Otillia Henger.
Prior to 1950, our information about the site history of this era is limited. The Hilltop Alliance is collecting family stories, archival photographs and maps of this area of St. Clair. Please contact our offices to contribute to this growing historical archive.
Click here for additional detailed plot plans.
In 1951 and 1952, the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh acquired 44 parcels in St. Clair to form the St. Clair Village. This included the properties of Anna Kottemoller (633), Andrew Najpauer (645), Charles H. Denny (511), John T. Hoffman (414), Raymond A. Hutton (94), Edward Elone (581), Edward N. Kirik (523), John Hoffman (309), Frank V. Amrheim (442), Theodore (Davis) Davidson (79), Karl Finkbainer (426), Sylvester Bradley (36), Helen D. Burr (276), George Glumeo (332), Walter W. Baldauff (540), Martin Frank Burr (543), Samuel Vecchio (345), Frank J. Amrheim (501), John Slack (700), Peter Zadrozny (208), Antonia Kienzl (244), Alexander (J) Folesiak (245), Mildred Feiling (246), William L. Eikey (67), Charles Klone (260), Ann L. (Davis) Silver (562), Frank Augustin (110), George Glumag (118), Mildred Kirsch Zoglmann (157), Rose Hanula (171), Frank Schultz (231), Frances Vasil (10), John Lunczynski (11), Stella Grajek Antkowiak (12), Charles L. Sturges (330), Michael Kirsch (361), Regis H. and Ellie Baldauff (285), Sylvester J. and Helen N. Baldauff (509), Rose T. Baldauff (314), Charles R. and Laura Zell (109), Paul and Margaret Pitterick (201), Joseph Dehn, Frank Dehn, and Mary Volz (117).
Between 1951 and 1956, the St Clair Village housing complex was constructed by the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh. At its completion it housed more than 70 buildings, housing at its peak 1,089 families. The St. Clair Village was closed in phases completed in 2010.
The St Clair neighborhood has lost more than 80% of its peak population since 1960; currently only 209 people live within its limits and there is a 65% vacancy rate.
