top of page
Reading the Paper

An Investigative Look into Hazelwood

In 2023, the students of Professor Margaret Patterson’s Investigative Reporting class at Duquesne University spent the semester applying the lessons they learned throughout the course to report on the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Hazelwood. Using infographics, census data, profiles, traditional storytelling and podcasts the students strove to capture the essence of one of Pittsburgh's most historic neighborhoods.  

 

​​​​​​Here are our stories 

Duquesne Investigative Reporting Class 

Professor Margret Patterson

 

Student Writers 

Andrew Cummings 
Josh DeLia 
Hannah Peters 
Zion Harris 
John Miott
Ethan George 
Aaron Lattner 
Zach Petroff



 

The Hazelwood Green Initiate 

Reading the Paper
All Hands In

Race and Ethnicity

Native Americans in Hazelwood

Family Head
Sky

Hazelwood, through the eyes of Roseann Vamos. 

Hazelwood Podcast
00:00 / 12:29

By: Hannah Peters

rowhousegc.jpg
The Row House on Glen Caladh Street

Story and pictures by  Zach Petroff and Andrew Cummings

In a county in the west of Scotland, a mansion sat on the north of the Isle of Bute.  Known as the Glen Caladh mansion, the impressive structure built in 1868 was used as a convalescent home and a navel establishment during World War I. 

 

After serving as a military headquarters and training ground in World War II, the House deteriorated and was ultimately destroyed in 1958.

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roughly 3,446 miles away in Pittsburgh, PA, lies another Glen Caladh;  but instead of a mansion it is a street in the neighborhood Hazelwood. Early Scottish settlers here probably named the street with fond memories of their homeland.

 

Today, on Glen Caldah Street, it is hard not to notice the row houses. These homes were never mansions, they once belonged to working people. The brick exterior gives the impression Caladh a sturdy structures, built to last, as they have for over a century. 

 

Yet, it seems that row houses on Clen Caladh may soon meet fate, like the mansion in Scotland. 

 

The brick buildings appear relatively clean, satellites antennas are placed on awnings, and windows open, as if the occupiers of the building are letting in fresh air. 

 

But life had gone out of these buildings. Doors have been replaced with plywood. Windows are smashed. The porch roof of 201 Glen Caladh has a hole the size of a basketball through it.

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These rowhouses house on Glen Caladh Street are just four of the nearly 800 vacant residential properties in Hazelwood, according to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau. Each one stands as a testament to a lost way of life.

 

Vacancy has consistently claimed about 10 percent of available housing in Allegheny County over the past five years. The vacancy rate is 11.5 % in city of Pittsburgh. 

 

In Hazelwood nearly one-third of the property is vacant.  

 

The increase of vacant and abandoned houses has been plaguing the Hazelwood for nearly two decades. It’s an issue that community leaders can hardly ignore. 

 

“The challenge is the legacy of populations that peaked in the 1960s,” said Lance Chimka, director of Allegheny County Economic Development. “We still have a fundamental supply-and-demand imbalance, which is hard to rectify. You also have the challenge of more-desirable neighborhoods not having enough housing and less-desirable neighborhoods having too much.”

 

The four houses, all sharing the same brick foundation, have been condemned by the City of Pittsburgh. 

 

A bright blue sign is posted on the doors of the homes. Each house failing city code 108.1.3 – unfit for human occupancy

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a building to fall under code 108.3. --according  to the rules and regulation put in place by  the Allegheny County health department -- the following must be true:  “Inadequate provisions for light and air, insufficient protection against fire, unsanitary conditions, improper heating, overcrowding, misuse, dilapidation and disrepair of dwellings and other premises, and the occupancy or existence of dwellings unfit for human habitation endangers the health, safety, and welfare of the community.”

​

The city would not disclose the reason the property was condemned. 

 

The open window on the second floor of 203 Glen Caladh allows a glimpse into the top floor. It looks as if there might be a light on in the upstairs, which would be impossible since the electric meter has been removed. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The light is coming from the ceiling. There appears to be a sizeable hole in the roof. 

 

“Hazelwood used to have a population of about 13,000 back in the 1950s and 1960s when the steel mill was operating at its peak,” said Director of Outreach & Sustainability of  the Hazelwood Initiative, Tiffany Taulton.  “Since production fell, the population fell from 13,000 to less than 5,000 today.” 

 

The houses are locked, but it is clear from the outside that these buildings have been abandoned for some time. The door is missing from  207 Glen Caladh and instead replaced with plywood. The roof over the porch of one of the homes is sagging.

 

Elijah Colster, who owns several rental properties around Pittsburgh, is familiar with the plywood doors on abandoned houses. 

 

“Sometimes a place gets abandoned, and people will start breaking in to use the house as a shelter. That’s why a lot of these doors have been replaced because they’ve been kicked in,  Colster said.

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows are missing from the house of 207 Clen Caldh and are also replaced  plywood. There a several discolored bricks above the door. Discarded beer cans and soda bottles are flung across the front yard. Several old TVs and plastic trash bags are strewn onto the porch. Flies and cockroaches have made their way into the corner of the porch.   

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Taulton of the Hazelwood Initiative said properties don’t sell in Hazelwood

 

“A lot of people rent because either they don't earn enough money to be able to afford to buy a house, or they don't know about the programs that can help them afford to buy a house.” 

 

The last owner of the 207 Glen Caldh purchased the home on Sept. 25, 1996, from a Gregory and Pamela Popovich for $15,000. 

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little is known about the previous owners or why they abandoned their home. 

 

Eric Schiller is the county inspector whose name is signed on the condemnation notice. 

 

“If you find anything out about [them],” Schiller said. “Let me know because [they are] like a ghost.” 

 

Hazelwood resident, Ricky Donning lives across the street. He moved into his house in 2019 but does not remember seeing anyone at the 207 Glen Caldh. 

 

“I haven’t been here that long,” said Donning. “But I ain’t ever seen anyone in that house. Nobody mowing the lawn or coming outside. I don’t think anyone’s been there for years.” 

 

Residents have grown accustomed to seeing the abandoned buildings Still, they hold onto a sense of community. 

 

Velma Krusinski grew up in Hazelwood just a few streets down from Glen Caldh. She moved when she went to college in the late 80s, but she still has fond memories of growing up there. 

 

“It was always nice,” Krusinski said. “We all knew each other, could walk into each other’s houses, and it just felt like a neighborhood. We did not have much, but it felt like we had each other.” 

 

The fate of the condemned houses on Glen Cladah will likely follow that of so many abandoned buildings in Hazelwood and Pittsburgh, being bought by an outside company. 

 

Tim Smith, founder of Center of Life, a nonprofit whose mission is strengthen the Hazelwood community, is aware of the issues of outside conglomerates buying up cheap property in poor income areas. 

 

“When developers come into the community, and our politicians work with those developers and don't necessarily work with us,” Smith said. “We do have politicians who work with us, but you know, they're always trying to figure out a way to get those developers what they want.” 

 

Records indicate the firm Carlton Creative Solutions purchased at least 207 Glen Caladh Street for $12,300. They received the Parcel on March 31.  

 

The fate of the  other rowhouse on Glen Cladah Street remains unknown. 

 

 

 

 

​

castle.jpg

The Impact of the 
The Hazelwood Green Redevelopment Site 

Pictures and story by Josh DelLia and Ethan George

 

 

During its peak, the Jones and Laughlin Steel occupied 178 acres along the Monongahela River. 

 

That land, known currently as the Hazelwood Green, is now a redevelopment site. It was purchased in 2002 by Almono LP and officially opened to the public in April 2019. The last remaining structure from the J and L Plant is being refurbished to serve as a mixed-use development, including a robotics lab run by Carnegie Mellon University.

 

However, the area seems to remain a sore spot with some residents who feel the Green does little to improve the Hazelwood community, which sits inland. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On warm days, the Green provides a public space for biking, rollerblading and walking where an empty and abandoned mill once stood.

 

Hazelwood Green is separated from the Hazelwood neighborhood. 

Sectioned off by train tracks, the Green and the tech companies working there exist as a sort of sub-neighborhood.

Tech employees rarelybventure into the heart of Hazelwood, only occasionally heading over to the Hazelwood Café on Second Ave. “We get traffic from [the Green],” Elijah Stoomper, a barista at the Hazelwood Café, said. “But it’s usually just during their shifts.” 

 

Charlie Matous, a facilities manager at the Carnegie Mellon University tech campus located on the Green, said the students who utilize the property rarely cross into the actual town.

 

However, he said,  Hazelwoof residents do often use the “South Porch” area of the tech property for various community events.

 

“We definitely do as much as we can to bring the community and be a part of the community,” Matous said. 

 

As for the Green’s future, Matous said different organizations plan to eventually make complete use of the space. 

 

He also said that the Green’s property owners are working to hire people from Hazelwood to maintain the grounds.

Matous said that he believes most Hazelwood residents are the same page as the Green developers.

 

“A lot of [local] businesses think it’s good,” he said.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Green is a long stretch of currently empty plots, the futures of which seem to be constantly changing. 

 

For now, the bike trails and ample greenspace serve as a respite for the community and others in the city. 

 

Theresa Nagy, lead customer engagement associate at the local Carnegie Library and lifelong Hazelwood resident, said that the Green used to be a complete dead zone to the public.

 

“It’s a good open space. Before the tech campuses moved in, the road there was completely closed off,” Nagy said. “So, it’s nice now to have a place to take my kids to ride bikes.”

 

Though for now the Green is something that benefits the community, Nagy has reserved her judgements until after the plan is fully laid out and finished. 

 

“I know some of the [neighborhood] organizations have vetoed certain plans in the past, but the fact is if (the deveopers) have money, so if they want to do something, they will,” Nagy said. “As long as it’s kept up and stays a good environment, then hey, I have no complaints. I mean I know a lot of people like to walk around there. Me and my husband like to walk our dog there sometimes.” 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Hazelwood community leaders share Nagy’s views on the Green.

 

The Rev. Tim Smith, CEO of Hazelwood’s Center of Life, said,“I think the neighborhood is cautiously optimistic” 

 

Smith believes that the neighborhood will need an even mixture of affordable and more expensive housing to bring real value back to the neighborhood. Simply bringing in a new tech campus is not enough, he said, to build back the community.. 

 

Hazelwood has seen a significant decline in its youth population over the past few years.

 

According to the A the Census Bureau website, the number of residents between the ages of 15 and 24 dropped around 43% from 2010 to 2020. 

 

But Smith is hopeful that trend may reverse. “We’ve gotten some young families that are moving in,” Smith said, “Not a ton.” 

 

The problems  of maintaining an older demographic while also losing so many young people has taken its toll.

 

Hazelwood – or at least a large part of it – has lacked “new blood” that members of the community feel it needs.

 

“Smith explained that the Green could seei further construction in the future Theoretically, that development will help revitalize the surrounding community.  But how much the Green will help the community remains to be seen.

 

We need people to live here. We aren’t necessarily just looking for affordable housing,” Smith said. “The neighborhood’s original master plan had always included the Hazelwood Green, but we still didn’t know the full plan,” 

 

The owners of the Green hope to eventually bring restaurants and shopping opportunities there, as well as around 11,000 jobs according to an artricle by Mike Holden on WPXI.com in 2022.

 

“We do need a little bit of development to draw new people in,” Nagy said.

​

​

One of the central walkways surrounding the RIDC mill facilities on the Hazelwood Green.

One of the central walkways surrounding the RIDC mill facilities on the Hazelwood Green.

The Future of the Green
Race and Ethnicity
By: John Miott

​

​

Hazelwood, was once a retreat for Pittsburgh’s wealthy. Iron and steel production made the neighborhood an industrial city within a city in the mid-19th century, attracting immigrant workers up through the collapse of steel in the 1980s. 

 

Now, Hazelwood is a neighborhood trying to claw its way out of more than 30 years of decline.

 

Throughout It all Hazelwood has remained one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Pittsburgh being home to Scotch, Irish, Hungarian, Romani, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and now a growing Latino community.

 

JaQuay Carter, who has studied the region extensively, mentions the original Native American Population.

 

“Adena and Monongahela and tribes of the Six Nations, were mostly driven out as a result of colonial-era treaties,” Carter said. 

 

 The 1768 Stanwix Treaty, in which land was given to the British, included a settled land claim between the Iroquois and the Penn family.

 

A small Native American population still lives in the area today, but they do not appear to be related to tribes that originally settled in the area.  

 

Hazelwood was once known as Scotch Bottom because it was originally settled by wealthy Scots.. The settlement was removed from the City of Pittsburgh by hills and the Monongahela River, but it could be reached by rail, river or coach. 

 

These early, wealthy settlers began leaving Hazelwood after James Laughlin in 1859 acquired land near the river to build the Eliza Blast Furnaces along with several coke ovens.  As the steel industry grew so did the population of immigrants, and pollution making the area less desirable to the wealthy members of Pittsburgh. Population increased from approximately 1,400 people to 28,000 by the 1920s.  

 

Over 17% of the increased population were migrants and immigrants, including Hungarians, Irish, Italians, Austrians, English and African Americans, who came North from the South..  

 

African Americans migrating North during the late 1800s were skilled iron and steel workers and had been recruited to work in the Hazelwood mill.

 

They were used primarily as “strikebreakers,” working in the mills only temporarily until the strike was resolved, said Carter.   After the strike was settled, the jobs would be returned to the original workers.  This left these skilled African American workers to find other means of employment.

 

 They were usually “service people of wealthy Europeans throughout the area,” according to Cater. 

 

 The African Americans population in Hazelwood increased nearly 7% between 1920 and 1950, which would bring the total of African Americans in Hazelwood to 2,171 in the 1950s. 

 

Hazelwood was incorporated into Pittsburgh in 1869. It started as the 14th ward but near the turn of the century it became the 15th Ward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 Most of the African American residents of the 15th ward settled into houses that had formerly been owned by the foreign-born Hungarian population, who began moving out and to get away from the pollution, just as the wealthy elites had done earlier in the 1900s.  They left cheap and affordable, but older housing, for African Americans with a good income to move into and raise families.  

 

Blacks also settled into the Glen Hazel Housing projects, which formerly had housed military veterans returning from World War II and became public housing in 1953. 

 

Carter said that while some “Blacks moving to Hazelwood from the Hill District” during the period the Lower Hill District was razed to make way for the Civic Arena in 1958, many moved to the “Glenwood section of Hazelwood because of the slaughterhouse there” and not for jobs at the steel mills. Carter also referenced the cheap housing Blacks could find in Hazelwood. “My grandfather moved his family from the central Northside area of Pittsburgh to Hazelwood in 1970, purchasing a home for $10,000 on Flowers Avenue,” he said.

 

Hazelwood was not hospitable to Blacks then; in one case the Black wife of a military veteran was not permitted to attend a function at a local VFW, according to Carter. 

 

“The Hazelwood delegation of the Ku Klux Klan…was very active,” Carter said.  

 

“There was an area off-limits to Blacks. This practice spread to the south side of Second Avenue’s main business district and kept blacks from shopping on one side of the street,” Carter said. “There was an eruption of violence at Gladstone school in April 1968 to Februaryv1969.”

 

The the Pittsburgh Courier, a local Black newspaper that had national reach at the time, ran the following headline on April 12, 1969, “Hazelwood Blacks Plead for Aid in ending Race Violence – Hint Boycott of Gladstone High.” 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Despite discrimination and acts of violence,” Carter said. “Blacks stayed in Hazelwood due to socioeconomic factors and the unity of African Americans”

 

While Blacks did migrate to the area at the turning of the 19th century, their population remained too small to offset the outmigration of the white population which would dwindle to less than 5,000 by the time LTV Coke works (formerly J*L Steelworks) closed in 1997.

 Pennsylvania was established as a colony before this time.

Screenshot 2023-12-27 at 1.16.04 AM.png
Screenshot 2023-12-27 at 1.20.05 AM.png
The Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center: A place for Native Americans that welcomes everyone.

By: Zion Harris
nat.jpg

 The Hazelwood neighborhood is filled with a deep history, ranging back to the mid-1700s when Native Americans and Scottish settlers created a treaty, which became known as the “Stanwix Treaty.”

​

The Treaty was initially  a peace treaty between the American settlers and the Iroquois, and it included Indian lands farther west, which the Iroquois had gained by conquest during the Beaver wars.

 The agreement would, however, end up forcing the indigenous people to share or even give up their land as new settlers moved in. 

​

During the French and Indian War in 1758, the Lenape Tribe and their allies attacked Fort Duquesne, located near downtown Pittsburgh. The fort was eventually taken by the British and renamed Fort Pitt.

​

A decade after the war, the Lenape were forced to cede their land to the British and eventually removed from the region. Many relocated to the Ohio River Valley, while others were forced to move to Oklahoma. 

The Stanwix allowed what is now Hazelwood Green to be purchased, built by B. F. Jones, who eventually founded Jones & Laughlin Steel Company in 1861. 

​

The J&L plant, built along the banks of the Monongahela River, created jobs for the people living near the area, except for the  Native Americans. 

​

Gil Cutruzzula, a member of the senior leadership team for the Native America group Council of the Three Rivers, said: “It was not uncommon for Native Americans to be turned down for those types of jobsor paid next to nothing.”

Cutruzzula said that while that segregation happened over a century ago, the residual effects are being felt even today.  The Council of Three Rivers, a nonprofit organization to promote the socio-economic development of the Native American communities in the Pittsburgh Area. 

​

Miguel Sague, of Erie,  is part of the “Land Acknowledgement” group of the Council, wich questions about Indigenous land and its history. 

​

The council began in the 1960s, created by a group of Native American families. 

​

The Council runs three preschool and daycare programs in the Hazelwood Family Center. It also has a elders   program and offers employment training to Indian Americans.

​

The Council provides Native American speakers to talk their history and culture. It also holds also has an annual Pow Wow that celebrates Native American heritage, with arts and crafts, food and dancing. 

“We are actually trying to hold two a year now,” Sims said. “One near the council and a second at the Carnegie library.” 

“We try our best to teach, educate, and inform.” 

​

 The Hazelwood neighborhood is filled with a deep history, ranging back to the mid-1700s when Native Americans and Scottish settlers created a treaty, which became known as the “Stanwix Treaty.” The agreement would, however, end up forcing the indigenous people to share or even give up their land as new settlers moved in. 

​

During the French and Indian War in 1758, the Lenape Tribe and their allies attacked Fort Duquesne, located near downtown Pittsburgh. The fort was eventually taken by the British and renamed Fort Pitt.

​

A decade after the war, the Lenape were forced to cede their land to the British and eventually removed from the region. Many relocated to the Ohio River Valley, while others were forced to move to Oklahoma. 

​

The Stanwix allowed what is now Hazelwood Green to be purchased, built by B. F. Jones, who eventually founded Jones & Laughlin Steel Company in 1861. 

​

The J&L plant, built along the banks of the Monongahela River, created jobs for the people living near the area, except for the  Native Americans. 

​

Gil Cutruzzula, a member of the senior leadership team for the Native America group Council of the Three Rivers, said: “It was not uncommon for Native Americans to be turned down for those types of jobsor paid next to nothing.”

Cutruzzula said that while that segregation happened over a century ago, the residual effects are being felt even today.  The Council of Three Rivers, a nonprofit organization to promote the socio-economic development of the Native American communities in the Pittsburgh Area. 

​

Miguel Sague, of Erie,  is part of the “Land Acknowledgement” group of the Council, wich questions about Indigenous land and its history. 

​

. The council began in the 1960s, created by a group of Native American families. 

The Council runs three preschool and daycare programs in the Hazelwood Family Center. It also has a elders   program and offers employment training to Indian Americans.

​

The Council provides Native American speakers to talk their history and culture. It also holds also has an annual Pow Wow that celebrates Native American heritage, with arts and crafts, food and dancing. 

​

“We are actually trying to hold two a year now,” Sims said. “One near the council and a second at the Carnegie library.” 

“We try our best to teach, educate, and inform.” 

​

Hazelwood through the eyes of Roseann Vamos 

By: Aaron Lattner

rqm.jpg

​

 In the 1950s, Hazelwood was home to a diverse population. Families had immigrated from countries like Hungry, Italy, Poland, Ireland, and the American South to the growing Pittsburgh neighborhood. 

 

Roseann Vamos came from Italy with her family when she was 3 years old.. She has seen both the good times and, the recent, down times. 

 

“I have high hopes for Hazelwood. I feel like it would make me happy to know where I grew up is now a place where somebody really wants to be,” Vamos said. 

​

Despite growing up “without much,” Vamos described her childhood as “wonderful, nonetheless.” 

 “There were a lot of Italian and Hungarian families all up and down Flowers Avenue. So we had a camaraderie of sorts. You didn’t get away with anything,” Vamos said. 

​

Vamos family's journey began when her great-grandfather was commissioned to build the Old Glenwood Bridge.

         

 Her grandmother then moved back to Italy but came back to Hazelwood in 1950s.  Her citizenship allowed for her to bring her family with her, including her granddaughter Roseann, who moved into her grandmother’s house on Hazelwood’s Flowers Avenue in 1954.  Despite “living tight and poor,” Vamos cherished growing up in what she described as a tight-knit, diverse community. 

​

 “My mother used to go hang clothes outside for instance, because we didn’t have a dryer when we were growing up,” Vamos said. “And she’d go out there in the morning sometimes with her bra and slip on and bring clothes down, and nobody said nothing,”Vamos recalled with a laugh.  “There was a lot of that kind of comfort.” 

Vamos stayed in Hazelwood with her husband for as long as they felt they could, but they saw better opportunities, mainly for their children, outside of the neighborhood where they had grown up.

​

One other factor led to her decision to move. 

​

 “People didn’t care about their houses anymore. There were a lot of rentals. People were moving out to better themselves, or should I say, buy bigger houses,” Vamos said. “I feel sad when I see it now. You know, the house we grew up in was for sale a couple years ago, and I went down to see it, and I almost needed a barf bag. I couldn’t believe what they did to it.”

Hazelwood was not spared the repercussions of the closing of the steel mills, which dealt economic damage to the whole city. Vamos thinks that the neighborhood needs to take a lesson from the Southside, which has remained prosperous area in Pittsburgh.

​

 Hazelwood once had “variety stores, and bakeries,” Vamos recalled. During the 1960s, Hazelwood was home to nearly 200 local businesses, but little is left of the neighborhood’s commercial area.  According to The Urban Redevelopment Authority, Hazelwood is now home to just around 79 businesses. 

 

“If they were to redo that, like Southside did for instance, it would work, it really would, because I think people who live there need that,” Vamos said. 

 

An Area in Decline 

 

Vamos, who was originally a nurse, lived in Hazelwood when the mill closed in 1989.  Now a real estate agent, she keeps up to date with declining property values there. 

             

 “It’s a shame what happened in our community,” said another lifelong Hazelwood resident Edna Bozell[MP1] . “Watching those business close down after the mill shut down really changed this place.” 

 Much of Hazelwood’s sense of community went with those closings. Vamos said. 

         

Immigration had slowed, and as Vamos’s  generation grew older, they moved out, she said..

            

While that age of immigration and diversity is unlikely to recur, Hazelwood has the chance to renew itself. Historians and business owners have set up projects, such as the Greater Hazelwood Neighborhood Plan, to strengthen the community through charity and development without displacement. 

 

“We’re trying to do what we can to make Hazelwood as great as possible,” said Jenni Locset, a member of the Greater Hazelwood Neighborhood plan. “We know we can make this place even better than before.

 

 Vamos is a fan of the Hazelwood Green site because she sees it bringing in businesses and people. She and others hope the Green will benefit Hazelwood while preserving its history. 

​

Vamos’ church growing up, St. Stephen, stands tall in Hazelwood after almost shutting down. Its towering steeples stand high above the semi-dilapidated church that only hosts parishioners for two masses a year. [MP4] 

 

The church was erected in 1902 and was the parish for many immigrantsteel workers and their families. 

           

Father Dan Walsh C.S.S.P. is St. Stephen’s Parochial Vicar and one of the first Spirtians to come to Hazelwood in 2010. His work at the now closed parish is focused on preserving the church’s history and serving the neighborhood.

         

   “At one time there were about 1,400 students in the elementary school, here at St. Stephen’s. Now there are probably 3,500 people in the entire neighborhood,” said Walsh.

         

  Father Walsh says he tries to walk the neighborhood as much as possible, providing services for the elderly and giving out communion. What he sees is a far cry from the old days.

         

   “There was a lot of stuff here in Hazelwood. People who grew up here never had to leave the neighborhood,” Walsh said. “People in Hazelwood would say ‘We have everything here. We’ve four supermarkets, five banks. Everything you could need, you found.” 

         

  Fewer people means fewer businesses and less value in the neighborhood. The parish grounds are overgrown, and the surrounding houses look weathered. 

“Without a neighborhood grocery the elderly poor and infirmed have a real tough time,” Walsh said. 

           

Hazelwood’s last local grocery Dimperios closed in 2009, due to thievery and the declining customer base. The closest grocery store is now a bus ride or two away, which makes Hazelwood  “food desert”.

           

Father Walsh sees the revitalization of the neighborhood as a possible side effect of the Hazelwood Green Initiative.“If it develops the way they wish, you know, it could be an absolute boom for this area,” Walsh said. 

   

 If this boom were to happen, empty houses and old properties would be bought and torn down, then rebuilt through the Hazelwood initiatives, he said. This would give the community opportunities to provide affordable housing and education. 

           

For now, Father Walsh and the Spiritans are doing what they can to help the community.  Through the help of other churches and the Hazelwood Initiative they were able to start a grocery buying group. 

           

“St. Stephen’s and three other local churches started a buying group,” which shops in places like the Strip District,” he said.“People can order whatever they want, and we buy it and take it back,” Walsh said. 

           

Former residents, like Vamos, have a special appreciation and hope for this community. They want to see preserve Hazelwood’s rich history, despite its decline. Vamos and Father Walsh see hope for Hazelwood. 

 

  “The more you give people, the more they'll want to be there, but you have to give them somewhere to live,” said Vamos. 

“There's a lot of good people here in Hazelwood,” Walsh said.

 

 

 

 

 

bottom of page