The Hill is a gallery of faces full of character, strength and tenderness. It is the poetry of language captured in the plays of August Wilson. It is the daily lives chronicled in Robert L. Vann's crusading "Pittsburgh Courier." A center that drew musical genius, it was also the site of Greenlee Field where once the legendary Pittsburgh Crawfords battled the equally legendary Homestead Grays in celebrated Fourth of July ballgames.
After the Civil War, mirroring the changes in America at large, wave after wave of ethnic groups made The Hill their home coexisting side by side. Onetime home of the Irene Kaufmann Settlement, the community has, since 1964, been served by the multi-faceted Hill House Association. Since the 1940s and 50s, urban planners, pursuing a vision, have redeveloped The Hill, but it still survives. An extensive reading list will suggest what has been lost, what has been gained, and hint at that spirit that can never be lost.
