Pittsburgh in 1902. Lithograph by Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler.

The history of Pittsburgh began with centuries of Native American civilization in the modern Pittsburgh region, known as "Dionde:gâ'" in the Seneca language.^[1] Eventually, European explorers encountered the strategic confluence where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio, which leads to the Mississippi River. The area became a battleground when France and Great Britain fought for control in the 1750s. When the British were victorious, the French ceded control of territories east of the Mississippi.

Following American independence in 1783, the village around Fort Pitt continued to grow. The region saw the short-lived Whiskey Rebellion, when farmers rebelled against federal taxes on whiskey. The War of 1812 cut off the supply of British goods, stimulating American manufacture. By 1815, Pittsburgh was producing large quantities of iron, brass, tin, and glass products. By the 1840s, Pittsburgh had grown to be one of the largest cities west of the Allegheny Mountains. Production of steel began in 1875. During the 1877 railway riots it was the site of the most violence and damage in any city affected by the nationwide strikes of that summer. Workers protested against cuts in wages, burning down buildings at the railyards, including 100 train engines and more than 1,000 cars. Forty men were killed, most of them strikers. By 1911, Pittsburgh was producing half the nation's steel.

Pittsburgh was a Republican party stronghold until 1932. The soaring unemployment of the Great Depression, the New Deal relief programs and the rise of powerful labor unions in the 1930s turned the city into a liberal stronghold of the New Deal Coalition under powerful Democratic mayors. In World War II, it was the center of the "Arsenal of Democracy", producing munitions for the Allied war effort as prosperity returned.

Following World War II, Pittsburgh launched a clean air and civic revitalization project known as the "Renaissance." The industrial base continued to expand through the 1960s, but after 1970 foreign competition led to the collapse of the steel industry, with massive layoffs and mill closures. Top corporate headquarters moved out in the 1980s. In 2007 the city lost its status as a major transportation hub. The population of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area is holding steady at 2.4 million; 65% of its residents are of European descent and 35% are minorities.

Native American era

Native Americans lived near the forks of the Ohio for thousands of years. These are some important villages, most c. 1750s, and earlier sites.

For thousands of years, Native Americans inhabited the region where the Allegheny and the Monongahela join to form the Ohio. Paleo-Indians conducted a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the region perhaps as early as 19,000 years ago. Meadowcroft Rockshelter, an archaeological site west of Pittsburgh, provides evidence that these first Americans lived in the region from that date.^[2] During the Adena culture that followed, Mound Builders erected a large Indian Mound at the future site of McKees Rocks, about three miles (5 km) from the head of the Ohio. The Indian Mound, a burial site, was augmented in later years by members of the Hopewell culture.^[3]

By 1700 the Haudenosaunee, the Five Nations-based south of the Great Lakes in present-day New York, held dominion over the upper Ohio valley, reserving it for hunting grounds. Other tribes included the Lenape, who had been displaced from eastern Pennsylvania by European settlement, and the Shawnee, who had migrated up from the south.^[4] With the arrival of European explorers, these tribes and others had been devastated by infectious diseases from Europe, such as smallpox, measles, influenza, and malaria, to which they had no immunity.^[5]

A map of Western Pennsylvania made in 1680 from the Darlington Collection

In 1748, when Conrad Weiser visited Logstown, 18 miles (29 km) downriver from Pittsburgh, he counted 789 warriors gathered: the Iroquois included 163 Seneca, 74 Mohawk, 35 Onondaga, 20 Cayuga, and 15 Oneida. Other tribes were 165 Lenape, 162 Shawnee, 100 Wyandot, 40 Tisagechroami, and 15 Mohican.^[6]

Shannopin's Town, a Lenape (Delaware) village on the east bank of the Allegheny, was established in the 1720s and was deserted after 1758. The village is believed to have been roughly from where Penn Avenue is today, below the mouth of Two Mile Run, from 30th Street to 39th Street. According to George Croghan, the town was situated on the south bank of the Allegheny, nearly opposite what is now known as Herr's Island, in what is now the Lawrenceville neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh.^[7]: 289

Sawcunk, on the mouth of the Beaver River, was a Lenape settlement and the principal residence of Shingas, a chief of theirs.^[8] Chartier's Town was a Shawnee town established in 1734 by Peter Chartier. Kittanning was a Lenape and Shawnee village on the Allegheny, with an estimated 300–400 residents.^[9]

