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Period: to
Pittsburgh Events
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Early Settlement
When george Washington was 21 and a major in the Virginia militia, he came apon 3 rivers with a confluence witch is now the point, He wrote a letter to Virginia governor Robert Dinwiddie on November 24 1753 and described it and said it was good for building. Washington discribed how far across the rivers are, and how well timbered the land is all around. -
William Pitt The Elder
William Pitt The Elder was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. William Pitt's son, William Pitt The Younger was also a Prime Minister, the Elder was often called Chatham to distinguish him from his son. He led to many British victories. -
John Forbes
John Forbes was a British general in the French and Indian War. He led the Forbes expedition that capptured the french outpost at Fort Duquesne and for naming the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after British Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder. -
Fort Pitt
Fort Pitt was completed in 1761 and is the largest of five forts built by the british and the french. It was made out of brick, there is still a small building called a "Block House" that did not get destroyed and is still standing today at the point, it is the oldest building in Pittsburgh. -
Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster was the first perfessional American song writer. He was born in Lawrenceville PA. Stephen foster wrote over 200 songs! -
The Wire Rope
John Roebling was the first developer of wire rope, he developed it on his farm in Saxonburgh. He later found out that it could hold a great amount of weight and thought it would be a great idea for it to hold up bridges. He built several bridges with his wire rope, replacing the old ones lost in the fire. -
The County Courthouse
The County Courthouse built in 1842 by proffesional architect John Chislett was one of the few buildings that survived the great fire. He was Pittsburghs first proffesional architect. -
The Great Fire
In 1845 a fire started in a home and and spread to other nearby homes, soon about 24 block in the heart of the city were consumed by flames. In a couple days nearly 1,000 buildings and homes were destroyed by the fire, Only 2 lives were lost but 12,000 people were left without a home. -
Martin Delaney
Martin Delaney was the editor of "Mystery" a newspaper that informed people about slavery. When the great fire of Pittsburgh happened, he knocked on peoples doors helping them from the fire. -
Slavery
There was a weekly newspaper that was sent out to the public called "Pittsburgh Saturday Visitor", in the newspaper they talked about slavery and how they could end it and how different it would be. Eventually Pittsburgh ended slavery. -
Railroads
In 1852 The first train from the East came through Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh realized that it was a great way to transport goods, so we started making rails in large quantities. -
Dollar Bank
The Dollar Bank in Pittsburgh, built in 1855 is the oldest Dollar Bank and is one of the Oldest standing buildings in Pittsburgh. When the bank opened in 1855, it only got 9 deposites the first day, the deposites were all together a little bit over $53. The bank has 2 lions "Gaurding" the building. -
Grant's Hill
Grants Hill, named after James Grant was a large hill that is now downtown Pittsburgh. Grant's Hill was slowly escavated to make room for houses and buildings, Grants hill was a great spot for picnics and sight seeing. -
H.C. Frick Coke Company
First to mass produce coke in beehive ovens, a major factor in the opening of the steel industry, was Henry Clay Frick. At 14 in 1863 he was earning $3.50 a week as an errand boy for a store in Mount Pleasant. -
Rodman Gun
During the Civil War, the Union needed more defensive artillery. Designed by Thomas Jackson Rodman, the rodman gun was and still is the largest gun in the world. The barrel of the gun varries from 8 inches wide to 20 inchest wide! 1,840 rodman guns were made, but only a little bit over 140 guns survived. -
Iron City to Steel City
In 1868 many buildings were built out of Iron, soon iron became scarce, Pittsburgh needed to find a new alternative. Many people realized that steel might work, soon all the iron mills in Pittsburgh became steel mills. -
Incline
In 1870 there were 14 Inclines in Pittsburgh, Most of them were owned by coal companies to get to and from the coal mine.The Duquesne & Manongahela inclines are the only 2 left standing today. The Duquesne incline cost $47,000 to build, it was the city's first incline and by 1880 500,000 people had ridden it without injury. -
Andrew Carnegie
In 1860, Andrew Carnegie invested in railroads. Soon large companies heard of him and started ordering railroads from him. His company was the first plant to make steel. The first order ever places was for 2,000 rails! -
Horsecar's inaugural run
On the horsecar's inaugural run on August 6, 1859, the Gazette was pleased to observe interior straps, which a passenger could grasp and "ride as pleasantly as though he were sitting". -
Smithfield St. bridge
Designed in 1883 by Gustov Lindentahal, the Smithfield St. bridge is one of the oldest standing bridges in Pittsburgh. The bridge seperated carrigas and wagons from horse drawn trollies. The bridge was modernised in 1915 and rehabbed in the 1990's. -
Glass Industry
Following the war, Pittsburgh's glass industry continued to grow, at one time comprising 62 seperate factories. A number were in Birmingham (South Side), such as this one, and nearby boroughs. -
