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SouthSouth SideSide FACTSFACTS

Hello! Schools have long been was a physician at , as well as students from all districts south of part of life. The front a large landowner on the South Side. the Monongahela River attended. In his will, he gave the land to the Students came from Mt. Lebanon, of this fact sheet tells you about Borough of Birmingham for a school. Dormont, Sheraden, , some of South Side’s first schools, Today, this building has been and Brentwood. and on the back you’ll find facts made into condominiums. The original blackboards still hang on about schools today. the walls! Humboldt School was built in 1867. The original building had nine rooms and was referred to as an acad- emy. In 1881 nine more rooms were added and the building became known as a “school house.” The school was torn down in 1957, and a new school, Phillips Elementary, was built on the same piece of land. Birmingham Public School South Side High School opened around 1870, on South 14th Street, and was renovated in 1925. Two additions were built in 1924 The red-brick building served as a and 1936. South Side High School school for just over 130 years. After was the first city school to have all- Schools Long Ago Birmingham Public School closed, weather turf installed in its stadium. In 1850, Birmingham No. 1 opened. the school re-opened in 1940 as St. From September 1985 through It was the largest public school on Adalbert’s School, then became South June 2004 the school was used for the South Side at the time. Eighty Side Catholic in 1969, and then vocational and technical training, pupils studied in the original four- became Prince of Peace School in and was renamed South Vo-Tech. room building. The boys attended 1992. Prince of Peace closed in June Years ago, some high school stu- classes on one side; the girls on the 2002 and the building is now vacant. dents chose to go to schools set up by other! Another of the schools on the their parishes. Some of these schools The school’s name was changed to South Side was Morse School. included St. Casimir’s, St. Michael’s, Bedford Public School in 1872 in It was built in 1874 and an annex St. Peter’s, and St. Adalbert’s, (these honor of Dr. Nathaniel Bedford. He was added in 1905. The annex later were combined to form Prince of housed the first evening grammar Peace), St. John the Baptist, St. and night schools in the City of Matthew’s, St. John the Evangelist, Pittsburgh. This new school housed St. Josaphat’s, and Holy Cross. All a radical change from the older forms these schools are now closed. of education. Many of the men and ➜ boys who worked in the shops and OVER mills during the day attended classes there at night. They learned the basics of their crafts from a scientific view- point. When South Side students reached their mid-teens, they went to South Side High School. The original Bedford Public School building was built in 1898, and

Humboldt School, c. 1906 Schools on the South Side and in Surrounding Areas

1. Phillip’s Elementary School 4. Philip Murray Elementary School 1901 Sarah Street 800 Rectenwald Street Questions Built: 1958 Built: 1955 1. Where do you go to school? Named After: John MacFarlane Named After: Union leader Phillips and Harriet Philip Murray ______Duff Phillips Grades Served: Pre-K–6 Grades Served: K–5 Attendance: 300 Attendance: 300 2. How old is your school building? 5. Prospect Elementary and 2. School Middle School ______2500 Jonquil Way 45 Cowan and 161 Prospect Streets Built: Built: 1961 1931 3. How many students are attending Named For: Named For: The neighborhood Location on Mt. your school this year? Grades Served: K–8 Washington overlooking Attendance: 350 Pittsburgh Grades Served: K–5 (elementary) ______3. Bishop Leonard Catholic School 6–8 (middle) 434 Ormsby Avenue Attendance: 223 (elementary) 4. How many students are in your 362 (middle) Built: 1881, 1925, 1956 (newest class? addition) 6. Elementary and Former Name: St. Joseph’s School Middle School ______Named For: Bishop Leonard of the 90 Georgia Avenue and Diocese of Pittsburgh. He was the first Pittsburgh- 300 Charles Street 5. Did your parents go to school on born priest to be appointed Built: 1935 the South Side? Yes No as bishop. He served from Named For: The neighborhood Grandparents? Yes No 1969 to 1983. (Knoxville takes its name Great-grandparents? Yes No Grades Served: Pre-K–8 from Jeremiah and Mary Attendance: 271 Morgan Knox, who settled there in the early 1800s.) 6. If so, which schools did they Grades Served: K–5 (elementary) go to? 6–8 (middle) Attendance: 315 (elementary) Parents: 370 (middle) ______

Grandparents:

______The map shows the area served by the Neighborhood Assistance Program/Comprehensive Service Program, and the schools that Great-grandparents: are within the area or just beyond the boundaries. ______

Monongahela River

Megan Heilmann, an intern with the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, wrote this fact sheet for students participating in educational programs offered through the Neighborhood Assistance Program/Comprehensive Service Program. The Commonwealth of ’s Department of Community and Economic Development sponsors the Neighborhood Assistance Program in partner- ship with the South Side Local Development Company and PNC Bank. For details call the SSLDC at 412-481-0651.

Help us protect the places that make Pittsburgh home. For more information about our education programs and membership opportunities call 412-471-5808 www.phlf.org