Early colonization (1747–1763)

British and French Forts, 1753–1758, and the routes of the two British campaigns to take the forks of the Ohio

The first Europeans arrived in the 1710s as traders. Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a manuscript in 1717, and later that year European traders established posts and settlements in the area.^[10] Europeans first began to settle in the region in 1748, when the first Ohio Company, a Virginian land speculation company, won a grant of 200,000 acres (800 km²) in the upper Ohio Valley. From a post at present-day Cumberland, Maryland, the company began to construct an 80-mile (130 km) wagon road to the Monongahela River^[11] employing a Lenape Indian chief named Nemacolin and a party of settlers headed by Capt. Michael Cresap to begin widening the track into a road. It mostly followed the same route as an existing Native American trail^[12] now known as Nemacolin's Trail. The river crossing and flats at Redstone creek, was the earliest point and shortest distance for the descent of a wagon road. Later in the war, the site fortified as Fort Burd (now Brownsville) was one of several possible destinations. Another alternative was the divergent route that became Braddock's Road a few years later through present-day New Stanton. In the event, the colonists did not succeed in turning the path into a wagon road much beyond the Cumberland Narrows pass before they came into conflict with Native Americans. The colonists later mounted a series of expeditions in order to accomplish piecemeal improvements to the track.

The nearby Native American community of Logstown was an important trade and council center in the Ohio Valley.^[6] Between June 15 and November 10, 1749, an expedition headed by Celeron de Bienville, a French officer, traveled down the Allegheny and Ohio to bolster the French claim to the region.^[12] De Bienville warned away British traders and posted markers claiming the territory.^[13]

In 1753, Marquis Duquesne, the Governor of New France, sent another, larger expedition. At present-day Erie, Pennsylvania, an advance party built Fort Presque Isle. They also cut a road through the woods and built Fort Le Boeuf on French Creek, from which it was possible at high water to float to the Allegheny. By summer, an expedition of 1,500 French and Native American men descended the Allegheny. Some wintered at the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny. The following year, they built Fort Machault at that site.^[14]

Alarmed at these French incursions in the Ohio Valley, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent Major George Washington to warn the French to withdraw.^[15] Accompanied by Christopher Gist, Washington arrived at the Forks of the Ohio on November 25, 1753.

George Washington's sketch of Monongahela River, Allegheny River (named as the upper Ohio), and French Creek that accompanied his journal (1753) in which he recorded his impressions:^[16]

As I got down before the Canoe, I spent some Time in viewing the Rivers, & the Land in the Fork, which I think extremely well situated for a Fort; as it has the absolute Command of both Rivers. The Land at the Point is 20 or 25 feet (7.6 m) above the common Surface of the Water; & a considerable Bottom of flat well timber'd Land all around it, very convenient for Building.

Proceeding up the Allegheny, Washington presented Dinwiddie's letter to the French commanders first at Venango, and then Fort Le Boeuf. The French officers received Washington with wine and courtesy, but did not withdraw.^[15]

Governor Dinwiddie sent Captain William Trent to build a fort at the Forks of the Ohio. On February 17, 1754, Trent began construction of the fort, the first European habitation^[17] at the site of present-day Pittsburgh. The fort, named Fort Prince George, was only half-built by April 1754, when over 500 French forces arrived and ordered the 40-some colonials back to Virginia. The French tore down the British fortification and constructed Fort Duquesne.^[14][15]

Governor Dinwiddie launched another expedition. Colonel Joshua Fry commanded the regiment with his second-in-command, George Washington, leading an advance column. On May 28, 1754, Washington's unit clashed with the French in the Battle of Jumonville Glen, during which 13 French soldiers were killed and 21 were taken prisoner.^[18] After the battle, Washington's ally, Seneca chief Tanaghrisson, unexpectedly executed the French commanding officer, Ensign Joseph Coulon de Jumonville. The French pursued Washington and on July 3, 1754, George Washington surrendered following the Battle of Fort Necessity. These frontier actions contributed to the start of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), or, the Seven Years' War, a global confrontation between Britain and France fought in both hemispheres.^[15][19]

The Fort Pitt Blockhouse, dating to 1764, is the oldest structure in Pittsburgh.^[15]

