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    Brentwood
    Brentwood
    Brentwood
    Ebook195 pages1 hour

    Brentwood

    By Brentwood Historical Society

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    About this ebook

    Brentwood Borough, established in 1915, spans one of the highest ridges in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, just six miles southeast of Pittsburgh. In the 19th century, three small villages, four inns, and several blacksmith shops clustered along the rural ridge. A popular and primitive roadway, now known as Brownsville Road, connected these three hamlets with the wider world. This major artery carried coaches, wagons, livestock, and even escaping slaves to Pittsburgh. At least one of the four inns was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Many years later, the community established a 28-acre park, complete with shelter house and swimming pool, as well as the later additions of ball fields, tennis courts, and a football stadium. In keeping with its original focus on education, the community has maintained its own school district. Brownsville Road, as a main street, has supported several viable shopping districts. Brentwood is renowned for its annual Fourth of July parade, attracting tens of thousands of spectators each year. Today, Brentwood encompasses 1.45 square miles. The strength of this small community lies with its residents, who value service and commitment. For 100 years, Brentwood has maintained its own distinct character and charm, combining the elements of a modern community with the friendliness of a small town.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateOct 20, 2014
    ISBN9781439647837
    Brentwood
    Author

    Brentwood Historical Society

    Since 1991, the Brentwood Historical Society has preserved the history of this unique neighborhood. Using vintage and contemporary images, the society shares Brentwood�s interesting heritage.

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      Book preview

      Brentwood - Brentwood Historical Society

      home.

      INTRODUCTION

      In 1915, Brentwood carved its original 880 acres from the heart of Baldwin Township. Spanning one of the highest ridges in Allegheny County, Brentwood lay just six miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Brownsville Road bisected the new district. Known variously as the Redstone Road, Brownsville Plank Road, Birmingham and Brownsville Macadamized Turnpike Road, and Southern Avenue, this roadway served as a principle artery in the region.

      This primitive highway connected the once prominent Brownsville, Pennsylvania (Fayette County), and the economically important National Road (now Route 40) in the southeast with Pittsburgh in the northwest. Goods, services, and people flowed toward Pittsburgh along the Redstone Road.

      Numerous inns, taverns, and blacksmith shops flourished along the way to meet the needs of coaches, wagons, drovers, and passengers plodding the 50 miles between Brownsville and Pittsburgh. Four hotels—the Varner, the Point View, the White Hall, and the Windsor—served those needs, and the three tiny villages of Whitehall, Brentwood, and Point View grew up around these hotels. Surrounding these hamlets lay fields, orchards, and dense woods.

      Many of the original settlers were of German, Scots-Irish, or English descent. After the Revolutionary War, these hardy folks abandoned the population centers in eastern Pennsylvania and trudged over the Allegheny Mountains in search of a new home. They found that home on the ridge southeast of the three rivers.

      The population was sparse. Log cabins and settlements lay scattered and few in number. The village of Pittsburgh huddled outside the walls of a frontier fort. Until 1794, the countryside experienced sporadic unrest from Native Americans as well as the effects of the Whiskey Rebellion (1791–1794), when armed rebels rose to resist the federal government’s controversial tax on whiskey. This tax was especially unpopular in Allegheny County. Those early settlers on the ridge, witnesses to these local events, might also have participated in the momentous happenings that swirled around them.

      John Varner, a German gunsmith and Revolutionary War veteran from Lancaster County, appears in the 1790 census. John and his wife, Mary, owned property that straddled what would become Brownsville Road and Route 51. Like many in Brentwood who came after them, the Varners were known for their deeds of charity and civic duty. John opened the Varner Tavern along the Redstone Road and deeded property for the establishment of the first Zion Lutheran Church.

      His son, Thomas Varner (1799–1883), served as a justice of the peace from 1830 until his death in 1883. He helped to spur the creation of Baldwin Township in 1844. Concerned for the neglect suffered by the homeless in the area, Thomas worked to establish a home for the indigent. In 1852, the Allegheny County Home (later known as Woodville) opened in Collier Township, and Varner served as its first president. He also constructed the first Windsor Hotel, which opened in about 1882.

      Another early name of prominence is that of the Scots-Irish Cowan family. Thomas Cowan and his wife, Jane Crawford Cowan, first appear in the 1800 census in Snowden Township. Their son, David Cowan (1777–1868), a carpenter and farmer, and his wife, Margaret Thompson Cowan (1775–1843), moved to Baldwin Township.

      Their son William Cowan (1805–1883) trained as a blacksmith and married Margaret Calhoun, daughter of Noble Calhoun (owner of the Bucks Tavern in what is now Carrick). William purchased 175 acres— a sizable property—from his father-in-law, maintained a blacksmith shop, and farmed along Brownsville Road. Remarkably, William died on August 23, 1883, the same date as his neighbor Thomas Varner.

      John Henry Cowan (1810–1883), another son of David and Margaret, married Louise Elizabeth Pryor (1815–1883) in 1834. Louise was the daughter of Silas D. and Elizabeth Pryor, who owned the White Hall Tavern. In 1840, John Henry purchased the tavern and inn, known then as the Union Hotel. The Union Hotel would later be known as the Point View Hotel. John and Louisa can be found in the 1850 and 1860 census in Baldwin Township, with John listed as an Inn Keeper. John Henry sold the property in 1863.

      In 1867, William T. Cowan (1840–1918), son of William and Margaret, married Anna M. Bell. Early in his career, William T. ran the Bell House, located at the bottom of what is now West Liberty Avenue. He later managed a hotel in Castle Shannon. He returned to farming after inheriting 45 acres of Cowan property from his father, and his homestead, built in 1883, still stands at 4111 Brownsville Road. He was a real estate developer, livestock broker, and manufacturer, and he held the post of justice of the peace in Baldwin Township for several years.

      Another notable name is that of the Goodwin-Davis family. The Davis farmhouse stood at 3423 Brownsville Road (the entrance to Brentwood Park) on land originally owned by John Stewart. In 1836, an Englishman named Thomas Goodwin and his wife, Millicent, acquired the property. In 1851, their daughter Mary Weigley married Rees Davis from South Wales. Thomas Goodwin died in 1847, and upon the death of Millicent in 1864, the Rees Davis family took over the estate.

      For over a century, these families and their neighbors lived along a bucolic Brownsville Road. But as early as 1905, they witnessed an auspicious transformation. Gazing eagerly at the dirt road known at that time as Southern Avenue, real estate developers began acquiring properties in then Baldwin Township. These developers saw the potential of the rural land that lay only six miles from Pittsburgh and could provide people with the advantages of the city along with the pleasures of the country. Residents of Pittsburgh sought to escape the pollution and congestion of the city by acquiring new homes with larger lots in a rural setting. With that development came monumental changes to this portion of Baldwin Township. Soon, nothing along the tranquil ridge would be the same.

      The growth in housing generated an escalation in population density, which strained existing services. The residents of what was designated as Precinct No. 2 of Baldwin Township began to voice their concerns to the Baldwin Township commissioners. Precinct No. 2, the most heavily populated precinct in Baldwin, comprised the villages of Brentwood, Point View, and Whitehall, and the inhabitants had serious grievances. First on the list was the need to replace the old, two-story frame building known as Moore School located on the right side of (East) Willock Road. The edifice was overcrowded and dilapidated, and a fire had damaged the structure in 1912.

      The residents also

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