"Brief History of The 'Burgh" Top 5 Page for this destination Pittsburgh Travelogue by Parklife

Pittsburgh is an old town, a historical town. It is also a city that has spent the better part of the last 30 years in transition. Arguably, no town has had such an important past and yet struggled to find it’s mark in the future. From battle garrison and key strategic port city to the capital of the US steel industry to attempts at redefining itself as a medical mecca, Pittsburgh has housed some of the most powerful families in US history and currently strives to set itself up as a city of tomorrow. The task has been difficult to say the least. At its core, Pittsburgh has always been a hard-nosed blue collar town. The identity of the city has struggled as the civic leaders attempt to gloss over that entrenched attitude and turn towards a white collar renaissance. Only time will tell if they make the move successfully, but if they do much of the character and attitude that made Pittsburgh a special place will be lost.

Plan of Fort Pitt (courtesy of Fort Pitt Museum)

“As I got down before the canoe, I spent some time in viewing the rivers, and the land in the fork, which I think extremely well situated for a Fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers.”
George Washington, 1753

With those words, the history of Pittsburgh began. A fort (Fort Duquesne) did get erected and a few short years later was razed and a new “Fort Pitt” took its place. Pittsburgh was named in 1758 and stood as a strategic point for both the French and British armies as well as the Native American tribes of the area during the struggle for control of the new country.

In the 1800s, Pittsburgh became the “The Gateway to the West” by providing a stopping off point for people headed west. The cities strategic location and wealth of natural resources created opportunities for large amounts of immigration and industrialization. The Pittsburgh population grew by leaps and bounds as the city filled with unskilled immigrant laborers who worked in the iron and glass industries. The Southside filled with over 60 glass factories and much of the riverfront filled with iron and later steel industry companies. At one point, over ½ of all steel and 1/3 of all glass in the US flowed through Pittsburgh. During the Civil War, the city was known as “The Arsenal of the Union” for supplying Union armaments.

They left these corners of soot stained wall

By the 1900s, Pittsburgh was the largest steel producing area in the US and supplied the steel necessary to support the US and its allies during WWI and WWII. It was during this time that the city met it’s low-point as the smog generated from the burning of coal created living conditions that were almost unbearable. Business men used to have to change their shirts at noon, people that cared enough washed the drapes of their house twice a day. Street lights burned 24 hours a day in an attempt to shed some light through the smog covered downtown. If you travel the Duquesne Incline, you can see photos to this effect in their small collection of historic photographs at the top of Mount Washington.

As the middle decade of the century came to an end, economics began to shift and the city would soon see steel being imported cheaper than it could be made. Starting in the 60’s, this began the exodus of the steel industry and Pittsburgh shifted it’s focus. As local workers were laid off outside workers were brought in to boost new economic sectors (medicine and technology). Carnegie Mellon University brought many brilliant minds to work on robotic theory and practice. The University of Pitt Medical Center became a leader in medical research and practice.

Pittsburgh now finds itself on the forefront of medical technology and theoretical aspects of computer technology. Still struggling to change the image of a smoggy steel city, Pittsburgh suffers the stigma of it’s past while chasing after a 21st century place of prominence.