In 1755, the Braddock Expedition was launched, accompanied by Virginia militia officer George Washington. Two regiments marched from Fort Cumberland across the Allegheny Mountains and into western Pennsylvania. Following a path Washington surveyed, over 3,000 men built a wagon road 12 feet (3.7 m) wide, that when complete, was the first road to cross the Appalachian Mountains. Braddock's Road, as it was known, blazed the way for the future National Road (US40). The expedition crossed the Monongahela River on July 9, 1755. French troops from Fort Duquesne ambushed Braddock's expedition at Braddock's Field, nine miles (14 km) from Fort Duquesne.^[20] In the Battle of the Monongahela, the French inflicted heavy losses on the British, and Braddock was mortally wounded.^[21] The surviving British and colonial forces retreated. This left the French and their Native American allies with dominion over the upper Ohio valley.^[15]

On September 8, 1756, an expedition of 300 militiamen destroyed the Shawnee and Lenape village of Kittanning, and in the summer of 1758, British Army officer John Forbes began a campaign to capture Fort Duquesne.^[21] At the head of 7,000 regular and colonial troops, Forbes built Fort Ligonier and Fort Bedford, from where he cut a wagon road over the Allegheny Mountains, later known as Forbes' Road. On the night of September 13–14, 1758, an advance column under Major James Grant was annihilated in the Battle of Fort Duquesne.^[21] The battleground, the high hill east of the Point, was named Grant's Hill in his memory. With this defeat, Forbes decided to wait until spring. But when he heard that the French had lost Fort Frontenac and largely evacuated Fort Duquesne, he planned an immediate attack. Hopelessly outnumbered, the French abandoned and razed Fort Duquesne. Forbes occupied the burned fort on November 25, 1758, and 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" (see Etymology of Pittsburgh).^[11][15] The British garrison at Fort Pitt made substantial improvements to its fortification.^[11] The French never attacked Fort Pitt and the war soon ended with the Treaty of Paris and French defeat.^[15] They ceded their territories east of the Mississippi River.

Gateway to the West (1763–1799)

In 1760, the first considerable European settlement around Fort Pitt began to grow. Traders and settlers built two groups of houses and cabins, the "lower town," near the fort's ramparts, and the "upper town," along the Monongahela as far as present-day Market Street. In April 1761, a census ordered by Colonel Henry Bouquet and conducted by William Clapham counted 332 people and 104 houses.^{[21][22]: 148}

After Britain's victory in the French and Indian War, increasing dissatisfaction among Native Americans with British policies led to the outbreak of Pontiac's War. The Odawa leader Pontiac launched an offensive against British forts in May 1763. Native American tribes from the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes overran numerous British forts; one of their most important targets was Fort Pitt. Receiving warning of the coming attack, Captain Simeon Ecuyer, the Swiss officer in command of the garrison, prepared for a siege. He leveled the houses outside the ramparts and ordered all settlers into the fort: 330 men, 104 women, and 196 children sought refuge inside its ramparts.^[11] Captain Ecuyer also gathered stores, which included hundreds of barrels of pork and beef. Pontiac's forces attacked the fort on June 22, 1763, and the siege of Fort Pitt lasted for two months.^[15] Pontiac's warriors kept up a continuous, though ineffective, fire on it from July 27 through August 1, 1763.^[21] They drew off to confront the relieving party under Colonel Bouquet, which defeated them in the Battle of Bushy Run.^[21] This victory ensured British dominion over the forks of the Ohio, if not the entire Ohio valley. In 1764 Colonel Bouquet added a redoubt, the Fort Pitt Blockhouse, which still stands, the sole remaining structure from Fort Pitt and the oldest authenticated building west of the Allegheny Mountains.^[15]

Fort Pitt, 1795

The Iroquois signed the Fort Stanwix Treaty of 1768, ceding the lands south of the Ohio to the British Crown.^[21] European expansion into the upper Ohio valley increased. An estimated 4,000 to 5,000 families settled in western Pennsylvania between 1768 and 1770. Of these settlers, about a third were English-American, another third were Scotch-Irish, and the rest were Welsh, German and others.^[23] These groups tended to settle together in small farming communities, but often their households were not within hailing distance. The life of a settler family was one of relentless hard work: clearing the forest, stumping the fields, building cabins and barns, planting, weeding, and harvesting. In addition, almost everything was manufactured by hand, including furniture, tools, candles, buttons, and needles.^[23] Settlers had to deal with harsh winters, and with snakes, black bears, mountain lions, and timber wolves. Because of the fear of raids by Native Americans, the settlers often built their cabins near, or even on top of, springs, to ensure access to water. They also built blockhouses, where neighbors would rally during conflicts.^[4]

