Remember When: Braeburn Alloy Steel launched 125-year-old community, which once had its own school, post office, beach

With the recent sale of Braeburn Alloy Steel to G.O. Carlson Inc. of Oil City, it’s a good time to take a look at the history of the 125-year-old company and community along the Allegheny River.

Braeburn is part of Lower Burrell. On July 14, the small community turned 125 years old.

The neighborhood gets its name from a Scottish term: “brae” meaning the slope or brow of a hill, and “burn,” which is a small creek.

The steel company and the community itself got their start on July 14, 1897, when William Metcalf bought 43 acres of riverfront property from Issac Irwin. The plant produced carbon steel for specialty products such as toolmaking.

A nearby coal mine, the Ben Franklin Coal Co., supplied raw materials for steelmaking.

Metcalf sold the plant in 1917 to Standard & Bearings Co. of Plainville, Conn. In 1944, CCX Inc. took over the facility.

At its peak, the plant employed about 600 people. By the 1980s, employment dwindled to about 250 and to fewer than 50 today.

Braeburn still has its steel mill, but it once had its own hotel, school, post office, fire department and beach.

After the steel company got its start, the neighborhood grew rapidly, and a post office opened in 1898. The railroad had been established along the river in 1855, and one of the daily trains, the “Buffalo Express,” didn’t stop with mail in Braeburn. Instead, a catcher’s pouch was installed, and a train employee tossed the mailbag onto the pouch.

The post office closed in 1960 when the Lower Burrell branch of the New Kensington Post Office opened Dec. 1 of that year.

A popular gathering place was the Braeburn Hotel, operated by the Welsh family. For a while, the hotel had Braeburn’s only telephone, and the owners allowed neighbors to use it. The hotel suffered severe damage during the 1936 flood.

Braeburn Elementary School opened in 1921 and expanded in 1954, educating students in grades 1-6. Secondary students took the train daily to Arnold until passenger rail was discontinued.

Because of declining enrollment, the school closed in 1969, and its students were transferred to Bon Air Elementary School.

The volunteer fire company got its start in 1941 and was an effective unit for many years until membership declined to about seven active members in 2007 and the company was consolidated with the Braeview Volunteer Fire Company in the Braeburn Heights section of the city.

Braeburn Beach was open every year once the river level went down in the summer. There were no lifeguards and no admission. People just showed up.

Because it was an unofficial swimming area, there was no maintenance. Some late-spring thaws in the 1980s raised water levels and made swimming there untenable.

Also located near the steel plant is a dam across the Allegheny River, completed in 1927.

It officially is known as Natrona Lock & Dam No. 4, but people on the eastern side of the river call it the “Braeburn Dam.”