In McKees Rocks, apartments where the students used to sit in neat rows
The big brick building in a McKees Rocks neighborhood known as “The Bottoms” was an elementary school for many generations of children. Built in 1930, it is now experiencing a second life as the Wilson School Apartments.
Back in 1940, when McKees Rocks was bustling with 17,021 residents, there were four neighborhood schools for elementary students. Everyone walked to and from school, and walked home for lunch.
By 2010, the community’s population had shrunk to 6,104.
“The other three schools are all gone, and that’s a shame because they were beautiful buildings,” said Sandra Saban, president of the McKees Rocks Historical Society.
“I’m so glad they restored Wilson School. We have lost so many buildings.”
Mrs. Saban, like her father before her, attended Wilson School. Born in 1951, she entered first grade five years later. She remembers the school — and The Bottoms — as happy places “where everybody knew everybody.”
The school building at 136 Shingiss St. now has 40 living units. One-bedroom apartments have 700 square feet and rent for $695 a month. Two-bedroom apartments are 850 square feet and rent for $825 per month. An indoor parking garage is available for an additional $75 per month. Cats are permitted.
“This is definitely an adorable living unit,” said Alena Mullen, property manager with Birgo Realty, which has managed the building since 2017.
“It’s family-friendly. We have young families with children and people who are empty nesters. They like the location. The community park is next door, with playground equipment.”
There are currently no vacancies, but there will be in the spring and summer, Ms. Mullen said.
Wilson Street Apartments are near the McKees Rocks Bridge, and an easy drive to Downtown Pittsburgh. Port Authority buses provide public transit, and shops and restaurants are within walking distance.
Classes were large at Wilson School in the 1950s, when post World War II parents were producing the “baby boomers” generation.
“We had two first grades, with at least 30 students in each class,” Mrs. Saban said. She remembers
rows and rows of wooden desks, with holes for ink wells, which the children used when learning to write cursive letters.
The rooms were — and still are — bright and airy because of many large windows, which were opened wide during warm weather.
“I remember a distinctive smell from the green cleaning products they used on the hardwood floors. There were black boards all along the front wall and one side wall. We had a morning recess and and afternoon recess. They recognized children needed fresh air and exercise.”
Grades 1-4 had classrooms on the first floor. Grades 5-6 were on the second floor. There was a gym. The big open basement, with cement floors and walls, was used for “air raid drills,” Mrs. Saban said, which were common in the 1950s Cold War era.
“That basement scared
me more than the threat of an air raid,” she said with a chuckle.”
Many of her classmates had parents who had emigrated from Eastern Europe.
“On Sundays when you walked through The Bottoms, you could smell cabbage cooking,” she said, as families made halushki and cabbage rolls.
Neither the original
hardware floors nor the blackboards survived the renovation to a new use. Some apartment units have laminate plank flooring, that looks like wood, and others have carpeting, the property manager said. Units are periodically updated, and the bathrooms and kitchens are very modern.
After Wilson School was closed, “It fell into disrepair. Windows were broken
and there was dirt everywhere,” Mrs. Saban said. Memories of what happened with the building in the post-school years are hazy, and the historical society has only been active since 2007.
Long-time residents say the school closed in the 1970s, and somewhere in that decade a local resident bought the property and started renovations. Mrs.
Saban said they’re not sure who converted the building into apartments, or how long the apartments have been operating.
“One of our members remembers that in 1983 the fire department was using the building for drills.”
Fortunately, they did not set the building on fire to practice putting out fires. Fire fighters ran up and down the steps, laying their hoses and practicing using their equipment.
Wilson School Apartments residents have a historical next door neighbor — a mound built by Adena and Hopewell people who settled in the area more than 1,000 years before European settlers arrived.
The mound was excavated in 1898 and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History took the bones of 33 people. They were on display for a while, but are thought to be in storage at the museum, according to information on the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania website.
The part of the mound where the bones were removed is not accessible to the public because it’s now on a privately owned industrial site.
Neither bones nor remains were found at the part of the mound next to the former school.