Increasing violence, especially by the Shawnee, Miami, and Wyandot tribes, led to Dunmore's War in 1774. Conflict with Native Americans continued throughout the Revolutionary War, as some hoped that the war would end with expulsion of the settlers from their territory. In 1777, Fort Pitt became a United States fort, when Brigadier General Edward Hand took command. In 1779, Colonel Daniel Brodhead led 600 men from Fort Pitt to destroy Seneca villages along the upper Allegheny.^[4]

With the war still ongoing, in 1780 Virginia and Pennsylvania came to an agreement on their mutual borders, creating the state lines known today and determining finally that the jurisdiction of Pittsburgh region was Pennsylvanian. In 1783, the Revolutionary War ended, which also brought at least a temporary cessation of border warfare. In the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the Iroquois ceded the land north of the Purchase Line to Pennsylvania.^[4]

Map of Pittsburgh in 1795

After the Revolution, the village of Pittsburgh continued to grow. One of its earliest industries was boat building. Flatboats could be used to carry large numbers of pioneers and goods downriver, while keelboats were capable of traveling upriver.^[24]

The village began to develop vital institutions. Hugh Henry Brackenridge, a Pittsburgh resident and state legislator, introduced a bill that resulted in a gift deed of land and a charter for the Pittsburgh Academy on February 28, 1787. The academy later developed as the University of Western Pennsylvania (1819) and since 1908 has been known as the University of Pittsburgh.^[25]

Many farmers distilled their corn harvest into whiskey, increasing its value while lowering its transportation costs. At that time, whiskey was used as a form of currency on the frontier. When the federal government imposed an excise tax on whiskey, Western Pennsylvania farmers felt victimized, leading to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Farmers from the region rallied at Braddock's Field and marched on Pittsburgh. The short-lived rebellion was put down, however, when President George Washington sent in militias from several states.^[20]

The town continued to grow in manufacturing capability. In 1792, the boatyards in Pittsburgh built a sloop, Western Experiment.^[26] During the next decades, the yards produced other large boats. By the 19th century, they were building ocean-going vessels that shipped goods as far as Europe. In 1794, the town's first courthouse was built; it was a wooden structure on Market Square.^[11] In 1797, the manufacture of glass began.^[27]

Iron City (1800–1859)

Second Court House, completed 1841^[31]

Commerce continued to be an essential part of the economy of early Pittsburgh, but increasingly, manufacture began to grow in importance. Pittsburgh was located in the middle of one of the most productive coalfields in the country; the region was also rich in petroleum, natural gas, lumber, and farm goods. Blacksmiths forged iron implements, from horse shoes to nails. By 1800, the town, with a population of 1,565 persons, had over 60 shops, including general stores, bakeries, and hat and shoe shops.^[11]

The 1810s were a critical decade in Pittsburgh's growth. In 1811, the first steamboat was built in Pittsburgh. Increasingly, commerce would also flow upriver. The War of 1812 catalyzed growth of the Iron City. The war with Britain, the manufacturing center of the world, cut off the supply of British goods, stimulating American manufacture.^[11] In addition, the British blockade of the American coast increased inland trade, so that goods flowed through Pittsburgh from all four directions. By 1815, Pittsburgh was producing $764K in iron; $249K in brass and tin, and $235K in glass products.^[11] When, on March 18, 1816, Pittsburgh was incorporated as a city, it had already taken on some of its defining characteristics: commerce, manufacture, and a constant cloud of coal dust.^[32]

Other emerging towns challenged Pittsburgh. In 1818, the first segment of the National Road was completed, from Baltimore to Wheeling, bypassing Pittsburgh. This threatened to render the town less essential in east–west commerce. In the coming decade, however, many improvements were made to the transportation infrastructure. In 1818, the region's first river bridge, the Smithfield Street Bridge, opened, the first step in developing the "City of bridges" over its two rivers. On October 1, 1840, the original Pennsylvania Turnpike was completed, connecting Pittsburgh and the eastern port city of Philadelphia. In 1834, the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal was completed, making Pittsburgh part of a transportation system that included rivers, roads, and canals.^[27]

