East McKeesport, PA

East McKeesport occupies a small plateau between the Turtle Creek, Monongahela, and Youghiogheny valleys, about four miles north of the Monongahela. The borough formed from North Versailles Township and incorporated in 1893, when the tollgate on today's Lincoln Highway and Fifth Avenue marked an important local passage. Pittsburgh Railway streetcars once ran along Broadway to Wilmerding and McKeesport, arriving every ten minutes for a nickel before the tracks moved to Fifth Avenue. Westinghouse Air Brake gave the borough an industrial connection, while coal digging and Depression relief shaped harder years. East McKeesport's school district joined East Allegheny in the 1960s. The former Urban Theater, now Irene's Restaurant, is another reminder of how the borough's small commercial strip has changed.