Remnants of city's past fade on 1-mile stretch of now flashy Railroad Street

A collection of photographs shot in April 1940 shows Railroad Street in the Strip District as a dusty brick lane lined with drab foundries, factories, warehouses and produce yards. These days, brightly lighted modern office buildings and apartment complexes rise above the old street, now paved. Change arrived quickly. Go to Google Maps and check out the 2015 view of the street. Parking lots and steel sheds occupied land where many of the new buildings now stand. Few city streets have experienced such dramatic transformation. A few hints of the street’s past remain, but they’re getting hard to find.

This April 1940 view of Railroad Street and 26th Street looking west shows the area’s gritty past. (Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection/University of Pittsburgh Archives and Special Collections).

City of Pittsburgh Automotive Repair Shop sprawls at the intersection of Eazor Street, near the street’s northeast end. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Condominiums on Smallman Street rise above the 2900 block of Railroad Street. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Residents look out at the city from an apartment building at the 23rd Street intersection. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

A hopeful message decorates a old brick wall at the 2500 block. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

New apartments, left, glow with lights across the street from the Crane Building, a grand survivor of the city’s past. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Exterior of a truck repair business is found on the 2700 block. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

A woman walks her dog on the 2500 block. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

The Armstrong Cork Co. building, constructed in 1901, rises as a loft apartment complex on the 2300 block. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Apartments extend to the David McCullough Bridge. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Steve Mellon

Steve is a photojournalist and writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he is currently on strike and working as a Union Progress co-editor. Reach him at smellon@unionprogress.com.