Manufacture continued to grow. In 1835, McClurg, Wade and Co. built the first locomotive west of the Alleghenies. Already, Pittsburgh was capable of manufacturing the most essential machines of its age. By the 1840s, Pittsburgh was one of the largest cities west of the mountains. In 1841, the Second Court House, on Grant's Hill, was completed. Made from polished gray sandstone, the court house had a rotunda 60 feet (18 m) in diameter and 80 feet (24 m) high.^[33]

Great Fire of Pittsburgh, 1845

Like many burgeoning cities of its day, Pittsburgh's growth outstripped some of its necessary infrastructure, such as a water supply with dependable pressure.^[34] Because of this, on April 10, 1845, a great fire burned out of control, destroying over a thousand buildings and causing $9M in damages.^[31] As the city rebuilt, the age of rails arrived. In 1851, the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad began service between Cleveland and Allegheny City (present-day North Side).^[27] In 1854, the Pennsylvania Railroad began service between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Despite many challenges, Pittsburgh had grown into an industrial powerhouse. An 1857 article provided a snapshot of the Iron City:^[31]

• 939 factories in Pittsburgh and Allegheny City
  • employing more than 10K workers
  • producing almost $12M in goods
  • using 400 steam engines
• Total coal consumed — 22M bushels
• Total iron consumed — 127K tons
• In steam tonnage, third busiest port in the nation, surpassed only by New York City and New Orleans.

Monongahela River Scene, 1857.^[31]

Steel City (1859–1946)

The iron and steel industry developed rapidly after 1830 and became one of the dominant factors in industrial America by the 1860s.

Labor unions

As a manufacturing center, Pittsburgh also became an arena for intense labor strife. During the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Pittsburgh workers protested and had massive demonstrations that erupted into widespread violence, known as the Pittsburgh Railway Riots.^[47] Militia and federal troops were called to the city to suppress the strike. Forty men died, most of them workers, and more than 40 buildings were burned down, including the Union Depot of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Strikers also burned and destroyed rolling stock: more than 100 train engines and 1000 railcars were destroyed. It was the city with the most violence of any affected by the strikes.

Burning of Pennsylvania Railroad and Union Depot, Pittsburgh, July 21–22, 1877

In 1892, a confrontation in the steel industry resulted in 10 deaths (3 detectives, 7 workers) when Carnegie Steel Company's manager Henry Clay Frick sent in Pinkertons to break the Homestead Strike. Labor strife continued into the years of the Great Depression, as workers sought to protect their jobs and improve working conditions. Unions organized H.J. Heinz workers, with the assistance of the Catholic Radical Alliance.

Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie, an immigrant from Scotland, a former Pennsylvania Railroad executive turned steel magnate, founded the Carnegie Steel Company. He proceeded to play a key role in the development of the U.S. steel industry. He became a philanthropist: in 1890, he established the first Carnegie Library, in a program to establish libraries in numerous cities and towns by the incentive of matching funds. In 1895, he founded the Carnegie Institute. In 1901, as the U.S. Steel Corporation formed, he sold his mills to J.P. Morgan for $250 million, making him one of the world's richest men. Carnegie once wrote that a man who dies rich, dies disgraced.^[48] He devoted the rest of his life to public service, establishing libraries, trusts, and foundations. In Pittsburgh, he founded the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.^[39]

The third (and present) Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail was completed in 1886. In 1890, trolleys began operations.^[27] In 1907, Pittsburgh annexed Allegheny City, which is now known as the North Shore.^[27]

Steelworker watching molten steel being poured into a mold, J&L Steel, Pittsburgh, May 1942.

Early 20th century

By 1911, Pittsburgh had grown into an industrial and commercial powerhouse:^[21]

• Nexus of a vast railway system, with freight yards capable of handling 60K cars
• 27.2 miles (43.8 km) of harbor
• Yearly river traffic in excess of 9M tons
• Value of factory products more than $211M (with Allegheny City)
• Allegheny county produced, as percentage of national output, about:
  • 24% of the pig iron
  • 34% of the Bessemer steel
  • 44% of the open hearth steel
  • 53% of the crucible steel
  • 24% of the steel rails
  • 59% of the structural shapes

High culture

Oakland became the city's predominant cultural and educational center, including three universities, multiple museums, a library, a music hall, and a botanical conservatory. Oakland's University of Pittsburgh erected what today is still the world's fourth-tallest educational building, the 42-story Cathedral of Learning.^[58] It towered over Forbes Field, where the Pittsburgh Pirates played from 1909 to 1970.^[39]

Downtown Pittsburgh panorama, from 1920.

