Classroom

The Hill District’s African American community still utilizes the West Funeral Home today. In 1932, the funeral home was established by Thomas L. West Sr. It is one of the oldest African American- owned businesses in the Pittsburgh area. Due to segregation, the West Funeral Home was one of the only funeral homes that African Americans could use. August Wilson portrayed West as a greedy man in his play, Two Trains Running. However, according to an article from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, these claims by Wilson were wrong. West was believed to be a very religious and kind man. Although still in operation, the West Funeral Home is threated by a lack in clients and an increased number of funeral homes. For now, the funeral home continues to function as Thomas L. West Sr. had intended.

West Funeral Home’s Hearses (1950-1955)

Exterior of Wylie Avenue’s West Funeral Home 

West Funeral Home was originally located here at 2216 Centre Avenue. The funeral home served the African American community and continues to do so today at its 2215 Wylie Avenue location. The West family has owned and operated this funeral home for three generations. August Wilson included the funeral home and its owner, Thomas L. West Sr., in Two Trains Running. However, Wilson’s portrayal of West was inaccurate. 

West Funeral Home - Original Location

Set in Pittsburgh's Hill District and Homewood neighborhoods, this tour provides a glimpse of which places and events influenced playwright, August Wilson. 

August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittle on April 27 of 1945 and was the fourth child of six born to Frederick Sr and Daisy Kittle. The family lived in this building in a small apartment. Wilson’s father left at a very young age, leaving his mother to raise all six children alone. The area that the family resided in was mostly a Black neighborhood and the people and experiences of his life would go on to shape Wilson's writing, including his view on race relations which can be seen throughout many of his works. At the age of 15 Wilson dropped out of public school but continued to spend many hours dedicated to daily study. In between work and family obligation, and thanks to the integrated Pittsburgh libraries, he continued reading and writing while he worked different jobs to help his mother afford this apartment. The early years of the civil rights movement and observations about racial relations shaped Wilson's worldview. He was aware of the unfair treatment and wanted to be apart of the African American movement that was going on in this United States. In the 1960’s after a brief stent in the United States Army, he officially changed his name to “August Wilson” and started participating in the Black Arts movement. He started submitting poems to different forms of the Black press, and performing his poetry in local bars. In 1968 he was the co-founder and director of The Black Horizons theater in Pittsburgh. This is when Wilson started working on his ten part cycle of plays that were mostly set in the Hills District of Pittsburgh. Several of these plays would go on to win Pulitzer Prizes. He is now remembered as one of the most renowned artist of his generation. After his death in 2005 steps have been made to preserve the African American history that came out of Pittsburgh in honor of him. He helped spread cultural awareness, not only through theater but many other forms of art as well. His plays often depicted life in this neighborhood and even included scenes inspired by this small apartment. The building is now being restored and being turned into a spot for local artist to share their art.

August Wilson was one of Americas most gifted and talented African American playwrights. He was born in this house in the Hills District, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 27, 1945. This area at the time was home to a working class neighborhood that was predominantly African American. Wilson would later use this apartment house as the setting for some of his most famous plays. The culture and environment surrounding this small apartment led to some of the most important moments in Wilson's career. 

The August Wilson House 

Fences follows the story of the Maxon family from 1957-1964. Troy Maxon, the main character is a garbage man striving to provide for his family in a city ravaged by the cultural aspects of racism. He was a former baseball player in the Negro Leagues, who, according to himself and those around him, would have been good enough to play in the Major Leagues had they been integrated. Unfortunately, his career came to an end before Jackie Robinson integrated the league in 1947. Troy’s wife, Rose, plays the typical 1950s housewife. Obedient and hardworking, whilst always living in her husband’s shadow. Throughout the play, readers witness the degradation of Troy and Rose’s marriage.           Fences addresses several topics associated with the 1950s, and its impact on the lives of African Americans both in Pittsburgh and throughout the United States. Troy’s son, Cory, is an outstanding football player in his senior year of high school. He has fielded several offers from unnamed colleges and universities. Troy refuses to allow his son to play football in college, for fear that he will endure the same racial discrimination as he did during his baseball career.           The tensions between Troy and his son are one of only many plot lines throughout the play. Wilson brilliantly wrestles with the ideas of gender norms, relationships, discrimination, and even mental health throughout the play. Major topics of life in the 1950s are all discussed from this little house in Pittsburgh’s Hill District.

