I realize I call Brownsville a suburb of Pittsburgh, which it's not. Please accept my humble apology!

this breaks my heart to watch..I was born there in 1949 in the old hospital and grew up there when it still had 3 theaters a skating rink and a nightclub called the Lennox where Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles appeared ...truly an amazing place then to spend your youth. At 19 I started working as a locomotive fireman on the Monongahela RR located in the train station which was called the Union Station. Up into the 50s there were 100 trains a day thru it...from the city of Fairmont WVa on north to Pittsburgh and beyond...Some of the engineers I worked with had been there since the 1920s and gave me much of the history I now know about the local RR which was a shortline coal feeder from the mines running from WVa to the junctions with the B&O , PR and Lake Eerie RRs just north of town. Many thanks for the video

I’ve lived in Johnstown for 30 years. Western PA is a great area to explore. We’ve seen tough times here, but we’re on the upswing currently. Downtown is back, good restaurants around town, a cool place to live. Btw,Johnstown, and probably many other small or mid sized towns has churches all over. It’s quite notable. We have Catholic, Ukrainian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Catholic Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, and more! There’s a heavy Eastern European influence, as well as German, Polish, Italian, English, and Scots Irish. Lots of culture and history in Western PA!

Next time you're visiting Brownsville, walk up Front Street from Nemacolin Castle. You will think you're in a historic district in Boston or Philly. Beautiful houses, brick sidewalks, stately trees. The residents are really trying to maintain the area.

90% of a major Hollywood movie from 1984 called MARIA’S LOVERS was filmed in Brownsville. Almost all of the locations in this video can be seen in that film (downtown, Market Street, abandoned church, train station, hospital). A painted sign pointing towards the “Maria’s Lovers House” off Market St can be seen at the 13:44 mark here. Much of the movie was shot there and it has been restored. Nastassja Kinski (as Maria), Robert Mitchum, John Savage & many more star in the movie which takes place in 1946 Brownsville. Amazed more people aren’t commenting on it, it is a virtual travelogue of the town.

Thanks for visiting Brownsville. You summed up the history wonderfully. I pastor two of the churches in Brownsville. That is one thing that is still strong in the little area, the ministerial association is vibrant and active. Meaning although the churches you spotted are mostly small congregation wise, they are alive and kicking. We do work together to serve the community with food banks, community events, benevolent funds. While depressed the people do care for their own. If you ever come back into the area and wish to explore the churches please let me know. I’d be happy to help make that happen. Also all the flags were put up by the local rotary club which is also incredibly active. They go up for veterans, Memorial Day, the 4th and a few other national holidays.

I grew up just on the other side of the Brownsville tunnel so we went into town a lot. I practically lived in the library including volunteering there as a kid. There was an incredible Italian restaurant in lower Brownsville that we always went to for family birthdays. There was also an arts center where my sister and I went for their art and drama summer camps. And I went on so many tours of Nemacolin Castle (pronounced with an e like in egg) that I practically had the whole tour memorized. I remember when everyone started talking about the guy buying up everything and at first people were so excited. I was confused why he wanted a riverboat casino there since it was already a pretty empty and slow town but I figured I was a kid and the grown-ups knew what they were talking about. I also didn't know just how much of the town he had bought. Then I graduated and moved to Pittsburgh. Any time I would go back the place just looked sadder and sadder. So many gorgeous historical homes falling apart. There was one my mom and I called "our house" because we loved it so much and desperately wanted to fix it up. I hope they can figure out a way to revitalize it.

