REBUILDING PITTSBURGH

A sweeping look at the work the Regional Industrial Development Corporation has done to revitalize Pittsburgh’s economy.

Fraser here explores both the economic devastation that southwestern Pennsylvania experienced in the 1980s (which stemmed from a mass collapse of the steel and “other durable goods” industries that saw 150,000 manufacturing jobs disappear) and the region’s extraordinary recovery. Said recovery was largely made possible by the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania, a nonprofit founded in 1955 with the goal of “diversify[ing] the economic base, attract[ing] new companies, encourag[ing] existing ones to expand, create jobs, and improve the quality of life of residents.” The author walks readers through the initial collapse of the area’s economy and the early days of RIDC’s initial investments (such as buying nearly 1,000 acres of the former Thorn Hill school property from the state’s Department of Public Welfare to build an industrial park), concluding with a look at the thriving state of Pittsburgh today. Fraser attributes much of the project’s success to RIDC’s commitment to economic diversity (which helped to usher in more industries like healthcare and technology), including the National Robotics Engineering Center, which opened in 1996. The author has compiled a vast and incredibly detailed history of RIDC’s impressive work in southwestern Pennsylvania—these details occasionally grow monotonous (granular accounts of financial transactions between the many businesses moving into and out of the various business parks may not be everyone’s cup of tea), but readers interested in the region’s history and civil planning will likely appreciate Fraser’s straightforward style. It’s not all facts and figures—color photos lend some personality to the data, while the human stories (like Pittsburgh residents’ initial denials that the steel industry would not bounce back) add an empathetic dimension to the text. This is an impressively thorough look at a unique and storied city and the little-known organization that helped save it.  

A well-researched, if somewhat dry, deep dive into Pittsburgh’s economic recovery.