Brookline (Pittsburgh)

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The Brookline section of the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is located a few miles south of Downtown in the South Hills section. It is within the 4th City Council District, 19th and 32nd Wards of the city.

Brookline is currently the second largest of Pittsburgh's neighborhoods.

Brookline was founded as part of West Liberty Borough (annexed into Pittsburgh in 1908) and was originally named for and populated by settlers from Brookline, Massachusetts. The area started as mainly farmland as well as a mining community.

The area experienced a downturn in population in the 1970's which continued until the late 1990s. In more recent history, Brookline has enjoyed a major rebound mainly due to its status as a very suburban area within the city limits. The area is populated largely (anecdotally) by city police officers mainly due to the requirement that Pittsburgh city police officers live within the city limits. The area is also being rapidly populated by young professionals and graduate students from the many universities in Pittsburgh. Many houses in the Brookline section of the city date to the late 1800's while there are homes from early 1900's up to the 1950s. Most major construction dropped off around that point and newer homes are rare though they do exist.