Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
1906

Pittsburg, or Pittsburgh, a city and the capital of Allegheny oo., Pa., and a port of entry, is 260 miles (direct) W. by N. of Philadelphia, on the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio and other railroads. Lat. 40° 26' N. ; Ion. 80° 2' W. Within the angle formed by the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers where they meet and give birth to the Ohio lies the original Pittsburg, the inner point being the site of the old Fort Duquesne of the French, and of the later Fort Pitt, the nucleus of the city. The greater part of the closely built-up portion of the city, with river-frontage on both the NW. and the SW. extending over several miles, lies on the flat river-tongue and the gradually ascending slopes, which ultimately attain elevations of 400-500 feet. Until 1872 the city was bounded by the two rivers, but during that year it crossed the SW. boundary by the annexation of the extensive manufacturing district formerly comprised in the boroughs of Temperanceville, Union, West Pittsburg, Allentown, Mount Washington, Birmingham, East Birmingham, South Pittsburg, etc., and since that time it has been further enlarged through annexation. Pitts burg is tbe second city of the state in population and the leading centre of the iron- and, steel-manufacturing industries of the country, the product of pig-iron being about one-fourth that of the total product of the United States, and of steel more than one-half. The quantity of iron used by the Pittsburg furnaces and mills is upward of 5,000,000 tons annually, the capacity of some of the individual steel- and iron-works being equal to the production of from 500,- 000 to 1,000,000 tons of metal (pig-iron, steel rails, Bessemer steel, armor-plate, hearth-steel) per year. Pittsburg has some of the largest blast-furnaces in the world and also some of the most extensive works for the construction of steel bridges. Other leading industries are the manufacture of plate- and lamp-glass, electrical appliances, railroad- brakes, cars and locomotives, engines, stoves, silver-plated and other wares, hardware, cork, aluminium, etc. The city is in the centre of one of the richest coal regions of the globe, and it is also the outlet of the vast oil-fields of the Alleghany and Ohio river basins. Natural gas is a far- reaching product of the region and is extensively used in the city for both manufacturing and domestic purposes. The homes of "the iron city" are chiefly on the highlands to the E. The various parts of Pittsburg and its suburbs are connected by numerous substantial bridges and lines of steam, cable, and electric cars. Among the notable buildings of Pittsburg are the court-house, city-hall, post-office, the Exposition buildings, the Roman Catholic and St. Paul's cathedrals, United States arsenal, jail, Carnegie Library and Institute building (with an extensive library, music-hall, art-gallery, and natural-history museum), and the Phipps Conservatory, situated in Shenley Park, to the E. of the city but in the heart of the residential quarter. Among the educational institutions are the Western University of Pennsylvania (mainly located in Allegheny), the Pennsylvania College for Women, Carnegie Institute (already referred to), Pittsburg Academy, Bishop Bowman Institute, and Pittsburg College of the Holy Ghost. There are numerous charitable institutions (asylums, hospitals). A zoological collection is maintained in Highland Park. Between Pittsburg and its neighbor, Allegheny, there is close community of interest in all matters pertaining to social and educational advancement, and together they form a centre of culture as well as of great industrial life.

History. — Fort Duquesne, a French trading-post, erected in 1754, occupied the site where Pittsburg now stands. In 1755 the British despatched an expedition under Braddock to capture it, which met with disaster. They took the place in 1758, and erected a fortification which they called Fort Pitt, in honor of William Pitt, then prime minister of Eng land. The town of Pittsburg began to be settled in 1765. It became a county town in 1791, was incorporated as a borough in 1804, and was chartered as a city in 1816. Pop. in 1810, 4768; in 1820, 7248; in 1830, 12,542; in 1840, 21,115; in 1860,49,217; in 1870,86,076; in 1880, 156,389; in 1890, 238,617 ; in 1900, 321,616.

Lippincott's New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns ... in Every Portion of the Globe Publisher J.B. Lippincott Company, 1906

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