You need to make arrangements with someone who knows the local history and go back because there's so much you missed. I was born and raised just up old Rt 40 in Uniontown and actually worked in Brownsville for 3 years at Hillman Barge where we built barges primarily for the coal industry, in the mid 1800's to the early 1900's between Brownsville and California Pa that stretch of the Monongahela River was the epicenter of inland marine construction in the US, you actually walked past a sign for Heartland Fabrication which is what the old Hillman shipyard is called now. I understand that you had no way of knowing but there's so much about the history of that immediate area that's fascinating that you missed, try to get a hold of a local historian, start with their historical center you were at as I'm sure someone from there would be more than glad to take you on a tour of the area and fill you in, make arrangements and go back to make another video, you won't regret it. Edit, here's just one factoid, there was a guy in Brownsville named Henry Miller Shreve who built rafts for floating commerce and agricultural goods down the Monongahela to the Ohio and onward to the Mississippi down to the markets in New Orleans, during the War of 1812 he built the rafts that carried Andrew Jackson and his troops downriver for their attack on the British, he was later contracted by the Army Corps Of Engineer's to clear a 180 mile long log jam on the Red River so it could be used for moving trade goods, the location where a trading post was established grew into a city that eventually bore his name, Shreveport Louisiana. Also, the agricultural goods that eventually would be taken downriver on Shreve's rafts are the primary reason for what started The Whiskey Rebellion after the Revolutionary War. There's a Wikipedia page on Henry Miller Shreve, it's a good place to start doing research on the marine construction trade that the area became the first area it was centered in during the earliest days of US history, from Henry Shreve's rafts to the many famous paddle boats that ran on America's waterways during the western expansion to the 5 largest tow boats in the world at the time that were built in the 70's at Hillman Barge for Exxon Corporation the history of shipbuilding in Brownsville is one that shouldn't be forgotten.

I moved to brownsville 4 years ago from maryland, where i was born and raised so i never knew the history about where i live now. Thanks!

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

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.

I really enjoyed this, Ian. I wanted to add that many different churches allowed immigrants to maintain their cultural and religious beliefs. You walked among Byzantine, Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches near the old hospital. It was important for people to stay connected to their roots.

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.

Born and raised in Bville. The only difference between Bville and Rome is there are more Italians in Bville.

I grew up 6 miles from here. My mom worked in Brownsville most of her young adult life. It's where we shopped. I took dancing lessons in the Eagles building in the 60s. I volunteered in the library there in my teens. It's sad and a shame what happened there in the 90s. It's a great town. I have so many great memories. I'm sad you didn't get to eat at Fiddles!

I grew up about 5 miles away from Brownsville in 1948. Going to Brownsville in those days was like going to Pittsburgh. They had just about everything you would need. They said at one time that Brownsville was going to be bigger than Pittsburg. The first church coming across the new bridge was St Nicholas Greek Catholic Church, where my family belonged.a lot of buildings are gone. I can remember the Plaza movie theater. The Union Station building was across from the flat iron building. I used to go to a dentist’s office there.

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.

When I was a teenager in the late 50's, my uncle was a minister in the Presbyterian Church which was on Market St. The house and church stood right about where the straight part of the exit is parallel to the bridge. You could stand on the front porch and look to the right and see the St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church. The parsonage was a wonderful house. You had to go up to get to the first floor, and it had an oval winding staircase in the front hall. I'm a Michigander so I was fascinated with the ups and downs of the town. My aunt knew the people at the castle so, although I don't remember much about it, I've been through it. There are some amazing old buildings there. You've done a great job of showing the best side of the town. I saw a video awhile back where the person showed the other side, and it was sad. It looks like a clean town, and I hope the residents can slowly bring it back to life. Thanks.

Wow. This showed up on my KZfaq front page randomly, because I'm not sure they would have any way to link me to it. But my father's family is from Brownsville. After my grandfather was killed in WW2, my grandma taught in Brownsville schools and my dad went to school there, until they moved later. And his uncle was a minister there, although I'm not sure which church. I used to go with my grandma to visit her sister and stay in Brownsville in the 80's. I remember going to the castle. By the 90's, most everyone in the family from there had either passed away or moved elsewhere.

A number of years ago, we took a wrong turn and ended up driving through downtown Brownsville. I said at the time that it looked like a movie set for a depression era movie. It was very sad.

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.

Thank you for the video. It brought back a lot of memories. My father was from Newell and went to High School in Brownsville. Two of my uncles worked for the P&LE Railroad. As with a previous post, I graduated from California University of Pa in 1966. After WW II, my family moved to Point Marion where he became the Superintendent of Schools in the Albert Gallatin School District. There are many such small towns that suffered the same fate as Brownsville. When coal died out, so did the towns. The flood in the 80’s sealed the fate of the river towns. I find that returning is very depressing.

