Pittsburgh Answers Guide

Pittsburgh was settled in 1758 and named for British Prime Minister William Pitt "the Great Commoner". His support and funding of the Americans in the Seven Years War (some call it the first world war) proved instrumental in fostering the ideas of freedom and removed the tyranny of the French Empire and the Indian threat from the hills overlooking the Eastcoast. Though extremely popular in America and among the British merchants, his advocacy for greater freedom and strength for the common man had the King oust him from Prime Minister only to have Pitt return to power to be ousted once more by the heavy handed King. Pitt's strong support of the American pioneers would continue even once out of power, to his last breath on the House of Lords speaking floor William Pitt strove for a strong vibrant America in fraternity with Britain, collapsing while still forwarding those strong ideals. Pittsburgh it could be said is the city named for the father of our country, rather then DC.

Speaking of DC, George Washington himself was William Pitt's answer in gaining freedom for the Americans from the Iriqouis and French. Young Colonel Washington served in several military missions to the Head of the Ohio, almost costing his life not once but twice. He believed like Pitt that Pittsburgh was the gateway to the west, the Head of what was that day's superhighway (the Ohio River) towards the riches of the midwest and west for the American nation. Washington's first command experience ever was in the battle to take Pittsburgh from the French Empire. He thought so much of the strategic settlement that he risked everything in what would be his only military defeat in his long and storied military career. Never again would Washington risk so much for a single location.

Since the Ohio River was the key for the young nation's westward growth and wealth, and Pittsburgh as Washington said had " . . . the Rivers, and the Land in the Fork; which I think extremely well situated for a Fort, as it has the absolute Command of both Rivers." It is no wonder that the father of America spent more time in Pittsburgh then the city that bears his own name.

Pittsburgh grew rapidly in the late 1700s and 1800s, with the discovery of vast coal and oil reserves in the area, Pittsburgh soon became an industrial powerhouse and workshop to such titans as Andrew Carnegie, Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, HJ Heinz, Samuel Langley and others. Just as it was the birthplace for what would become the American Revolution, Pittsburgh can claim to be the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. Though other cities may have had textiles, or organized labor before Pittsburgh, the sheer volume of discoveries and firsts in the Pittsburgh region is sometimes too much to take in. The first billion dollar corporation, the first radio station, the founding of what would become the AFLCIO, and many other industrial and labor watersheds call Pittsburgh home.

By the time of World War II however Pittsburgh's industrial might, though making the region among the wealthiest in the world, had started to ruin the very fabric of what made it so strong, the community. Pittsburgh's all out industrialization was described as "hell with the lid off" by press reports, piolets flying through would describe the region as an "inkblot from 50,000 feet" from all the pollution of the mills and mines, streetlights pierced through in clouds of darkness even during high noon, and dozens of people died from lethal smog clouds, mining accidents, and flooding. While working on some of his greatest masterpieces at Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater just south of Pittsburgh, Frank Lloyd Wright was asked what he would do to improve the overly industrialized mess downtown Pittsburgh was becoming, his reply, "Abandon it".

Fortunately visionaries such as long time mayor, Pennsylvania Governor and Democratic Party kingmaker (he practically handpicked both Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy for the Whitehouse), David L. Lawrence along with Republican Party fundraiser and Fiananceer to the Industrialists Richard King Mellon (whose heirs went on to found the Washington thinktank "Heritage Foundation" and help found FoxNews and manage the Pittsburgh Tribune) joined forces and preformed what is still studied today across the world as an urban renewal miracle. Pittsburgh shook off its grimy industrial past right after serving valiently as the "arsenal of democracy" (invented the Jeep, produced over 50,000 Navy Landing Craft, Eldred Ammunition Plant was the most productive ammo center the world has ever seen, built several Navy Destroyer Escorts on Neville Island in the Ohio from USS JENKS to USS DURIK and USS WISEMAN.

What emerged from Pittsburgh's partnership of Democratic Leadership and Republican Industrial pull in Lawrence and Mellon was the city many are surprised to see today. A vibrant, corporate, cultural, academic and medical powerhouse. A city that has completely shed its image of "hell with the lid off" and now accepts praise as safest major American city, as one of the best places to raise a family, and by the 1980s was voted "most livable U.S. city" as well as placing towards the top on the "All American City" vote. With some of the most panoramic and scenic vistas in the world (actually voted the #1 urban vista in the country), more scenic stairway trails then San Francisco, as many bridges as Venice, and as much gothic architecture as Paris, Pittsburgh has built a strong foundation for success in the 21st century.

Mike D · October 18, 2005

PGH, your description of the Pittsburgh makes it sound like a place that I would kill to live in. So why are people continuing to leave the Pittsburgh area? You would think more people would be moving there. So much was made about the 'burgh's strong qulaity of life, even back in the 90's. What could be causing people to leave?

PghUSA · October 18, 2005

The two legit reasons are A) weather and B ) job growth however both while legit reasons when compared to Dallas or San Diego don't really hold water when you consider Minneapolis and Seattle and Boston are "it" cities but a virtual weather purgatory. Also the job growth was disastrous in the 1980's when big steel and the area's oil companies and some electronic and heavy industry companies went out or sold out (AlleghenyLudlum, J&L Steel, US Steel downsizing or closing, Marthon Oil, Gulf Oil, Pennzoil and Quaker State moving or merging, and Rockwell and Westinghouse moving or merging away etc.). But today there really isn't much to the "can't get a job" myth, W. Pa. isn't as hot as Phoenix or Dallas but it's not deadsville anymore.

The major factor though is that some just can not simply believe that a picture taken of the skyline or that Christina Augliera's hometown could ever be Pittsburgh, if you are interested I could tell you about 100 different stories on such things, from Wikipedia debates, to online forum flamers calling Pittsburgh a stoody milltown, to industry leaders cited in the Post Gazette and Tribune Review being "utterly shocked and befuddled" when they came into the city (one thought they missed a turn and this was Cleveland or Philadelphia). There is a big hollywood/Madison Avenue/Wall Street stereotype out there that Pittsburgh is nothing more then Hoboken with its own newspaper.

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