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James J. Dawson begun bus
service in 1927 to connect the B&O station in Braddock to North Braddock. Gustave
Popper began service about the same time to link Braddock, Forest Hills and Braddock
Hills. In 1931 Dawson started a second route which more or less duplicated Poppers' , and
later that year Dawson bought Popper's operation, which included two short routes in
Swissvale.
Dawson
revised the Forest Hills route to eliminate service on the western part, and subsequently
also abandoned the North Braddock route which had competed with Popper's. The remaining
routes were restricted where they duplicated service provided by Pittsburgh Railways
routes 55, 64 and 87. Always on the lookout to prosper, Dawson purchased a local cab
company and expanded it to serve many of the eastern suburbs and Turtle Creek Valley. Bus
service was extended into Bessemer Terrace (East Pittsburgh) in 1939. Two years later the
line was extended to Swissvale. This route was split into two: Swissvale to Braddock, and
Braddock to Bessemer Terrace.
Paul Miller and his
wife, doing business as Miller Bus Lines, purchased Dawson's Forest Hills line and later
operated a Wilkinsburg-Braddock line. These were sold to Leonardo Burrelli in 1949. Dawson
in the meantime restructured the Swissvale-North Braddock line to service the Hawkins
Village neighborhood. A son, James Jr., took over the routes and continued to operate them
until 1964.
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