Uncovering the Secrets of a Silent City: 30 Years Frozen in Time | Exploring Brownsville, PA

This was the birthplace and home of the love of my life, Emmor K Porter. It actually pains my heart and brings tears to my eyes.

The rerouting of Route 40 over the Lane Bane bridge also contributed to the decline of downtown Brownsville

I lived in Brownsville in the mid to late 1990s and I never knew the Ligget story! My place was a block away from the castle. I used to walk to the old town square by the castle and enjoy a cigar and the scenery. It's a beautiful place in spring/summer when everything is green. I am sort of sad that they tore down some of the old buildings though. I liked them. I moved back to Pennsylvania in 2019 so one of these days I will make the five hour drive to Brownsville and check it out.

My dad is from Brownsville. We go back often, and the older I get, the prouder I feel of having Appalachian roots. What a beautiful and resilient part of the world.

I went to California University about 6 miles away. I worked on the college newspaper . We printed our paper at the Brownsville Telegraph. So i was in Brownsville weekly. It was a pretty grim place in the midd 1980s. I was in town from the fall of 1983 to 1987. Many of those storefronts were boarded up 41 years. It was pretty much a ghost town before the Leggets. The telegraph was by the bridge. Also down by the bridge was Fiddles hot dog shop. We would eat lunch there every Friday while our paper was being printed. Fiddle's was in a movie that was made around the area in 1982. "Maria's Lovers" more was shot across the river in west Brownsville. A professor of mine had a painting that highlighted the churches in town . I think there was 10 or 12 in the painting. "The Town of Churches" I don't think Brownsville was a suburb of Pittsburgh . Not close enough.

This was neat. My grandmother and family were huge pioneers founding much of Brownsville. The Krepps and Moffitt Families. Apparently the Krepps pioneered the first ferry across the Monongahela. My 2x grandparents were postmasters of the town for years. The old homes they owned along Water Street, 500 & 518 were original to them but have been torn down. I’m trying to find out more about why and when but haven’t gotten too lucky there. My grandfather was born in that hospital in 1927 for 7 days for a total of $57! I have many many photos of the former days. It’s so cool to see being on the other side of the country in CA so thank you for showing me around.

Brownsville was primed to be a bustling river city, almost like Pittsburgh. One of the buildings you were on, on Market St, across from the parking lot, and next to the tear-down lot, was a former Old Fellows Lodge. It was then used as an arts academy and performing arts center. It is now abandoned after the academy moved next to the police station. It is/was beautiful inside. That church (former Methodist church) you peeked in always caught my attention when I was driving home. It is for sale for $85K, but there's so much damage from elements. There are a lot of churches because of the many denominations, heritages --Catholic, Byzantine, Orthodox, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist and more. Like a dozen+. In Fayette County, we will call churches "The Italian church; the Polish church; the Slovak church; the Irish church", etc., because it was a place where people could gather with those from the country and culture they came from, share traditional foods, and speak & worship in their languages. There is a former synagogue that was converted to hold a business and it is still there and active.

I go to Brownsville for three things. Bowman’s castle, Paceys restaurant and the steam show. I’d love the actual town to revive and have shops and eateries. I’d go more often. Great video!! Edit 4 things: the drive in movie theatre!!! Town has so much potential. Very sad.

The by-product coking ovens at integrated steel mills is really what spelled the end of "Connellsville Region Coke" (of which Brownsville was part) as long ago as the 1920s. Steel makers could make coke on an industrial scale and save the chemical runoff, something that could not be done with the hundreds of labor intensive "bee hive" ovens lined up in batteries all around the Monongahela and Youghiogheny valleys. 22:39 - Brownsville was also the hometown of the Monongahela Railway (MRY, later MGA), which connected with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie and Pennsylvania Railroad at Brown Tower. There was a sizeable locomotive shop in town at one time. The Monongahela went as far south as Fairmont, WV and Fairview, WV. MGA was absorbed by Conrail in the early 1990s and today the mainline is operated by Norfolk Southern. MRY 71 is a reminder of those times. As to "why so many churches" it must be remembered that Brownsville was a "whole world of people" at one time, and every group brought with them a particular following of Christianity from the old countries. Add this to the usual mainline protestant denominations and it resulted in a lot of church buildings.

Thanks for the video. I was born and raised in a community close to Brownsville. So it is great to see this video. In the 1950s when I was little my family often drove up to the mountains through Brownsville. There was only the Brownsville Bridge as shown often in the video. (The high-level bridge did not exist.) That downtown section you walked in this video was jam-packed with people. Cars would be backed up for blocks. It would take seemingly forever to get through that section in either direction. Brownsville was a bustling town in those days. All of those storefronts that you passed were occupied by successful businesses. Passenger rail service died out a little before my time. Union Station in this building is amazing.

Thanks for capturing some nice shots of the town!

Great video Ian! I lived in Pittsburgh for a decade and only headed down 43 to 40 that far past Brownsville a few times. Have you headed up 51 towards the south hills and done a video on all the strip malls and buildings sitting empty that are owned by the Lavitske Brothers? You can literally walk up and down a long stretch of 51 with just empty storefronts that have been vacant for years! It’s crazy! Western PA is an endless source of YouTube content!

Thank you for this video. There is a property- residential land that is for sale for 8k. Brownsville is about an hour away from Pittsburgh. We are contemplating if it is good to live there or not.

Good stuff,new sub here, Happy Trails.

I love videos like this. I grew up in Brownsville but moved away 20+ yrs ago and haven’t been back. Videos like this make me wanna go back to visit.

As a former businessman, I'm curious. What was the point of Liggett(?) buying all these properties, then just letting them fall into ruin? Could he not find a way to finance his 'River Walk' plan? He should have made a fortune off that, if it had succeeded.

Thank you so much sir. I really enjoyed this video on Browsville, PA. Even though many buildings are closed down. It is a beautiful town, very historic and has an interesting rural look about it. Watching from Toronto, On. 🇨🇦 The landscape is most interesting. Thanks, looking forward to more.❤

Im sure this has been happening all over this country for a while now .....Sad , great info and Video man

Too bad you were unable to go into Fiddles'. Their hours are wonky. Thanks for the great, but sorrowful, video! ...And I have NO idea why the town would need so many churches.

Sadly, a lot of PA towns are down at the heels like Brownville. Supporting industries died or moved away. Some people think these PA towns will boom again when heat and extreme weather drive climate refugees to move in. Taxes are high here due to a decreasing tax base but house here are super affordable, presenting a great option to people who work remotely and for people looking for an affordable place to retire. Over the past few years, I've been first a remote worker, then a retiree. I know that moving to little PA town is a cool experience.