I lived in Brownsville for a few years about a dozen years ago. Some of the old buildings along the main drag didn't have their upper-most windows boarded up, and looking up through those windows, one could see daylight, indicating the roof had caved in on a lot of those buildings, including (I think) the old train station near The Flatiron Building. It's sad and disappointing when historic buildings aren't maintained and used. It's nice to see the new park; it wasn't there, but I think it was being planned, when I lived there. That's too bad that Fiddle's was closed. Their mushroom swiss burger and fries were pretty good when I ate there. Milkshakes were pretty good, too. You had a nice, if chilly, day to explore. I enjoyed the tour/revisit. Editing to add: About 20 years ago, some friends and I were coming across the Lane Bane bridge into Brownsville, headed east from Washington, PA (aka to the locals, Little Washington); we counted over a dozen churches in Brownsville, and we weren't sure if we got them all. It was a booming town once upon a time, as you touched on, with _many_ different cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities, so different churches were built to accommodate all the different denominations to which people belonged. If Fiddle's had been open, I'll bet a few regulars could have filled you in on some history, lore, and the true number of churches in Brownsville!

This is what every small town in New England and upstate NY will look like in 10 years now that all the manufacturing has moved to Mexico , China and India . We are not a country , we are a corporation acting on behalf of the shareholders .

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.

God bless the ppl in that area. My dad was born and raised in Allison PA. Been to Brownsville and Uniontown a ton of times. My dad went to Redstone High School. My Grandpa was a coalminer. Lots of memories from that area. Loved this video. Thank you very much for your time and info.

Wow all got to say is wow. Being from Philadelphia, an knowing most of the areas in PA. Never knew about Brownsville. Great looking area it is amazing this could happen in PA. Thanks for making the video.

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.

What a Story.. youtube's algorithm brought me to you. Nice Content. Left a sub 😊

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.

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.

I was born in the Brownsville hospital & grew up in Brownsville /W. Brownsville & left in 1963 & have been back many times. I walked the path u walked many times. I will always have fond memories of my childhood there & be thankful for a safe / fun childhood. tks Mike ( Mickey) Carr

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.

I’d like to extend an invitation to come back around the new year when many more businesses will be opened. Fresh fuel cafe, Fiddles plus more. The cast iron bridge is getting ready to be rebuilt as well. Bridges are being fixed, roads paved, and parks built. All by team efforts from people like yourself who love Brownsville, and find it curiously fascinating. My husbands family sold many properties to the Leggets after the death of the main owner.

I'm from Little Washington, now live outside Ocean City Md. My parents talked about Brownsville often. Sadly, every time I drive through or stop at Brownsville, it seems to look worse than before. Saddens me, as western PA is of my heritage.

I grew up in Centerville PA not to far from Brownsville. Thanks for posting about the history of a place I've traveled through so many time. I also noticed the Connecticut Tigers hat you have, good stuff.

Thank you for sharing this amazing local history, glad the algorithm brought it to me

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 KZfaq content!

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.

Unfortunately there a more than a few towns like this in the rural areas of PA. I am impressed that even though there are lots of abandoned buildings I didn't see any graffiti or even much trash blighting the town. Obviously, its citizens still have pride in their hometown. Also like the posters hanging from the telephone polls. I'm guessing they are honoring veterans who served in maybe WWII and/or Korea. Never saw that anywhere and a wonderful way to remember these men who time is taking from us.

This vid makes me feel so sad. A once bustling city in serious decline, with beautiful old buildings, empty. Like a ghost town. I never been there, but the history now lays dormant. I hope that someday they can revitalize Brownsville. So many churches, because people are of different religious sects. Glad they all worshipped, like we did from childhood.😌🙏😊

Shocking that you would not know why there are so many churches in one town. So glad so many people set you straight. I hope you read all of the comments and found out why. My hometown in Western Pennsylvania had a church almost on every corner. Also, if you went up to the Roman Catholic Church when you were near it where the old hospital once stood, you would’ve seen one heck of a gorgeous building. It is absolutely stunning inside and out. And you would’ve had a wonderful view of all of Brownsville. I drove through Brownsville many years ago with my cousins and we took the time to go around and see some of the buildings. It really is a beautiful river town. I was recently there for a relative’s funeral and found the people very warm and welcoming.