Renaissance I (1946–1973)

The multi-purpose Three Rivers Stadium was built in 1970 as part of the Renaissance I project. It was imploded in 2001.

Rich and productive, Pittsburgh was also the "Smoky City," with smog sometimes so thick that streetlights burned during the day^[11] as well as rivers that resembled open sewers. Civic leaders, notably Mayor David L. Lawrence, elected in 1945, Richard K. Mellon, chairman of Mellon Bank and John P. Robin^[71][72] began smoke control and urban revitalization, also known as Urban Renewal projects that transformed the city^[11] in unforeseen ways.

"Renaissance I" began in 1946. Title One of the Housing Act of 1949 provided the means in which to begin. By 1950, vast swaths of buildings and land near the Point were demolished for Gateway Center. 1953 saw the opening of the (since demolished) Greater Pittsburgh Municipal Airport terminal.^[27]

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the lower Hill District, an area inhabited predominantly by poor Blacks, was completely destroyed. Ninety-five acres of the lower Hill District were cleared using eminent domain, forcibly displacing hundreds of small businesses and more than 8,000 people (1,239 black families, 312 white), to make room for a cultural center that included the Civic Arena, which opened in 1961.^[73] Other than one apartment building, none of the other buildings planned for the cultural center were ever built.

In the early 1960s, the neighborhood of East Liberty was also included in Renaissance I Urban Renewal plans, with over 125 acres (0.51 km²) of the neighborhood being demolished and replaced with garden apartments, three 20-story public housing apartments, and a convoluted road-way system that circled a pedestrianized shopping district. In the span of just a few years during the mid-1960s, East Liberty became a blighted neighborhood. There were some 575 businesses in East Liberty in 1959, but only 292 in 1970, and just 98 in 1979.

Preservation efforts by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, along with community neighborhood groups, resisted the demolition plans. The neighborhoods containing rich architectural heritage, including the Mexican War Streets, Allegheny West, and Manchester, were spared. The center of Allegheny City, with its culturally and socially important buildings, was not as lucky. All of the buildings, with the exception of the Old U.S. Post Office, the Carnegie Library, and Buhl Planetarium were destroyed and replaced with the "pedestrianized" Allegheny Center Mall and apartments.

The city's industrial base continued to grow in the post-war era^[74] partly assisted by the area's first agency entirely devoted to industrial development, the RIDC.^[75][76] Jones and Laughlin Steel Company expanded its plant on the Southside. H.J. Heinz, Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Alcoa, Westinghouse, U.S. Steel and its new division, the Pittsburgh Chemical Company and many other companies also continued robust operations through the 1960s.^[11] 1970 marked the completion of the final building projects of Renaissance I: the U.S. Steel Tower and Three Rivers Stadium.^[27] In 1974, with the addition of the fountain at the tip of the Golden Triangle, Point State Park was completed.^[77] Although air quality was dramatically improved, and Pittsburgh's manufacturing base seemed solid, questions abound about the negative effects Urban Renewal continues to have on the social fabric of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, however, was about to undergo one of its most dramatic transformations.

Like most major cities, Pittsburgh experienced several days of rioting following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968. There were no further major riots, although tension remained high in the inner-city black neighborhoods.^[78]

Reinvention (1973–present)

Downtown Pittsburgh in July 1974

A similar picture of Downtown Pittsburgh from Mt. Washington in December 2005

During the 1970s and 1980s, the U.S. steel industry came under increasing pressure from foreign competition and from American mini-mills that had much lower overhead by using salvaged steel. Manufacture in Germany and Japan was booming. Foreign mills and factories, built with the latest technology, benefited from lower labor costs and powerful government-corporate partnerships, allowing them to capture increasing market shares of steel and steel products. Separately, demand for steel softened due to recessions, the 1973 oil crisis, and increasing use of other materials.^[11][79] The era began with the RIDC's "Building on Basics" report in 1974.^[80]

