The population of New
Kensington is approximately 13,116
The amount of land area in
New Kensington is 10.28 sq. kilometers.
The amount of surface water is 0.707 sq kilometers.
New Kensington is
positioned 40.56 degrees north of the equator
and 79.75 degrees west of the prime meridian.
New Kensington Historic District
The New Kensington
Downtown Historic District is significant under National Register
Criterion A for commerce as representing a largely intact
commercial business area, which downtown evolved from an initial
settlement of the city in the late 19th century, to a
live, bustling community after World War II. The district also is
significant for industry for its association with the aluminum
manufacturing in Southwestern Pennsylvania from 1891 to 1947 and
as an area where aluminum workers from the New Kensington
Production Works lived and shopped. The district played a
significant contribution to the growth of the manufacturing of
aluminum in the United States. While Alcoa’s manufacturing center
grew, the commercial and residential center grew accordingly.
Aluminum workers depended on commercial centers for food, dry
goods, health related services and recreation after they finished
working for the day. The downtown and the residential areas grew
as the number of workers in the mills increased from 1891 through
1947. It is also significant for architecture as embodying the
style, forms, methods of construction and artistic values of
commercial and residential buildings associated with early
twentieth century architecture in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The
period of significance for the New Kensington Historic District
begins in 1891 when the community was laid out and continues until
after World War II. The district meets the registration
requirements specified for commercial-residential districts in the
Multiple Property Documentation Form, “The Historic Aluminum
Industry Resources of Southwestern Pennsylvania, 1888-1947” for
commercial-residential districts.
The development of
New Kensington began in 1890 when the Burrell Improvement Company,
a group of Pittsburg(h) businessmen, purchased level land on the
east side of the Allegheny River as prime location for a city.
They had the land surveyed and laid out the town of “Kensington”
with a rectilinear grid pattern. The avenues paralleled the
railroad and the river and ran from Second to Sixth, and the
streets were numbered from Second (in Parnassus) to Nineteenth (in
Arnold). The land between Second Avenue and river was to be
maintained in larger pieces for sale to industrial users.
The first public
sale of lots took place on June 10, 1891. Purchasers were given a
free train ride from Pittsburgh and refreshments if they came to
view the site of the proposed new town. The price range of the
first several hundred lots ranged from $30.00 to $300.00. By the
end of 1891, New Kensington was home to 12 companies, providing
jobs to 4,000 individuals. In addition to the Pittsburgh Reduction
Company (PRC), the companies were the Bradley Stove Works, the
Brownsville Plate Glass Company, Kensington Chilled Steel Company,
Kensington Roller Process Flour Company, Kensington Tube Works,
Logan and Sons Planning Mills, New York Piano and Organ Factory,
Pennsylvania Tin Plate Company, the Rolled Wheel Steel Company,
the R.F. Rynd Planning Mills, and the Chambers Glass Company (in
what was to become Arnold).
In the same year,
500 houses along Kenneth Avenue (on the other side of the Conrail
railroad tracks), and Second and Third Streets were built by
private individuals to house the growing aluminum workforce. To
service the residents of the growing community, a variety of
businesses were locating to New Kensington along Fourth and Fifth
Avenues between Ninth and Tenth Streets and on Ninth and Tenth
Streets between Cherry Alley and Ivey Alley. These businesses
included a drug store, fish monger, dry goods store, hardware
store, meat market, variety store, fancy goods, tailor, clothing,
offices, millinery, laundry, jeweler and grocer.
The City of New
Kensington was incorporated November 26, 1892. By 1893, the
Cold Rolled Steel Company, the Excelsior Flint Glass Works, the
Kensington Stove Works, the Kensington Enameling Works and the
Sterling White lead Company had all located to New Kensington.
Three new banks were also located in the new community including
the First National Bank of New Kensington, the Pittsburgh National
Bank and the Jacobs Banking Company. New Kensington took on the
appearance of a thriving and diverse industrial community.
By 1895, the
central business district was concentrated along Ninth and Tenth
Streets, with some businesses located on Third, Fourth and Fifth
Avenue between Eighth and Tenth Streets. The business district
contained six grocery stores, three variety stores, five clothing
stores, three drug stores, four bakeries, three meat markets, two
laundries, three tailors, five milliners, two tobacconists, four
hotels, a book store, jewelry store, three hardware stores, two
butteries, two undertakers, a dry goods store, two barbers, a
carpentry shop, two fruit store, a restaurant, two pool rooms, and
several office buildings. Most of these buildings were wood
framed, although several of the more prominent commercial blocks
were of masonry construction.