The setting of the 1985 play Fences by August Wilson. Fences focuses on the Maxon family, and their toils with the ever changing social and political life in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in the 1950s. Fences has won a Pulitzer Prize (1987), Tony Award (1987), and its 2016 film adaptation was nominated for four Academy Awards, with Viola Davis winning Best Supporting Actress for her role as Rose Maxon. 


Maxon House

Greenlee Field was named after its owner, Gus Greenlee. The stadium was built in 1932 with a capacity with about 6,000. It was the first Black owned baseball field in the East. The Pittsburgh Crawfords called the field home, and the Homestead Grays also played there for a short time. Upon opening, the first game played on April 29, 1932 was a loss to the New York Black Yankees. Later in the year, that August lights were installed to allow for night baseball, making Greenlee the first field to allow for games at night. In 1935 the team won the National Negro League ball game and was named the 1935 Negro League Champs.Financial troubles began to surface and the loss of very important and vital players, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige, it was a burden that the field and owner, Gus Greenlee, were not able to rise above. In just 6 short years the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Greenlee Field seized to exist. In December of 1938 demolition of the stadium began and the Bedford Dwellings housing project began on the site.On June 17, 2009 a historical marker was made public at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Junilla Street near where the baseball stadium once stood. The historical marker is co-sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, the Josh Gibson Foundation, and the Society for American Baseball Research. (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)The historical marker reads, “Greenlee Field located here from 1932 to 1938, this was the first African American owned stadium in the Negro Leagues. Home of Gus Greenlee’s Pittsburgh Crawfords Baseball team, 1935 Negro League Champs. Players included Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Cool Papa Bell.”

The site where Greenlee Field once stood has earned a place in history. Greenlee Field was the first and only Black-owned baseball field in the East but only stood for a short 6 years before being replaced with the Bedford Dwellings housing project. The field was named after the owner Gus Greenlee and was home to the Pittsburgh Crawfords. A Pennsylvania historical marker is placed on the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Junilla Street, near the place where the baseball stadium once stood. 

Greenlee Field 

Civic Arena was a multipurpose arena constructed by the city of Pittsburgh between 1958 and 1961. The city started its construction on the arena on April 25, 1958, immediately following the demolition of Duquesne Gardens, the previous home of the AHL's Pittsburgh Hornets. Civic Arena was designed as part of the city's postwar Renaissance I movement. The developers pitched an ambitious plan to the city which included retractable dome roof. The project cost a total of $21.7 million to complete and was the only structure of its kind for many years. The arena's roof was constructed by using eight 300-ton roof sections--six of which were able to retract. This roof was especially unique because there was no internal scaffolding to hold the heavy structure. One 260-foot cantilever arm supported the entire roof from the outside--even while it was moving. Famous for having the first retractable roof in a major arena, Civic Arena would later be famous for being the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins which led to its nickname of "The Igloo." On September 17, 1961, the arena finally opened after over three years of construction with an ice skating exhibition. The Hornet's played their first game there shortly after this in October. The Hornet's went onto a winning season and won the first professional hockey championship in the city, The Calder Cup. The Pittsburgh Penguins began using the arean in 1967.  With the addition of luxury boxes and additional seating, the arena eventually had the capacity of 17,537 which allowed it to host events like the NHL All Star Game in 1990. The arena also hosted the Stanley Cup Playoffs five times (1991,1992, 2008, 2009, and 2010.) Pittsburgh-based Mellon Bank purchased the naming rights to the Civic Arena in 1999. Despite the success of the Penguins, the building began to show its age. During a hockey game in 2006, for example, the lights failed completely due to an electrical fire. Mellon Bank did not renew their contract for naming rights in 2010. In that year, the last paid event was held at the arena on July 26th when James Taylor and Carol King performed in concert. Demolition of the building began in 2011 after attempts to preserve the arena as both a historic site and downtown venue. Demolition ended in March 2012. Note on the Civic Arena's place in the gentrification of the Hill District: The construction of the Civic Arena led to the destruction of approximately 300 properties in the Lower Hill District. Many of the people displaced by the construction were families who's ancestors came to the area during the Great Migration. In 1968, the Civic Arena became the staging point for the National Guard sent to protect the city during the riots which ensued after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr (see picture below). Following the destruction of the arena in 2012, the construction of the arena, and its subsequent replacement parking lot were once again a topic of conversation concerning the cities push to gentrify the once vibrant African American communities.

