Design Zone History

The 16:62 Design Zone initiative was launched in 2000 to promote the growth of home and office design-related businesses in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville and Strip District neighborhoods.
Both of these neighborhoods have a long history as centers of innovation, creativity, and business. These traditions live on today through the artisans and entrepreneurs of the Design Zone. Many Design Zone businesses are located in buildings dating from the mid-1800s and warehouses that were built during Pittsburgh's industrial peak.	The craft of soapmaking is alive at Jay Design on Butler Street.

Lawrenceville was first inhabited by English and Scotch-Irish settlers in the 18th century. In 1814, William Barclay Foster (father of the famous composer Stephen Foster, who is buried in Allegheny Cemetery) laid out the town of Lawrenceville in honor of Captain James Lawrence, whose dying words "Don't Give Up the Ship!" became the rallying cry of Americans in their struggle against the English in the War of 1812. Foster also sold land to the federal government for use as a federal military post in 1814. This land was known as the "Allegheny Arsenal," and it was home to a munitions factory and proving ground through 1905. In Lawrenceville today, you'll see the Arsenal name on a school, a park, and a bowling alley.

Lawrenceville was annexed into the City of Pittsburgh in 1868. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Lawrenceville became home to immigrants of many ethnic backgrounds, including Germans, Poles, Croats, Slovenes, Swedes, Italians, Russians, Lithuanians, and African-Americans. Arriving to work in the iron mills or steamboat construction, these early settlers viewed Lawrenceville as an ideal place to work and live. The opportunity to live and work in a vibrant city neighborhood continues to attract new residents and businesses to Lawrenceville today.

"The Strip" soon became the home of immigrants from Poland, Germany, and Ireland. Churches established to serve the neighborhood's new residents are still in existence today.

Industrial development made its home in The Strip, too. As early as the 1820s and 1830s, the Strip was home to iron mills, foundries, and glass factories. Although many of the original businesses are gone, the legacy of their effort is written in Pittsburgh's legendary industrial history. Carnegie got his start in the iron and steel industry at the Upper and Lower Union Mills at Smallman and 33rd. The Pittsburgh Reduction Company (later ALCOA), began commercial production of aluminum in the 3200 block of Smallman, and George Westinghouse built his first factory to produce air brakes in the 2400 block of Liberty Avenue.

Today, the Strip is also recognized for its wholesale and retail produce businesses. This industry got its Strip start in the late 19th century, when the elimination of railroad access on downtown Liberty Avenue prompted produce merchants to relocate in The Strip. Although changes in the industry resulted in a decrease of wholesale produce merchants in The Strip, the neighborhood is also home to ethnic food stores, restaurants, and coffee shops.

Information provided by the Lawrenceville Historical Society and Neighbors In The Strip.