In 2002, literally overnight after 9/11 , the developer here built 2000 new houses in New developments that didn't exist before that. They had been vacant farmland. And the average house was 150k, and these new houses were 750k to 1.5 million AND EVERY ONE OF THEM SOLD IN JUST 2 MONTHS They had more buyers than they had lots And I was shocked when I saw that these houses were vacant from 6am to 8pm every week day. They just didn't want to live in NY or NJ And they could afford to buy these million dollar houses and drive 3 hours each way every day.

I’ve always wondered if towns like this could be revitalized with WFH and high speed internet. Just need a nice bar, coffee shop, and some other amenities that people can walk to. Sure it’s not Brooklyn, but for 20% of the price I’m sure you could find enough young earners willing to give it a shot.

Moved to Cumberland, MD 6 weeks ago. I work remotely and this town is full of great architecture and really seems to be working at coming back. Bought a huge old house that's in pretty good shape and we have at least 8 active churches within just a few blocks. The "house" behind us on the other side of our alley apparently used to be some sort of church but now is vacant.

My old girlfriend was from Brownsville , we visited her family in the early 1990’s I walked those streets back then and it was the same then as I see you walk it now , omg nothing has changed

Beautiful old town. Lots of potential. Loved the flatiron building and the castle. So cool. Thanks for sharing. 😊

It's important, I think, to recognize that it was decisions made by people, not forces beyond anyone's control, that did this.

It's not the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Way to far away from the Burg to call it one.

I believe that Brownsville also has a Colonial era history as Redstone Old Fort. It was a settlement by the time of the French and Indian War, 1757-1763.

I went to college like 10 minutes away from here. Used to drive through here at least once a week. Extremely sad town and honestly region of the state. I remember the biggest thing to come to the area was a sheetz that our entire campus would swarm

Brownsville was the home of Chief Redstone and was called Redstone during the French and Indian War. Chief Redstone fought against George Washington at fort Necessity just outside of Uniontown Pa. I grew up in Uniontown Pa and played sports against Brownsville. They had some good football teams.

Albert Gallatin, Thomas Jefferson's Sec'y of the Treasury, had some history there in Brownsville, PA.

I moved out of PA 20+ years ago. Moved for employment, ended up in Delaware not exactly livable jobs here Glad I'm retired now. Thanks for your Brownsville walk around.

I grew up in Brownsville.1962 to 92'...very sad but I do luv that place ❤

Thanks for capturing some nice shots of the town!

Brownsville has tons of history that was missed in the video like the old redstone fort and its importance in the french and indian war which started down in the laurel highlands but involved a lot of the area up to Pittsburgh. I live up in Pittsburgh. We had old family down in that area and my grandfather would take the trolleys from the city and then trains to go visit in the 30s and talk about how it was booming all the way after until he got back from the war. My other grandparents had friends down there and would visit from the city as well taking 88 or 51 down. All my grandparents talked about what a shame it was by the 90s on what happened to it. It became a lore in itself. In the later 2000s there was a lot of renewed interest in the town itself and people wanted to get invested but the Liggits held it hostage. There are a lot of ex Brownsville residents who moved up here to the city and the south hills. They wanted to go back but the damage the liggits did was far reaching. Believe it or not, its still a huge issue with property in the town today. I had a coworker who's family came from there and he was looking at opening a business in it 2 years ago. The costs far exceeded the value. The buildings need so much work and that's if you can get them cleared legally to buy. Liggit bought them for 1 dollar but was asking for almost 10000 times that. I just looked up some of the properties down there and he isn't wrong. Even the newly renovated ones seem to be overvalued for where they are right now. Railroads owning a lot of the prime land is another issue that we also suffer up here on pittsburgh. Liggitt was building his empire on casinos and gambling. If they could possibly develop the waterfront and work on it being a gateway to the wild lands down in the Laurel highlands they could stand a chance. I always thought if they could also get a shuttle service to CalU(california university of PA) they might be able to attract and turn it into a college suburb almost. Attract younger college kids to an almost private downtown with related businesses. But we will see. The state and town have been working hard and hopefully they will be able to solve some of the issues in time before a lot of those buildings fall down. Sadly brownsville is just one of many of those towns on the mon that followed the rust belt city story but unlike pittsburgh wasn't able to reverse it. Fayettenam also has Uniontown.

I actually have the honor of living beside the town and I’m turning 50 this year the town has so many crazy stories that would not be possible if there wasn’t some truth behind all the negativity there is definitely a very ominous feeling when there at dusk by ones self

I think this place looks like a great place to live. Right near the river. Historic as hell--I found a home there built in 1816! I would move there if it weren't so far away from my family. I think this area is going to come back.

my parents were married in that church, first baptist church of Brownsville in 1957

My sister used to live in Yellow Dog over by Worthington pa. My aunt used to own a pizza shop in Worthington back in the late 80's early 90's

My grandmother’s house was torn down to relocate 40. She was a single parent at that point, taking in laundry to survive. After they took the house, she lived in a shack elsewhere in town.

Fascinating, thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Hi , mock castle you mean , I'm I England and we have lots of castles / fortifications dating back to the 12th century . We tend to repurpose a lot of our old derelict buildings so to keep them for future generations .There's a ghost village in England that was abandoned in the 1940s its amazing. Great video very informative 😊

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.❤

I have lived here my whole life and in my eyes it’s always been a sad Pretty run down place within the past year I’ve noticed some things have started to get nicer but still no real change I hope one day I’ll be able to see it change for the better

When my husband and I were stationed in West Germany 1984-1993 the soldiers stationed there back then used to joke and say that Germany " rebuilt with preserved actual blueprints for the city centers " made West Germany look in 1984 like they won WW2. Whenever we returned to the states to travel by car to visit friends and relatives it was quiet shocking to see one old town after another just like what you are showing us. The Cable news every day with thie slick commercials and foolish talk shows act like the states have been well preserved when just visit Gary Indiana and now with all the Tornado damage recently the weather gods are very angry . I always wished I studied archetecture to restore these building as they have in Europe by hiring experts from Germany to Italy and France with their desire to keep their old world architecture back in business. The people who work in the state and local governments need to get out of their offices and go on a walking tour with you ! Then they need to all go to Europe and see what they preserved after two world wars. The states look like we lost all wars in the last 250 years ! Thank you for sharing your tour of Brownsville < OA I love Western PA - Very peaceful and tranquil.

Sad that this is the state of most "main streets" in America. The loss of industry and the invention of the shopping mall killed the beautiful downtown's of the USA.

I raced(and crashed my brains out) at Brownsville once in the early 00s. The track was run by the Combs family a legendary motocross family. The track was fun, it was the first time my dad saw us race. Overall we have great memories of Brownsville and I was bummed when I found out the track wasn't going to open again.

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.

If the town has ownership of these buildings they need to be online for sale so the city makes money and people get to buy the property. The reason they are empty is not just that they are abandoned but nobody knows who to contact to buy and invest in them. Just DO NOT sell to one person again. Rochester PA had the same issue and is in the same shape. Cal U of PA 1986

the mural seen around 19:00 was done by a few members of Pittsburgh's IATSE union, it was painted for the short lived Netflix show I Am Not Okay With This from 2020

The reason that there were so many churches was because of the many nationalities of immigrants to the area! If you go out to the many small communities you would find out that they were called coal patches! These were patches of homes for each coal mine and each area held a certain group of people! One patch would be where the Polish people lived and another would be the Italians, another was Germans, Slovakians, and so on! There is more history in this town and the surrounding communities but you only touch a small fraction! Brownsville has a huge history with the small communities all around it!

My husband's family is from Brownsville and I'm excited to share this information with them. To help with pronunciation of the castle: Nema-colon. Thank you for covering this old beautiful town ❤️

The mural under the bridge is semi recent. It used to be of the different people that made up Brownsville however it was heavily vandalized

I would/will absolutely visit..beautiful history and town. Thank You!

It's mind boggling that you didn't mention Joe Hardy!!! (84 Lumber Billionaire Founder - Nemacolin Woodlands Resort Owner (about 30 min from Brownsville). You need to research how he used Brownsville as a "flash-in-the-pan" trick (like Liggett). So that Hardy could get elected to Fayette County Commissioner in the early 2000's. I've personally always wondered Liggett's tie to Joe Hardy, and the timing of his run for County Commissioner, (and use of Brownsville). By bringing "Mob Tied - Governor" Ed Rendell to Brownsville in 2005. All based around "saving and revitalizing". Let me ask anyone with eyes - "How does it look to you?" (exactly my point).

