Suburb of the week: Crescent Township (Pittsburgh, Robinson Township: cul-de-sac, houses, neighborhoods)

[eschaton]

Crescent Township a relatively small (both in urban area and size - at only 2.3 miles) township located in the far west of Allegheny County, on the border with Beaver County. It was first incorporated in 1855, calved off of Robinson Township. Population growth was mostly strong from the 1920s to the 1960s, after which the township went through a long period of decline which only recently reversed.

Development is patchy, which is not surprising given it's in one of the "empty quarters" of Allegheny County. There are several areas of higher density down by the Ohio River - areas which aren't exactly urban, but have closely spaced houses, somewhat older construction and grid road patterns - neighborhoods like Wireton and Glenwillard. Since moving to the Pittsburgh area, I've taken to calling these sort of pocket neighborhoods in the suburbs "fake boroughs." The rest of the township is divided between suburban-style cul-de-sac development and undeveloped land. There are scattered light industrial, churches, and small businesses in the township, but nothing resembling a business district.

[lprmesia]

I've known 2 different people from Crescent and they've always just told people they were from "Moon". The two share a school district, and outside of the Glenwillard area of Crescent along 51 - the rest of the township is very much the same character as Moon Township. Even my buddy from the Glenwillard area called it "Moon" - but not sure if this is since Moon is much more well known (10 times the population) or if it has more appeal. Glenwillard, while sounding like the name of a decent Scotch, with age has not improved in quality like you'd expect with a good scotch.

Speaking of, I would imagine (but have no evidence) that much of the area was settled by Scottish immigrants - with names such as Glenwillard, Flaugherty Run, Keim St, Purdy Rd, Mccutcheon Way, etc.

While the comment above states that it broke off from Robinson, it actually broke off from Moon Township (as did many other townships) due to the sheer size of the original Moon Township. Before 1790, Moon Township incorporated almost all off the area of Allegheny County South of the Ohio River and West of Chartiers Creek outside of the village of Middletown (present day Coraopolis). Moon eventually split into 2 townships. There was the original Moon Township, consisting of present day Moon, Crescent, and Findlay Townships, while Fayette Township included present day North Fayette, South Fayette, Collier, and Robinson Townships (which also included present day Kennedy Township, Pennsbury Village, Rosslyn Farms, and Thornburg).

Also to note, some scenes from The Silence of the Lambs were filmed in the Glenwillard section.