Jurisdiction timeline

• Possibly as early as 17,000 BCE, and until approximately 1750 CE, the area was home to numerous Native American groups, including the Lenape and Seneca tribes.
• 1669 Claimed for the French Empire by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.
• 1681 King Charles claims the forks for Pennsylvania with 5 degrees west of the Delaware.
• 1694 Arnout Viele a Dutch trader explores the area.^[98]
• 1717 Settled by European traders, primarily Pennsylvanians; dispute occurs between Virginia and Pennsylvania.
• 1727 Joncaire visits with a small French force.
• 1748 Both Pennsylvanian Conrad Weiser visits and the Kingd approves the Ohio Company for Virginia.
• 1749 Frenchman Louis Blainville deCeleron sails by on the Allegheny and Ohio burying lead plates claiming the area for France.
• 1750 Cumberland County Pennsylvania founded, though its jurisdiction is not governable.
• 1753 George Washington visits en route to Fort LeBeouf.
• 1754 French Forces occupy the area and construct Fort Duquesne.
• 1757 Jesuit Father Claude Francis Virot founded Catholic Mission at Beaver.
• 1758 British Forces regain the area and establish Fort Pitt though some dispute over claims between the colonies of Pennsylvania (Cumberland County) and Virginia (Augusta County).
• 1761 Ayr Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
• 1763 The Proclamation of 1763 grants Quebec rights to all lands west of the Alleghenies and North of the Ohio River.
• 1767 Bedford Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.^[99]
• 1770 George Washington visits for Virginia.
• 1771 (March 9) Bedford County, Pennsylvania.^[99]
• 1771 (April 16) Pitt Township founded.^[100]
• 1773 (February 26) part of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
• 1788 (September 24) part of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
• 1788 (December 16) A new Pitt Township is formed as a division of Allegheny County.^[101]
• 1792 (June) Petition for a Pittsburgh Township at the forks.
• 1792 (September 6) Pittsburgh Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
• 1794 (April 22) Pittsburgh borough, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.^[102]
• 1816 (March 18) City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

See also

• Timeline of Pittsburgh
• Westinghouse Works, 1904 - series of early films showing working conditions in Westinghouse factories
• List of mayors of Pittsburgh
• List of Pittsburgh neighborhoods
• List of major corporations in Pittsburgh
• University of Pittsburgh
• Pittsburgh Riot
• Pittsburgh Flood of 1936
• History of the Jews in Pittsburgh

References

Bibliography

• Baldwin, Leland D. Pittsburgh: The Story of a City (U of Pittsburgh Press, 1937) online
• Bauman, John F.; Muller, Edward K. (2006). "Before Renaissance: Planning in Pittsburgh, 1889–1943". University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 331. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
• Cannadine, David. Mellon: An American Life (2006), major biography of Thomas Mellon and Andrew Mellon, top financial leaders
• Carson, Carolyn Leonard. Healing Body, Mind, and Spirit: The History of the St. Francis Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Carnegie Mellon U. Press, 1995. 246 pp.
• Couvares, Francis G. (1984). "The Remaking of Pittsburgh: Class and Culture in an Industrializing City 1877–1919". State University of New York Press. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
• Cowan, Aaron. A Nice Place to Visit: Tourism and Urban Revitalization in the Postwar Rustbelt (2016) compares Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore in the wake of deindustrialization.
• Crowley, Gregory J. The Politics of Place: Contentious Urban Redevelopment in Pittsburgh. (U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2005). 207 pp.
• Devault, Ileen A. Sons and Daughters of Labor: Class and Clerical Work in Turn-of-the-Century Pittsburgh. (Cornell U. Press, 1991). 194 pp.
• Dieterich-Ward, Allen Beyond Rust: Metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Fate of Industrial America. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. 347pp. online review
• Glasco, Laurence A., ed. The WPA History of the Negro in Pittsburgh. (U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2004). 422 pp.
• Greenwald, Maurine W. and Margo Anderson, eds. Pittsburgh Surveyed: Social Science and Social Reform in the Early Twentieth Century. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1996. 292 pp.
• Grinder, Robert Dale. " From Insurgency to Efficiency: The Smoke Abatement Campaign in Pittsburgh before World War I." Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine (1978) 61#3 pp 187–202.
• Hays, Samuel P., ed. City at the Point: Essays on the Social History of Pittsburgh. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1989. 473 pp.
• Heineman, Kenneth J. (1999). "A Catholic New Deal: Religion and Reform in Depression Pittsburgh". Pennsylvania State U. Press. p. 287. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
• Hinshaw, John. Steel and Steelworkers: Race and Class Struggle in Twentieth-Century Pittsburgh. State U. of New York Press, 2002. 348 pp.
• Holli, Melvin G., and Jones, Peter d'A., eds. Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors, 1820-1980 (Greenwood Press, 1981) short scholarly biographies each of the city's mayors 1820 to 1980. online; see index at p. 410 for list.

