Summerhill, Pittsburgh, and Mechanicsville, also reflected this demographic shift. 94 Zoning did not become a practice until the 1920s and development was determined by the builder and neighborhoods were built up for density with of mixture of residential and commercial districts intermingled and dispersed together throughout Buttermilk Bottom. Princess Wilson Davenport, whose father owned ‘Walt’s Shoes’, recalls in an oral history that the commercial district had other businesses like barber shops and nickel and dime stores adjacent to the house of a friend who is now 90 years old. 95 In a 1978 oral history, Fletcher Coombs, resident in Auburn Avenue, shared in a community oral history project that Auburn Avenue was the most prominent Black business district and described the surrounding landscape as residential. He remarked, "it is hard for you to visualize that there were houses, the housing was all back in that area. Before the expressway [came] through [there] were houses, and it was a neighborhood basically of old houses and minority businesses[.] [Then] of course, the expressway came through, and that took a lot of the housing out of the area." 96 Coombs describes a "closeness" in community life during segregation. 97 Comparatively, by the time of his oral history, he said the spirit of the community changed to “a lot of people think [about] themselves” [instead of community first]. 98 Huff remembered a beautiful and timeless depiction of a loving homelife that nurtured future leaders. Her dad and grandfather would wake during cold winter mornings to collect firewood. The family sat around the stove, warming themselves while drinking tea, eating biscuits, and discussing the day ahead. The memory demonstrates what buffered the family against the harshness of poverty. Huff reflects, “[t]he family was close-knit and loved, and when you have love and unity, you just did not feel or express the effects of being poor.” People constantly moved in and out of the Butler Street and Buttermilk Bottom neighborhoods. For those families who moved from one neighborhood within the Fourth Ward to another, these relocations were often voluntary and related to improved financial circumstances such as the ability to pay higher rent or purchase a home. These families recount a positive experience as they sustained meaningful social connections. A former resident of Buttermilk Bottom shared that she was born in Buttermilk Bottom, and while still a baby, her family moved to Daniel Street in Auburn Avenue. 99 Jethro English, Jr., also a former resident, shared a similar experience. He was born in Buttermilk Bottom, and
94 A. J. Taylor, “Oral History Interview with A.J. Taylor.” Interview by P. Wilson, P. Carter, M. Simmon, Auburn Avenue Research Library, May 29, 1978, Tape #10.
95 Oral History, Princess Davenport Wilson, June XX, 2014. 96 Coombs, interview.
97 Fletcher Coombs, “Oral History Interview with Fletcher Coombs.” Interview by Stephanie Jones, Yvonne Jackson, and Bridgette Thompson, Auburn Avenue Research Library, May 15, 1978, and May 25, 1978, Tapes 28 and 29.
98 Coombs, interview.
99 Visit to Dogwood Senior Center, March 12, 2024, to share about The Stitch project.
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