Homestead strike
The Homestead strike was an industrial lockout caused by Henry clay frick. Nobody knows who fired the first shot, soon the lockout became a small war. In the end, 14 people were killed; 11 steel workers and 3 pinkertons. -
The Ferris Wheel
Made in 1893 by George Washington Ferris Jr. the ferris wheel was the first one ever made. Standing at 250 ft tall, the ferris wheel attracted thousands of people to the fair just to ride it. George ferris lived at 204 Arch St. -
Produce belt
The bustling produce belt in the 600 block of Liberty Avenue is pictured about 1906 looking west toward the Jenkins and Empire buildings in the background. -
Mayor
George W. Guthrie was elected mayor in 1906 on a Democratic anticorruptaion platform and served four years. in 1913, Pres. Woodrow Wilsion appointed Guthrie ambassador to japan, where he died four yeras later. -
Pittsburgh Pirates
In 1909, the Pirates, under Fred Clarke, won 110 league games and the Wolrd Series. One reason was a bowlegged infielder from Carnegie: John Peter Wagner, league batting chanp in 8 of 12 seasons from 1900 through 1911. -
Mellon Institue
Andrew William and Richard Beatty Mellon esablished Mellon Institute for Industrial Research in 1913. Later thye supplied nearly $10 million for a new building at Fifth and Bellefield Avanues designed by Janssen and Cocken and inspired by the Parthenon. -
Dr. Frank Conrad
In 7th grade Dr. Frank Conrad dropped out of school and started experimenting with telephones. Soon he came up with a wireless telephone. He later founded the amateur radio station - KDKA. -
KDKA
Created by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation on November 2, 1920, it is the world's first commercial radio station. All the other radio stations were forced to change their names, but not KDKA because it was the first radio station. -
Flood
On March 18, 1936, streets in the Triangle lay under a sea of water, in some places 20 feet deep. Transportation was by rowboard or canoe. -
Atom Smasher
On November 8, 1936, Westinghouse announced a new experimental project that it hoped would solve "much of the mystery surrounding the structure of matter." The following year the worl's first industrial atom-smasher appeared in Forest Hills. -
World War 2
Pittsburgh was again a key shipbuilding center in World Was 2. LST's and other seagoing vessels by the undred slid into the Ohio River from the Dravo Corporation's Neville Island Yard. -
Hard Times
Hard times, floods, and four years of war had worn the luster from the Golden Triangle. Here is the Point in 1945, an ungainly, congested assortment of railroad trestles, freight yards, warehouses, manufacturing businesses, taverns and rooming houses. -
Snow
On November 23, 1950, the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette, Press, and Sun-Telegraph reported "snow flurries" were on the way. The next day they failed to publish. Pittsburgh was in snow up to its car tops- 30.5 inches had fallen. -
Robert Ferris Prince
Robert Ferris Prince, a great- nephew of engineer George ferris, was a big wheel around Pittsburgh himself as a pirates broadcaster from 1948 to 1975 and briefly again just before his death in 1985. -
Civic arena
The $22.5 million Civic Arena takes shape in April 1960. Funded in part by department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann and designed by Mitchell and Ritchey, it featured the world's largest retractable dome. -
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy made hte last of his six political visits Pittsburgh on October 12, 1962, addressing about 8,300 people at the Pitt Field House on behalf of Democratic candidates. -
Martin Luther King JR
After the slaying of Martin Luther King Jr. People started rioting in the hill district. This resulted in 505 fires, 926 arrests and over $620,000 in damages. -
Huricane Agnes
Tropical Storm Agnes struck the Pittsburgh area in June 1972. Aftour four days of heavy rain, the rivers cressed at 35.82 feet at the point; more than 10 feet above flood stage and the highest level since 1942. -
Fountain
Dedicated in August 1974, the fountain, with its soaring 150 foot spray, was the final component of Point State Park. -
Willie Stargell
Pittsburghers bade a fond farewell to the Pirates' leading home run hitter of the 1970's when Willie Stargell retired in October 1982. A hall of fame outfielder and firls baseman who played his entire 20-year career with the Pirates. -
Dorothy Six
On August 1, 1988, Dorothy Six, one of the world's biggest, most modern blast funaces, comes to a deliberate, carshing end in Duquesne. -
PPG Plce
Downtown saw a skyscraper boom in the 1980's with the addition of six towers including PPG Place, Phillip Johnson and John Burgee's crystalline neo-Gothic fantasy with an austere plaza whos monumental obelisk "the Tomb of the Unknown Bowler." -
Myron Cope
For 35 years, Myron Cope made Steelers games crackle for fans who would turn down their televisions and turn up their radios to listen to "the ever-celebrated sand-blaster of the spoken word". -
Three Rivers Staduim
Three Rivers Stadium disappeared in a cloud of concrete dust on February 11, 2001. In its place came rugged Heinz Field and PNC Park, widely regarded as the best and most intimate traditional ballpark in Major League Baseball. -
Children's Hospital
Paula Przybilinksi, a carpenter with contractor P.J. Dick Corporation, signs the I-beam that will top off the new Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville in June 2006.