In 1895, in
recognition of the rapid business growth in New Kensington,
streets in the district were paved with brick. The first paved
street was Fifth Avenue between Ninth and Tenth Streets. The
following year, the business district met its first setback with
the New Kensington Opera House, located on the Corner of Fourth
Avenue and Tenth Street, and ten nearby houses were destroyed in a
fire causing an estimated $50,000 in damage. Despite the
destruction of the Opera House, the community retained a cultural
center. News items published in the local newspaper, New
Kensington Dispatch in 1899 indicated Behm’s Opera House hosted
performances by the Mozart Concert Company, the New Kensington
Philharmonic Glee Society, and the New Kensington Military Bank.
The social and commercial significance of the community was
becoming well established.
New Kensington’s
commercial and industrial growth continued during the first decade
of the twentieth century. By 1900, the density of the Downtown
Historic District has increased to the point that most of the lots
on Fourth and Fifth Avenues between Ninth and Tenth Streets were
occupied by brick and wood framed, two and three story commercial
buildings. The variety of goods increased as well, as the
merchants catered to the needs of the growing community.
In 1902, a
streetcar line was completed between Natrona and New Kensington.
This streetcar line ran cars every 20 minutes and with the
continued growth of the aluminum industry, resulted in increased
business and patronage for the shops and services within the
central business district of New Kensington. The following year,
the City Council and the Pennsylvania Railroad reached an
agreement for construction of a station at Barnes and Ninth
Street. The Freight Building is still standing today and is
included within the historic district. The growing community
gained a social service institution, where former resident Charles
Parkins announced a donation of $13,000 to begin a building fund
to construct a YMCA on Fifth Avenue between Ninth and Tenth
Streets. The remaining necessary funds were soon raised, and the
building was completed within the year.
By 1905, most of
the blocks within the core of the central business district had
become completely developed, and wood framed buildings had been
largely replaced by masonry buildings. The streets within the
commercial district were lined with adjoining two and three story
brick commercial buildings.
In 1906, the New
Kensington Land Company developed East Kensington. This area
extended west to Wood Street and was bordered on the south and
east by Seventh Street and to the north by what is now Powers
Drive. The city’s estimated 1911 population was 13,000. The
west side of the 1000 block of Third Avenue had become more
heavily developed with a mixture of wood framed houses and shops.
By 1915, the district had sustained additional residential and
commercial development.
By 1921, the
population of the City had swelled to 15,000. Empty lots along
Third Avenue had become the sites of additional houses.
Development of the central business district continued in the
1920’s. By 1921, when new immigration laws severely curtailed
immigration, the central business district had begun to expand
northward and eastward. Commercial development extended to the
railroad tracks on the east side of downtown. The 1200 blocks of
Fourth and Fifth Avenue contained a mixture of wood framed
detached residences and masonry commercial buildings, and light
manufacturing plants. Several social clubs and churches were also
located in the northern section of downtown New Kensington. On May
2, 1921, the first of the new theaters, the Liberty Theater
(demolished in 1996) opened on the corner of Fifth Avenue and
Eighth Street and the Ritz Theater (958 Fifth Avenue) opened the
next year. In 1924, the cornerstone was laid for the Salvation
Army Citadel on the north end of the central business district and
was dedicated the following year. The State Theater opened on
Fifth Avenue in 1925, the newest of five theaters in New
Kensington, reflecting the growing popularity of movies as
entertainment. In 1928, the city’s first public free library
opened. No longer just an aluminum boom town, New Kensington
matured into a community managed and dominated by aluminum
interests, but also with social, religious, ethnic institutions
and recreation and entertainment facilities typical of the 20th
century industrial communities. Architects and builders for these
buildings are largely unknown.
The 1928 Sanborn
map portrays the district much as it presently appears. The
Rorabaugh Block and a now demolished adjacent block on the south
side of Tenth Street had been constructed. The commercial blocks
on the north side of Ninth Street had been constructed by 1928.
Both Dyke Automotive building (now demolished) and the Edelson
building housed businesses serving the growing number of
automobiles in New Kensington. Several of the houses along Third
Avenue had been faced in a brick veneer.
The surviving
fabric is significant as an example of commercial and residential
buildings associated with the aluminum industry, 1891 to 1947.
The district as a whole reflects the architecture of a period
working class aluminum community.
Information Sources:
Lore of Yore:A History of New Kensington, Arnold and Lower Burrell
Idid,p.34
Pittsburgh was not spelled with an “H” from 1890 to 1917
Sanborn Map Company
Women’s Club of New Kensington, p. 53
Idid, p.37
Sanborn Perris Map Company
Idid, p.70
