Pittsburgh Suburbs: Duquesne

A Brief History of Duquesne

The city of Duquesne is located in Allegheny County along the Monongahela River. It is located 12 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh. The history of Duquesne revolves largely around the steel industry. The city was settled back in 1789 and incorporated approximately 100 years later. The city got its name from Fort Duquesne. A steel mill called Duquesne Works was the center of the neighborhood during its most successful time in the early 20th century. The community was home to the largest blast furnace in the world called the Dorothy Six. It was so famous Bob Dylan actually wrote a song about it called “Duquesne Whistle.” The city’s population peaked in 1930 and unfortunately declined from there due to deindustrialization in the ’60s. Duquesne now has less residents than it had mill workers in the ’40s.
History of Duquesne

There are many individuals who’ve risen to fame that are from Duquesne. There’s Gene Gedman, who served as running back for the Detroit Lions, Earl Hines, a jazz pianist, architect Frederick J. Osterling, MLB umpire Johnny Stevens and more. When Duquesne High School closed in 2007, students moved to West Mifflin High School or East Allegheny High. Since July of 2007, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit manages all academic and business operations in the city’s K-8 area.

 

10 thoughts on “Pittsburgh Suburbs: Duquesne”

  1. Love, love, loved living in Duquesne. I lived six blocks from Kennywood Park. The area was called Duquesne Place, and our home was right across the street from the three mansions that the Duquesne mill superintendents lived. It was a great place to grow up. Left and was married in 1963…. still go back and drive around and cry. The family parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins all up in the Holy Trinity Cemetery. No one is left alive .. oh I had 14 aunts and uncles, my mom was number 12 so we really had good times and they all lived in Duquesne. Started living on Mill Street, before the mills were there, then Patterson Ave. I could go on and on but will stop here …..love ???????

  2. Preston Henderson

    Living in NJ now. Originally from Duquesne. My first real job was in that very mill!

    1. Claudia Repko Misage

      How sweet you are. Yes, we Duquesne girls were and yes still are pretty gosh darn good and nice. She is the lucky one to have you.
      Blessings

      1. Claudia… I knew from your descriptive words that you were referring to Oakmont Ave and have brothers Mark, Kieran and David. My wife, Lynne, and I had dinner with David and his wife on May 4, 2000 in Boston;s North End. Ask him if he remembers. We used to sledride down the hill in front of those mansions. Ann Slane used to take us on adventures, such as the Ice Capades, when the Civic Arena was new. Be well!

        1. Claudia Repko Midage

          Hi Alan, yes I do remember you and your family living on Duquesne Blvd. some of those homes are now actually knocked down. Duquesne is just about a ghost town, Duquesne Place is holding its own. Yes the house that .Ann lived in is now called the Sycamore Estates and we actually gave a cousin living in that nursing home. The church next to it is doing as well as can be expected. Don’t get there too often anymore, flying is the big problem. Dave and Patti were just there last .Friday to visit Tom and my brother who retired from Papua, New Guinea and is living in St. Augustine Friary in Pittsburgh.. I do believe I remember Dave telling me about meeting up with you……I’ll refresh his memory. Hope you and yours are fine and healthy. We have been in Austin for 47 years., but Pittsburgh will always be home……..but we are “born again Texan’s”..haha! Take care, love ?????

        2. Not sure why you note is like it is, but I did answer you and will ask Dave is he remembers meeting you back when. I do remember him mentioning that then. Probably easier to just email each other

  3. I grew up in Duquesne also, hard to imagine the city now, not like the one I knew. I graduated in 1965, married my high school sweetheart and we had 52 wonderful years together I live in Oklahoma now, but Duquesne will forever be my HOMETOWN.

  4. Patricia Lowry Johnson

    I was born and reared in Duquesne and West Mifflin where my Grandfather (a personal friend of Andrew Carnegie) built the first house in what is now West Mifflin. My father was a business owner and a policeman in West Mifflin.
    I attended Duquesne High School and have very fond memories of those years. After high school I married very young and have since lived all over the world. There will never be a place in this world that I love as much as Duquesne and the Pittsburgh area. At 82 I still dream of moving back.

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