Where's the Bottom? In Braddock, PA

Braddock Carnegie Library

Link to January 31 New York Times article, "Rock Bottom for Decades, but Showing Signs of Life".

Excerpt: The state has classified it a “distressed municipality” — bankrupt, more or less — since the Reagan administration. The tax base is gone. So are most of the residents. The population, about 18,000 after World War II, has declined to less than 3,000. Many of those who remain are unemployed. Real estate prices fell 50 percent in the last year.

“Everyone in the country is asking, ‘Where’s the bottom?’ ” said the mayor, John Fetterman. “I think we’ve found it.”

Braddock firsts:
Andrew Carnegie built his first steel mill here.
The Carnegie Library of Braddock, Pennsylvania was the first Carnegie Library built in the United States (1889).