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VISIT BRADDOCK'S ATTIC!Many people have great memories of Braddock and the area. Do you? Share them in our Braddock's Attic Section. click to see what others have shared! |
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Did you once shop in the stores along Braddock's tree-lined main streets? Go to events in the Library or Music Hall? Enjoy the evening breeze off the river? That's all part of Braddock's history—which started before the American Revolution. The first cabin and trading post was built in Braddock in 1742 by the area’s earliest known English settler, John Frazier. On July 9, 1755, British and Colonial soldiers led by General Edward Braddock and the young Colonel George Washington fought the French and Indians in the Battle of the Monongahela. The battleground, where the General was mortally wounded, became known as Braddock's Field. Today it straddles Braddock and North Braddock. Braddock's Field again became famous in 1794, when rebellious militiamen and farmers protested a tax on whiskey. George Washington—by then president—sent troops to the area to put down the Whiskey Rebellion. Braddock was incorporated in 1867. Starting in 1873, when Andrew Carnegie built the Edgar Thompson Steel Works here, the Mon Valley became an industrial powerhouse. Steel mills and coke ovens ran nonstop, and busy railroads and barges hauled raw materials and finished products. Thousands of people—many of them new immigrants—worked long hours at dangerous jobs in the mills. In 1889 the Carnegie Free Library of Braddock and community center was opened. It was Carnegie’s first American library—the first of many he would donate across the country and beyond. With the steel mills came prosperity—by 1940, Braddock's population exceeded 18,000—and the town became a lively commercial and shopping hub, routinely drawing shoppers from Cleveland and Erie. The good times faded when the U.S. steel industry collapsed in the 1980s. Most of the industry has left the Valley, and the area has faced unemployment, poverty, and a declining population. But today is a time of energetic renewal in Braddock—there are new and expanded businesses, new housing, major development projects on the horizon, and young artists making creative waves. See Braddock Today to learn about what’s happening in the new Braddock.
© 2008 - 2010, Heritage Community Initiatives, Inc. All rights reserved.
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