• Hoerr, John. And the Wolf Finally Came: The Decline of American Steel. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1988. 689 pp.
• Holt, Michael. Forging a Majority: The Formation of the Republican Party in Pittsburgh, 1848-18 (1969).
• Ingham, John N. Making Iron and Steel: Independent Mills in Pittsburgh, 1820–1920. Ohio State U. Press, 1991. 297 pp.
• Kleinberg, S. J. The Shadow of the Mills: Working-Class Families in Pittsburgh, 1870–1907. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1989. 414 pp.
• Kobus, Kenneth J. City of Steel: How Pittsburgh became the world's steelmaking capital during the Carnegie era (2015) 320pp.
• Krause, Paul. The Battle for Homestead, 1880–1892: Politics, Culture, and Steel. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1992. 548 pp.
• Lopez, Steven Henry. Reorganizing the Rust Belt: An Inside Study of the American Labor Movement. U. of California Press, 2004. 314 pp.
• Lorant, Stefan. Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City, (1964), well written, heavily illustrated popular history
• Lubove, Roy. Twentieth Century Pittsburgh: Government, Business, and Environmental Change (1969).
  • Lubove, Roy. Twentieth-Century Pittsburgh. Vol. 2: The Post-Steel Era. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1996. 413 pp. the major scholarly synthesis.
• Mayfield, Loomis. "Voting Fraud in Early Twentieth-Century Pittsburgh." Journal of Interdisciplinary History 24#1 (1993), pp. 59–84 online
• Nasaw, David. Andrew Carnegie (2006), major scholarly biography. online
• Rishel, Joseph F. Founding Families of Pittsburgh: The Evolution of a Regional Elite, 1760–1910. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1990. 241 pp.
• Rose, James D. Duquesne and the Rise of Steel Unionism. U. of Illinois Press, 2001. 284 pp.
• Ruck, Rob. Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh. U. of Illinois Press, 1987. 238 pp.
• Seely, Bruce E., ed. Iron and Steel in the Twentieth Century. Facts on File, 1994. 512 pp.
• Slavishak, Edward Steven. Bodies of Work: Civic Display and Labor in Industrial Pittsburgh (2008)
• Smith, Arthur G. Pittsburgh: Then and Now. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1990. 336 pp.
• Smith, George David. From Monopoly to Competition: The Transformation of Alcoa, 1888–1986. Cambridge U. Press, 1988. 554 pp.
• Stave, Bruce M. "Pittsburgh and the New Deal," in John Braeman et al. eds. The New Deal: Volume Two – the State and Local Levels (1975) pp 376–406
• Tarr, Joel A., ed. (2003). "Devastation and Renewal: An Environmental History of Pittsburgh and Its Region". U. of Pittsburgh Press. p. 312. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
• Trotter, Joe W., and Jared N. Day. Race and Renaissance: African Americans in Pittsburgh Since World War II (University of Pittsburgh Press; 2010) 328 pages. Draws on journalism, oral histories, and other sources to study the city's black community, including its experience of the city's industrial decline and rebirth.
• Wade, Richard C. The Urban Frontier: The Rise of Western Cities, 1790–1830. (1959)
• Wall, Joseph. Andrew Carnegie (1970). 1137 pp.; major scholarly biography
• Warren, Kenneth. Triumphant Capitalism: Henry Clay Frick and the Industrial Transformation of America. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1996.
• Weber, Michael P. Don't Call Me Boss: David L. Lawrence, Pittsburgh's Renaissance Mayor. U. of Pittsburgh Press, 1988. 440 pp.
• Winant, Gabriel. The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America (Harvard University Press, 2021), focus on Pittsburgh

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to History of Pittsburgh.

• "Historic Pittsburgh". Retrieved February 10, 2014. Provides historic materials from the University of Pittsburgh's University Library System, the Library & Archives of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, including city directories 1815–1945. {{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)
• "Pittsburgh History". Retrieved February 10, 2014. maintained by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
• "Historical interactive maps". Archived from the original on September 5, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
• "Life in Western Pennsylvania". Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014. Contains digitized films and photographs from the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
• "German Historical Sites in Pittsburgh". Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
• "The History of Pittsburgh's Skyline". Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
• "The Battle of the Monongahela". Retrieved February 10, 2014.
• Old photos of Pittsburg(h)
• "Wayward record of Pittsburgh's early years recovered by archivist"