Mellon Arena was located in Pittsburgh from 1968 until 2012. This arena once boasted the largest moving dome in the world and was home to the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. Civic Area opened September 17, 1961 and hosted many events beyond hockey, including concerts and national political conventions. The building began to show its age in the early 2000s. As the Penguins began negotiations for a new facility, many in the city hoped to restore the historic structure. Despite efforts to save the old arena in 2011, demolition plans were made in that year and the area is now vacant. 

The Civic Arena (Mellon Arena) 1961-2012

After years of unrest in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the city erupted in violent protests. Dr. King's death was the spark in the powderkeg of dozens of cities throughout the United States, as riots, fires, and general unrest became the norm for several days following his death. Throughout Pittsburgh, the Hill District, North Side, and Homewood Districts were the epicenter of protests. After years of discrimination and its wide range of side effects, the city erupted with the death of the leader of the Civil Rights Movement. 1968 was a year of unrest throughout the United States, with mounting tensions over race, sex, and the war in Vietnam came to a head in the spring and summer with the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. In the end, it took the Pennsylvania National Guard six days to control the protests, 1,000 people were arrested, 36 people were injured and one person was killed in the protests throughout the city.

Homewood Playground and Homewood Swimming Pool are the approximate location of a lumberyard fire that took place during the April 1968 riots within Pittsburgh. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, Pittsburgh erupted in six days of violent protests, culminating in a fire at a Homewood Lumberyard.  

Homewood Playground

August Wilson came to Eddie’s Restaurant to write his plays and to find inspiration. In Two Trains Running, the restaurant’s future is being questioned. Due to the city’s urban development plans, the restaurant’s location is prime real estate. Most buildings in the Lower Hill District had the same fate at this time. However, Eddie’s Restaurant was able to survive demolition until the twenty first century. The community did not want this business to be demolished and even considered it a historical landmark. However, the Urban Redevelopment Authority deemed the site not historically valuable and Eddie’s Restaurant was demolished in 2008.

Eddie’s Restaurant once sat here at 2172 Wylie Avenue. Hill District native, August Wilson would come to this restaurant to write his “Pittsburgh Cycle” plays and it is believed that he used the restaurant as inspiration for Two Trains Running. Unlike the restaurant in Two Trains Running, Eddie’s was demolished in 2008.

Eddie's Restaurant

In 1894, the Lutz Meat Market was established and became a community favorite until new ownership after the 1968 riots. August Wilson used the Lutz Meat Market as inspiration for his play, Two Trains Running. However, according to an article from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, his portrayal of Karl Lutz, owner of the market, was not accurate. Wilson needed to add aspects of the racial tensions that plagued the Hill District at the time. It is believed that he portrayed Lutz as a white man who was trying to fool African Americans. According to those who knew him, Lutz cared for the whole community and considered his African American employees as family. The Lutz Meat Market was one of the only stores in the Hill District to have African American employees.

The Lutz Meat Market was once located in this building on Centre Avenue. The market was owned by Karl Lutz. August Wilson included both the market and Lutz in his play, Two Trains Running. Within the play, Wilson stressed that there were racial tensions between Lutz and the Hill District’s African American community. However, this portrayal went against the actual moral character of Karl Lutz. 

Lutz Meat Market

On April 22, 2001, the Freedom Corner Memorial was unveiled in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood. The memorial’s location marks the spot where the community put an end to urban development as well as gathered to fight for their civil rights. In the 1960’s, the community stopped urban developers from continuing demolition past Crawford Street. The City of Pittsburgh had already demolished half of the Lower Hill District to build the Civic Arena. However, the community stopped the project before the developers depleted their community’s cultural resources. After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the Hill District’s African American community started to riot and destroy buildings. After the riots, the community marched down Centre Street to the location of Freedom Corner to meet head to head with law enforcement. The memorial symbolizes the conflicts and struggles that the Hill District’s African American community had to face but also serves as a beacon of hope for their future.

Freedom Corner is located at the corner of Crawford Street and Centre Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood. Dedicated in 2001, the memorial showcases the African American community’s fight for freedom. The site was once a place where civil rights activists would meet during marches and is now a place to reflect on past struggles. 

August Wilson and the Civil Rights Movement in Pittsburgh

West Funeral Home - Original Location

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources