Whatever happened to Lower St. Clair?

Upper St. Clair is one of Pittsburgh's foremost communities. Many area residents aspire to live there. High achievers moving to town from out of state often are encouraged to check it out—just like Sewickley and Fox Chapel.

But it's also home to thousands of just-plain folks who find it a satisfying blend of country-like expanse plus urban sophistication.

I love the place, have plenty of friends there, and have shopped there all my life, especially while living in Baldwin Borough and Brentwood.

In fact, any place that could have played host for years and years to Tony Grosso's The Living Room—even during TG's bad years—is fine with me.

But news reporters have a tedious tendency to always be asking questions, and my question has been: "Whatever happened to Lower St. Clair?"

Good news. I found it while searching local ancient history to learn why we have both a Baldwin Borough and a Baldwin Township. The answer is that Lower St. Clair has been sitting right there where it's always been. But names have been changed.

Historical records show that the first known European settler, John Fife, arrived from Virginia in 1762. The land was claimed by both Virginia and Pennsylvania. (In those days there was no West Virginia.) By 1784, the dispute was settled and the land was placed in what was called Peters Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Then in 1788 Allegheny County was formed from parts of Washington and Westmoreland counties and was divided into seven townships, one of which was called St. Clair. Remember, this was 223 years ago and the nation itself was but 12 years old.

At that time, St. Clair Township included the present-day Scott, Mt. Lebanon, South Park, Bridgeville, Castle Shannon, Crafton, Dormont, Greentree, Ingram, part of Carnegie, and the southernmost districts of the City of Pittsburgh.

As time, greed, politics and industry moved forward, various local interests pulled at the nascent municipality. Especially closer to Pittsburgh, the influence of heavy industry (and its attendant need to house industrial workers) led in 1836 to a split into Upper St. Clair and Lower St. Clair townships.

Lower St. Clair Township originally included the area from Chartiers Creek to Streets Run -- including the present-day South Side and other southern neighborhoods of the City of Pittsburgh. Lower St. Clair was subdivided many times and winked out of existence—at least by name—in 1920.

So there you have it -- Lower St. Clair is Scott, Mt. Lebanon, South Park, Bridgeville, Castle Shannon, Crafton, Dormont, Greentree, Ingram, part of Carnegie and a good chunk of Pittsburgh.

Sadly, the St. Clair name survives in Pittsburgh only as a little-known neighborhood surrounded by Mount Oliver, Arlington and Carrick. Never famous, St. Clair for years was infamous as the site of St. Clair Village—a troubled public housing complex that was obliterated by the housing authority two years ago.

That sad story mirrors the fortunes of old St. Clair himself, because there was such a man. General Arthur St. Clair arrived from Scotland in 1755 and settled in the Ligonier Valley. History tells us that during the Revolutionary War, he rose from Colonel to Major General in the Continental Army.

Arthur St. Clair commanded Fort Ticonderoga, but lost it to the British and later was court-martialed. After the war he entered the Continental Congress and served as its president in 1787. The record says: "His last days were spent in poverty and obscurity."

The Township of Upper St. Clair, as we know it today, is about 10 square miles in area and has roughly 19,200 residents. It took its final form in 1954 and was designated a ”Pennsylvania First Class Township." In 1973, Upper St. Clair adopted a home rule charter that took effect January 5, 1976.