Marigold Lane, Glen Hazel, Pittsburgh, took place on December 17, 2023, and was published on January 4, 2024.
For the sharp-eyed, several flights of city steps are present along the overgrown hillsides lining Johnston Avenue in Glen Hazel. These stairs once led to the Federally owned 1,001-unit Glen-Hazel Heights defense workers’ housing project. Before World War II, the land in this area, known as “Sugar Hill,” was privately owned and mined for coal. But by early 1942, families began moving into the rapidly constructed three-story buildings along the hilltop, and almost immediately, structural problems and water runoff issues began to plague the entire complex.
Despite the less-than-ideal conditions, residents operated one of Pennsylvania’s largest food cooperatives, had access to a Carnegie Public Library branch location, and developed an active Resident’s Council, which successfully organized a strike against Federal Public Housing Authority rent schedules in 1943.
The poor housing quality and ground instability due to severe undermining worsened with time, and in 1953, the property was transferred to Pittsburgh’s Housing Authority. By 1975, only 228 of the original units were occupied, and those residents were given priority for the current Glen Hazel housing, which lies downhill along Johnston Avenue.
The stairs at the southern end of Marigold Lane present a hillside scramble and a bit of bushwacking, but the persistent will connect to an abandoned section of Rivermont Drive. Here, it’s possible to see the old streets, curbs, and concrete platforms many buildings once rested on.
