538 Lincoln Avenue

The three-story brick building at the northeast corner of Lincoln and Hawley Avenues that will soon house Bellevue's first microbrewery was constructed in 1902 by the Bellevue Realty Savings & Trust Company. It occupies Lot 1 in the “T.M. Bayne Plan of Lots,” a subdivision laid out in the mid-1890s. Nineteenth century maps reveal that it was the first building to stand on this prominent corner lot in the heart of Bellevue’s business district. The original address was 440 Lincoln Avenue. The building was constructed at a time when Bellevue was growing rapidly following the extension of streetcar lines from Pittsburgh’s North Side. Real estate developers bought up vacant land in the borough and laid out new streets and subdivisions. The Bellevue Realty Savings & Trust Co. opened for business on July 1, 1902 and was heavily involved in the local real estate market. It had a real estate department which marketed “choice properties for sale and rent in Bellevue, Avalon, and Ben Avon.” In 1922 the bank moved to a new, larger building on the corner of Lincoln and Balph Avenues. That building now houses Citizens Bank. After the Bellevue Realty Savings & Trust Co. vacated the building at the corner of Lincoln and Hawley, its use during the following decade is unclear. By the mid-1930s it housed a dress shop on the first floor and apartments above. Many advertisements for the business appeared in 10local newspapers during this period. Longtime local residents remember that during the late 1950s through 1960s the building was owned by Robert Sheetz whose Sheetz Fried Chicken and Fish restaurant occupied the first floor. There were broasted chickens turning on spits in the front window, and people recall that the smells coming from the building were wonderful. The Sheetz restaurant was followed by a George Aiken Fried Chicken takeout restaurant in the late 1960s and early 1970s and then a Baskin Robbins ice cream shop which lasted from 1973 to about 1980. In 1986 the building was acquired by Dr. Domenic DeFrank and converted into a dentist office, a use that continued for several decades. In November 2017, 538 Lincoln Avenue commenced a new chapter in its colorful history when it was purchased by Bellevue residents Grant and Lisa Saylor and Joel and Amy Haldeman. The new owners shared a vision of creating a community brewery by and for the people of Bellevue, a new enterprise that would contribute to the rejuvenation of the borough’s business district. To that end dozens of local volunteers donated countless hours of their personal time to renovating the ground floor space during the winter, spring, summer, and fall of 2018, an ambitious project that is now nearing completion and which will breathe new life into the old bank building.