Pittsburgh's Beginnings
Let me start out by saying that I’m not a historian, but feel it’s important (and interesting) to put Pittsburgh in a little bit of context for those who are not familiar with local history. That said, I apologize ahead of time for any inaccuracies, broad generalizations, or moments of significance omitted.
The area of Western Pennsylvania where Pittsburgh resides has been inhabited for millennia. In fact, the earliest known human settlement on the North American continent lies only 45 miles outside the city at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter. Native Americans occupied this site 16,000 years ago.
The tract of land now known as Pittsburgh’s Point State Park, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, first became important in Western history around 1753 when it was discovered by George Washington. The British quickly dispatched a band of men to claim the land for England and to establish a military & trading outpost.
The French, who had already claimed the Mississippi and all of its tributaries for their own (which included the Ohio River that begins at the Point), swiftly moved in to seize the settlement from the British. They completed the fort that the British had begun and called it Fort Duquesne. They held the fort and carried on trade with the local Native American tribes from 1754-1758.
In 1758, the British determined to take the Point back and sent a sizable force against the French to make that happen. Scouts informed the French of the approaching forces and they knew they were outnumbered. Rather than let the fort be taken whole, they blew it up, leaving the British spoils of rubble and ash.
Shortly after "taking" the Point, General Forbes wrote a letter informing William Pitt that the campaign was successful. In his letter, he noted that he was writing from "Pitts-borough" and hence the future city was named. (In 2008, Pittsburgh celebrated the 250th anniversary of the naming of the region).
The British began constructing a new fort, which was named Fort Pitt in 1759 by General Stanwix (when you’re in town, you’ll certainly spend time walking or driving on the streets named after Generals Forbes and Stanwix). In addition to the military post, a village sprang up outside it for trade with the Indians. When the first census was taken n 1760, Pittsburgh had 149 inhabitants.
The Blockhouse at Fort Pitt (Today)
The city grew rapidly despite various challenges. The earliest was an attack by the Indian, Pontiac, in 1763 by which he hoped to drive the British from the Point. In 1777, the colonies’ secession from the crown saw many of Pittsburgh’s men march off to war to defend their new country. And once that war was won, farmers in Pittsburgh led their own rebellion against the whisky excise tax, which resulted in American troops being ordered against the city in 1794. Yet despite this, and by some accounts because of this (e.g. many troops sent to Pittsburgh to quell the Whisky Rebellion stayed or later relocated there with their families), the city flourished.
Fort Pitt was eventually decommissioned and deconstructed, its pieces used to build homes and businesses in the city. It was argued that a military outpost within city limits had a negative impact on the city’s image. Another fort, Fort Fayette, was built nearby but on the outskirts of the burgeoning city. The only piece remaining of any of these forts is the Blockhouse, once a part of Fort Pitt. It is the oldest standing monument in Western Pennsylvania and can be visited today in Point State Park. Adjacent to the Blockhouse is the Fort Pitt Museum, which delves into much greater details on the early history of Pittsburgh’s development than I can accomplish in this post.
An academy, which today is the University of Pittsburgh, was founded in 1787. The first furnaces for smelting iron ore found in the Allegheny Mountains started springing up during the 1790’s, though the surrounding counties, which were closer to the ore, had a head start on Pittsburgh. Glass and timber also became important commodities manufactured in Pittsburgh.
A sketch of the city of Pittsburgh circa. 1795 (from The History of Pittsburgh)
In the early 1800's, boat making became an important industry for the city. The earliest crafts were keel boats (or barges) propelled by poles. It was on one such boat that Meriwether Lewis, on behalf of President Jefferson, set out from Pittsburgh in 1803 to explore the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. As his and Clark's discoveries inspired a young nation to expand westward, most travelers making the exodus passed through Pittsburgh. This is how it got its nickname, "Gateway to the West."
This westward expansion proved a boon to the young city as all sorts of businesses sprang up to cater to the pioneers passing through. It was during these first few decades of the 19th century that Pittsburgh became known as the "Birmingham of America" and by 1830 was the top manufacturing city in the nation. The smoke and haze that many associate with Pittsburgh's steel days was actually a hallmark of the city at this early time. They made everything from glass to linen to buttons to iron bars. Pittsburgh even supplied many of the munitions for the War of 1812.
By 1818 the first bridge had been built across the Mon River, and by 1820 there was one across the Allegheny as well. The completion of the Pennsylvania Canal in 1834, and then the first railroads twenty years later, increasingly connected Pittsburgh to the rest of the country and made it more competitive through lower transportation costs.
