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Pittsburgh (pronounced ) is the second largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is the economic, cultural, academic, transportational, and service hub of the Pittsburgh Metro Area and the Pittsburgh Tri-State. Built on the land between the confluence of the Allegheny, Ohio and Monongahela rivers and the surrounding hills, Pittsburgh features a skyline of skyscrapers and dozens of bridges. Once an industrial center, the collapse of the United States steel industry in the 1970s and 1980s has had a lasting impact on Pittsburgh's economy and identity: Pittsburgh's economy shifted to healthcare, education, technology, and financial services. Despite a declining population,[1] Pittsburgh remains the chief city of the eastern Ohio River Valley. Because of its setting, economic opportunities, low cost of living, and growing educational, cultural and medical infrastructures, Pittsburgh has been ranked multiple times as one of the nation's most livable cities. History
In 1754, the French built Fort Duquesne on the site that would become Pittsburgh. During the French and Indian War, British General John Forbes occupied the fort. He ordered the construction of Fort Pitt, named after British Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder. He also named the settlement between the rivers "Pittsborough." During Pontiac's Rebellion, Ohio Valley and Great Lakes tribes besieged Fort Pitt for two months. Colonel Bouquet defeated Pontiac's forces in the Battle of Bushy Run. In the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the descendants of William Penn, purchased from the Six Nations western lands that included most of the present site of Pittsburgh. In 1769, a survey was made of the land situated between the two rivers, called the "Manor of Pittsburgh.". Both Virginia and Pennsylvania claimed the Pittsburgh area during colonial times and would continue to do so until 1780 when both states agreed to extend the Mason-Dixon Line westward placing Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
Following the American Revolution, the village of Pittsburgh continued to grow. One of its earliest industries was building boats for settlers to enter the Ohio Country. In 1784, the laying out of the "Town of Pittsburgh" was completed by Thos. Vicroy of Bedford County and approved by the attorney of the Penns in Philadelphia. The year 1794 saw the short-lived Whiskey Rebellion. The Act of March 5, 1804, which modified the provision of the old charter of the Borough of Pittsburgh in 1794—the original of which is not in existence, so far as known—refers throughout to the "Borough of Pittsburgh." The War of 1812 cut off the supply of British goods, stimulating American manufacture. By 1815, Pittsburgh was producing significant quantities of iron, brass, tin and glass products. The Act of March 18, 1816, incorporated the City of Pittsburgh. The original charter was burned when the old Court House was destroyed by fire. By the 1840s, Pittsburgh was one of the largest cities west of the Allegheny Mountains. A great fire burned over a thousand buildings in 1845, but the city rebuilt. By 1857, Pittsburgh's nearly 1,000 factories burned 22,000,000 bushels of coal yearly. The American Civil War boosted the city's economy with increased production of iron and armaments. Steel production began by 1875, when the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock began to make steel rail using the Bessemer process.
In 1901, the U.S. Steel Corporation formed. By 1911, Pittsburgh was producing between a third and a half of the nation's various types of steel. The city's population swelled to half a million, many of whom were immigrants from Europe. During World War II, Pittsburgh produced 95 million tons of steel.[1] By this time, the pollution from burning coal and steel production created a black fog (or smog). Following the war, the city launched a clean air and civic revitalization project known as the "Renaissance." This much-acclaimed effort was followed by the "Renaissance II" project, begun in 1977 and focusing more on cultural and neighborhood development than its predecessor. The industrial base continued to expand through the 1960s, but beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, the steel industry in the region imploded, with massive layoffs and mill closures. Beginning in the 1980s, the city shifted its economic base to services, tourism, medicine and high technology. During this transition, the city population shrunk from 680,000 in 1950 to 330,000 in 2000. Multiple organ transplants were pioneered in Pittsburgh by Dr. Thomas Starzl in 1983 and Pittsburgh hospitals remain premier medical research institutions. Name and spellingPittsburgh was officially named with its present spelling on April 22, 1794, by an act of the Pennsylvania Department, stating: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the said town of Pittsburgh shall be, and the same is hereby, erected into a borough, which shall be called the borough of Pittsburgh for ever." Pittsburgh is one of the few American cities to be spelled with an h at the end of a burg suffix. For this reason it is also the most commonly misspelled city in America. While briefly referred to as "Pittsburg" during the late 19th century, in 1911 the Pittsburgh spelling was officially restored.[2] Research Tips
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