Highland Park The Highland Park Neighborhood of Pittsburgh

Census tracts reveal a long history of diverse people living as neighbors along the streets behind the Highland Avenue homes of prominent residents like Henry Phipps, Edward M. Bigelow and Dr. Benjamin Peabody.

In 1910, a Russian-born, Yiddish-speaking grocer, six Syrian and Austro-German men, and nine Irish boarders lived on the same block. The "country of origin" column in the 1920 census reads like a geography book.

Halfway through the century, a rabbi, Pakistani, Syrian, Chinese, and Korean families lived as neighbors around one block of Winterton Street. There were many Italian, Irish and Jewish families.

In the club's tenth year, president Richard W. Friday noted that "although twenty percent of residents of Weberton and Winterton Streets are Jewish, they are insufficiently represented in the club" and suggested that the club should be made more inclusive.

People of all faiths mixed in the club. The neighborhood had children in numerous schools -- Sacred Heart and Central Catholic, Fulton and Peabody, Shadyside Academy, Hillel, Winchester-Thurston, and others -- and at the end of the day, "We all played release together. The club brought all the kids together. And frankly, it didn't matter who you were, what religion you were, what school you went to, or what country you were from."

In those days (1950s) the sister of jazz crooner Billy Eckstine may have been the only African-American residing in the neighborhood.

Nothing in the club's charter was racially exclusive, yet the notion of "applying," under the sponsorship of a current member, could be used to keep people out. This crumbled, however, on an African-American family's second attempt at joining in 1961.

The family's first check was returned with no explanation, save the word stamped, "REJECTED." Some members objected to this exclusion, and the decision was reversed.