My family has roots in Brownsville. I had no idea about the history, this is incredible (and heart breaking)! Thank you for sharing.

You should definitely check out St. Peter's Church. Very historic and still active. Many churches have been closed/abandoned/torn down. the few you saw are just the tip of the iceberg.

Same situation with 80% of the towns in PA.

Amazing buildings.

My memories of a young lad that Bville was out of a Norman Rockwell painting. So sad to see it now.

You should look into the towns relationship to the National Road Heritage Corridor.A historic preservation and tourism supported by the Commonwealth of PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The one church heading up the hill has now completely lost its big front stained glass window

You might want to check the names of folks in the cemetery to give you a clue about the immigrant populations that settled and worked in the area. Abandon buildings can only tell you so much. A cemetery has much more to offer as for the people who lived there and where they came from. Many small towns have several churches.

The Redstone Castle predates Nemicolen's Castle buy many hundreds maybe thousands of years. It had stone ramparts made of huge boulders of red stone Redstone Creek is named for. Although the stines were destroyed by settlers, the pentagonal earthen rampart that it sat in is still under the train tracks that cross said creek at its mouth into the Monongahela at Brownsville. At this place is now an edie that prevents a large whirlpool. This is the lair of Mishipeshu, the underwater panther. When tou see a petroglyph of this entity near water is like a modern sign alwrting you the swimming is risky here. I have heard there was once a big one there. I could go on about the ancient history of Brownsville it has always been a special place. I have many friends there and many fond memories. I never knew the Brownsville curse was because of a creepy investor. Thats a lesson for sure.

Looking at the map, the cloverleaf intersection of Turnpike PA43 and US40 used to be the southern terminus for PA43. That left Brownsville on the path in between Pittsburgh and Uniontown. Drove through it many times over the past few decades, and saw the slow decline. I still occasionally pass through since 43 was completed and the town is entirely bypassed, and with the drastically less traffic through town, it seems to be wasting away.

My dad lived in Penn-Craft and went to High School in Brownsville. He played football and baseball and once owned Ty Cobb’s youth baseball uniform (it was during the late depression and the war, and he of course wore it until it disintegrated.)

In the 1st half of the 20th century many immigrants came to steel & mining towns to work. It wasn't common to have a car in small towns & cities. Churches & schools & corner grocers were walkable. Every ethnicity had their own church, originally in their native language. There would be an Italian Catholic church, a Polish Catholic church, a Ukrainian orthodox church, a German Lutheran church etc. Every few blocks, in their respective ethnic neighborhoods. My grandparents emigrated to such a town.

We have a place across the river in California Pa my mother used to shop in Brownsville as a kid in the 50s. The fiddler's diner and the town was the location they shot a Netflix show I am not ok with that. People said the Brownsville mural was added when they shot the show, I thought it was previously there. I spent a few months a year in the area and I have noticed it getting revamped slowly. I did not know the Legget story nice to know. Nice video too.

Greensburg, Uniontown and Waynesburg are probably more explorable than Brownsville. Also keep in mind Southwestern PA is known for it's Slavic population that immigrated here, lots of different kinds of Churches all over.

I got a terrible speeding ticket in Brownsville on my way to my reserve unit just outside of town. That cop hit me with everything he could. No fond memories of Brownsville sorry. Thankfully the guys from my reserve unit helped me out by squaring me away with some money so I did not take a total loss for the weekend. Not nice of them to target Soldiers on their way to drill on the weekends.

Not to mention its early history, Redstone fort etc etc

19:10 *MURAL?! Yes, you definitely need to head toward OH and WV nearly all that’s left are ‘murals’ of what used to be.

I went to school at Cal. PA, we’d often drive/walk around here. Our professor would always joke about the “people from west Brownsville”

Thanks for the tour! Churches and bars thrive in areas of severe economic depression. My hometown, Curwensville, has ~2500 residents and 8 churches.

This is my hometown thank you!

I first learned about Brownsville because it was featured as the setting for I am not Okay with This.

excellent video 10k towns like this all over the world.

The demand for steel did not decline. American businesses started buying foreign steel, thus destroying communities like Brownsville. The American government did nothing to stop it.