6th St. (Roberto Clemente) Bridge over the Allegheny
Not that the city didn't have its struggles. A fire in 1845 destroyed much of downtown, and overbuilding/speculation led to a financial crisis in the late 1850's. In 1877, corporate greed on the part of the railroad barons led to riots. In researching this diary, I was actually surprised by a number of parallels between Pittsburgh in the mid to late 1800s and America today in terms of the financial crises. It warrants a separate diary, but for now a single quote will have to suffice (from The History of Pittsburgh):
The community had been impressed that the "Railroad Vultures" were "constantly preying upon the wealth and resources of the country;" ... they were "a class, as it were, of money jugglers intent only on practicing their trickery for self-aggrandizement, and that consequently their greed leads them into all known ways and byways of fraud, scheming and speculating to accomplish the amassing of princely fortunes."
(Wall Street anyone?)
But despite various setbacks, the city's overall trajectory was upward. By 1888, they had built the lovely (architecturally) Courthouse and Jail downtown; and in that same year, created aluminum. The Carnegie Library and the Carnegie Music Hall were established in 1895.
Obviously, Pittsburgh remained a vital manufacturing center well into the 20th Century. When the city celebrated its Bicentennial in 1958, the theme of that celebration was "Gateway to the Future." Ironically, it was during this same decade that Pittsburgh's population decline began. From its peak in 1950 of 676K, the city has been reduced to half that size (335K) as of the 2000 Census. The largest declines occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. The collapse of the steel industry (and Pittsburgh's manufacturing sector in general) during the late 1970s and 1980s didn't help matters any.
Pittsburgh's New Beginnings
Although it's been a drawn-out struggle, and while there is certainly room for continued change and growth, Pittsburgh has emerged as a thriving post-industrial center. One of the ways it accomplished its transformation was to invest in non-steel infrastructure that was already in place. It turned to its universities and hospitals to become a national leader in medical research and health care, as well as higher education in general. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was ranked by U.S. News and World Report as 13th on its Honor Roll of the country's best hospitals. Carnegie Mellon University is a hot-bed of technology development and research, hosting the only PhD program in Robotics in the country.
More recently the city has turned its focus to green-building and technologies. The David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where NN09 will be held, was the first LEED-certified civic center in the country; and Pittsburgh currently ranks 3rd in the nation for number of Leed-certified buildings (21 in total). The region was also recently awarded $11 million in green stimulus funding, a good portion of which will go toward enhancing the city's solar capacity and manufacturing.
David L Lawrence CC (photo by Dmuth; CC License)
Pittsburgh's redevelopment has helped cushion the blow of the recent recession. At the beginning of 2009, its unemployment rate was around 5.5%, much lower than in other parts of the country. And its housing values had actually increased. Pittsburgh was recently ranked by Forbes as 13th best of 40 cities for young professionals. Forbes also listed Pittsburgh as one of ten cities for job growth in 2009. Business Week included it on their list of Best Cities for Riding out a Recession.
But enough of my bragging. The point is that Pittsburgh made a comeback, and whatever its image is in the rest of the country, people who live or have lived there will tell you what a great place it is. Full of natural beauty, ethnic diversity, plenty of cultural institutions, and now a growing (and green) economy -- well, you might want to consider moving there. :)
If you're interested, you can read more about Pittsburgh's transformation at Pittsburgh Green Story.
History Sources
*Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
*The History of Pittsburgh (1906; Google Books)
*Pgh Green Building Alliance
*USA Today
*CleanTechnica
*NYTimes
Pittsburgh Point of Interest #2: Since I’m a bit homesick for Pittsburgh myself, I’ll end this diary with the following poem written by a fellow ex-pat ‘burgher.
Excerpts from Farewell to Pittsburgh and the Mountains
By Rev. John Wrenshall (pub. Philadelphia, 1818)
"Neglected muse, assist my humble theme,
To sing of PITTSBUBG, and the road we came;
To please my Girls, for 'tis at their request,
I court thy aid, a substitute for rest.
...
...
Two noble rivers, which united here,
Form the Ohio, or La Belle rivere,
More rapid one, with islands scatter'd o'er,
The other, sluggish, creeps along the shore.
The first transparent flows o'er pebbl'd bed
The other muddy, chiefly from its head,
These streams conjoin'd, are as distinctly seen,
As if a firm partition ran between;
When Alleghany flows its rolling tide,
Monongahela shrinks to southern side.
The former pressing, while the last impress'd,
Recedes, and opens wide its yielding breast;
Yet both retain for miles, their own estate,
Till urged by ripplings, to amalgamate.
Between these rivers, Pittsburg city stands,
Focus, where strangers meet, in quest of lands:
Thence soon diverging, spread the forest o'er,
Or fix their station, nigh some river shore.
Here furnaces, emitting flames of fire,
And clouds of smoke o'ertop the city spire;
With noisy engines puffing out their steam,
For uses varied, which we need not name.
These all evince, what Pittsburg soon will be,
The seat of useful manufactory,
If properly conducted, and the aid
Of laws, by prudent legislators made,
And executed too, for 'tis in vain,
To make good laws, and break such laws again;"*
*The full text with annotations can be found in this Google Book.
Previous Diaries in this Series
Part One