Our History

Our History

Our community is growing and developing in ways that will astound you. I invite you to drive down our main street, Braddock Avenue and take in the view. You will see newly constructed residences, The Overlook, and The Civic Plaza on the site of the former hospital. Next to the residences is a new business complex that is home to the Allegheny Health Network Urgent Care facility on the second floor and office spaces on the first floor, one of which is the local office of State Representative. Five creative studios anchor the complex and will provide retail and work space for artists and small business owners

The town of Braddock was settled in 1755. It is named for General Edward Braddock (1695–1755). The Braddock Expedition, particularly his crossing of the Monongahela River on July 9, 1755 at this place, led to the British general’s own fatal wounding and a sound defeat of his troops who had been moving against the French at Fort Duquesne. This battle, now called the Battle of the Monongahela, was a key battle at the beginning of the French and Indian War.

Braddock’s first industrial facility, a barrel plant, opened in 1850. The borough was incorporated on June 8, 1867. The town’s industrial economy began in 1873, when Andrew Carnegie built the a Edgar Thomson Steel Works on the historic site of Braddock’s Field in what is now North Braddock, Pennsylvania. This was the first steel mill using the Bessemer process in America. As of 2010, it continues operation as a part of the United States Steel Corporation. This era of the town’s history is well known from the novel Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell.