History of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

For more than 10,000 years, Native Americans populated what is today the Pittsburgh region. Nearby Meadowcroft Rockshelter provides possible evidence of the oldest inhabitation of the Americas."The Greatest Journey," James Shreeve, National Geographic, March 2006, pg. 64. Shows dates for Rockshelter 19,000 to 12,000 years ago.] The modern history of Pittsburgh began with a struggle between Native Americans, the French, and the British over the strategic juncture where the Allegheny River meets the Monongahela River to form the Ohio."Pittsburgh," Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, 1911.] The control of the forks of the Ohio River would determine dominion over the entire Ohio valley.

From the 1669 expedition of French explorer Robert LaSalle, the forks of the Ohio were recognized as the key to the interior of the continent, and according to LaSalle, possibly the key to the "western passage" to Asia. [ [http://www.friendsoftheriverfront.org/new_pages/historical.htm Friends of the River Front site] - retrieved 21 Mar 2008] Starting in the early 1700s, European traders began to settle the area. In 1754, the French built Fort Duquesne to enforce LaSalle's territorial claims. This attempt to unite French Quebec with French Louisiana via the rivers led the alarmed British to act, resulting in the French and Indian War."Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766," Anderson, Fred; Knopf; New York, 2000. ISBN 0375706364, ISBN 978-0375706363] After British General John Forbes seized Fort Duquesne from the French, he ordered the construction of Fort Pitt and named the settlement between the rivers "Pittsborough."cite book| title=Pittsburgh, The Story of an American City | edition=5th edition | author=Lorant, Stefan|publisher=Esselmont Books, LLC.|year=1999|isbn=0967410304] This fortification was besieged for two months by Ohio Valley and Great Lakes tribes in a conflict known as Pontiac's Rebellion. Colonel Bouquet lifted the siege by defeating Pontiac's forces in the Battle of Bushy Run.

Following the American Revolution, the village around the fort continued to grow. One of its earliest industries was building boats for settlers to enter the Ohio Country. The year 1794 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 and by 1815, Pittsburgh was producing significant quantities of iron, brass, tin, and glass products. By the 1840s, Pittsburgh had grown to one of the largest cities west of the Allegheny Mountains, although this expansion was stalled by a widespread fire in 1845, which burned more than a thousand buildings. The city recovered from this fire and by 1857, Pittsburgh had nearly 1,000 factories. The American Civil War boosted the city's economy still further, with increased demand for iron and armaments. Production of steel began in 1875, and by 1911, Pittsburgh was producing as much as half of the nation's steel. In the early 20th century, the city's population topped half a million, including many European immigrants. During World War II, Pittsburgh produced 95 million tons of steel.

Following World War II, the city launched a clean air and civic revitalization project known as the "Renaissance." The industrial base continued to expand through the 1960s, but in the 1980s, the steel industry imploded, with massive layoffs and mill closures. Pittsburgh shifted its economic base to education, services, tourism, medicine, and high technology. In 2000, the population had dropped to 330,000, because of the loss of jobs.

Native American era

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. 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. [cite web | url = http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20010513mound4.asp | title = Burial Mound to Get Historical Marker | accessdate = 2005-04-15| author=Marylynne Pitz |work = Pittsurgh Post-Gazette | date= 2001-05-12]

In the early 18th century, the Iroquois held dominion over the upper Ohio valley from their homelands in present-day New York State. Other Native American tribes in the upper Ohio valley included the Lenape, or Delawares, who had been displaced from eastern Pennsylvania by European settlement, and the Shawnees, who had migrated up from the south."The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania," Sipe, C. Hale; 1831; Wennawoods Publishing reprint 1999] Prior to the arrival of European explorers, these tribes and others had been devastated by European diseases, such as smallpox, measles, influenza, and malaria. ["Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492–1650," Cook, Noble David; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0521622085, ISBN 0521627303.]

In 1748, when Conrad Weiser visited Logstown, convert|18|mi|km downriver from Pittsburgh, he counted 789 warriors from different tribes:"Logstown, on the Ohio : a historical sketch", Agnew, Daniel, Myers, Shinkle & Co., Pittsburgh, PA, 1894. [http://digital.library.pitt.edu Historic Pittsburgh] , pg. 7.]

Steel City (1859–1946)

During the mid 1800s, Pittsburgh witnessed a dramatic influx of German immigrants, including a brick mason whose son, Henry J. Heinz, founded the H.J. Heinz Company in 1872. Heinz was at the forefront of reform efforts to improve food purity, working conditions, hours, and wages,History of Pittsburgh, Miriam Meislik, Ed Galloway, Society of American Archivists Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, 1999.] but the company bitterly opposed the formation of an independent labor union. [Kenneth A. Heineman "A Catholic New Deal: Religion and Reform in Depression Pittsburgh" 1999 Penn State Press ISBN 0271018968]

The iron industry in Pittsburgh was thriving. In 1859, the Clinton and Soho iron furnaces introduced coke-fire smelting to the region. The American Civil War boosted the city's economy with increased production of iron and armaments, especially at the Allegheny Arsenal and the Fort Pitt Foundry. Arms manufacture included iron-clad warships and the world's first 21" gun. ["Allegheny County's Hundred Years," Thurston, George H.; A. A. Anderson Son, Pittsburgh, 1888.] By war's end, over one-half of the steel and more than one-third of all U.S. glass was produced in Pittsburgh. A milestone in steel production was achieved in 1875, when the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock began to make steel rail using the new Bessemer process.

Industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew W. Mellon, and Charles M. Schwab built their fortunes in Pittsburgh. George Westinghouse, credited with such advancements as the air brake and alternating current, founded over 60 companies, including Westinghouse Air and Brake Company (1869), Union Switch & Signal (1881), and Westinghouse Electric Company (1886). [http://www.westinghouse.com/timeline.html Westinghouse, Our Past] - retrieved 22 March 2008] Banks played a key role in Pittsburgh's development as these industrialists sought massive loans to upgrade plants, integrate industries and fund technological advances. For example, T. Mellon & Sons Bank, founded in 1869, helped to finance an aluminum reduction company that became Alcoa.

As a manufacturing center, Pittsburgh also became an arena for intense labor strife. During the great railroad strike of 1877, Pittsburgh erupted into widespread rioting. ["Harper's Weekly, Journal of Civilization," Vol XXL, No. 1076, New York, Saturday, August 11, 1877.] Dozens died and over 40 buildings were burned down, including the Union Depot of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Fifteen years later, in 1892, another tragic episode in labor relations resulted in 10 deaths 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, with further organization of H.J. Heinz workers, with the assistance of the Catholic Radical Alliance.

Andrew Carnegie, 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. In 1890, he established the first Carnegie Library, and in 1895, 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. ["The Gospel of Wealth," Carnegie, Andrew, 1889.] 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.The third (and present) Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail was completed in 1886. In 1890, trolleys began operations. In 1907, Pittsburgh annexed Allegheny City, which is now known as the North Shore.

By 1911, Pittsburgh had grown into an industrial and commercial powerhouse:
* Nexus of a vast railway system, with freight yards capable of handling 60K cars
* 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

To escape the soot of the city, many of the wealthy lived in the Shadyside and East End neighborhoods, a few miles east of downtown. Fifth Avenue was dubbed "Millionaire's Row" because of the many mansions lining the street. Oakland became the city's predominant cultural and educational center, including four universities, multiple museums, a library, a music hall, and a botanical conservatory. Oakland's University of Pittsburgh erected the world's second-tallest educational building, the 42-story Cathedral of Learning. [cite web | title = The Cathedral of Learning | work = University of Pittsburgh | url =http://www.umc.pitt.edu/tour/tour-080.html | accessdate = 14 April | accessyear = 2007 ] It towered over Forbes Field, where the Pittsburgh Pirates played from 1909–1970.

Between 1870 and 1920, the population of Pittsburgh grew almost sevenfold. Many of the new residents were immigrants who sought employment in the factories and mills and introduced new traditions, languages, and cultures to the city. Ethnic neighborhoods emerged on densely populated hillsides and valleys, such as Polish Hill, Bloomfield, and Squirrel Hill, home to 28% of the city's almost 21,000 Jewish households. ["The 2002 Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study," Ukeles Associates, Inc., December 2002] The Strip District, the city's produce distribution center, still boasts many restaurants and clubs that showcase these multicultural traditions of Pittsburghers.

The years 1916–1930 marked the largest migration of African-Americans to Pittsburgh. Known as the cultural nucleus of Black Pittsburgh, Wylie Avenue in the Hill District was an important jazz mecca. Jazz greats such as Duke Ellington and Pittsburgh natives Billy Strayhorn and Earl Hines played there. Two of the Negro League's greatest rivals, the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays, often competed in the Hill District. The teams dominated the Negro National League in the 1930s and 1940s.

During World War II, Pittsburgh's mills contributed 95 million tons of steel to the Allied war effort.

Renaissance I (1946–1973)

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

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the lower Hill District, an area inhabited predominantly by people of African descent, was completely destroyed. Ninety-five acres of the lower Hill District were cleared using eminent domain, forcibly displacing hundreds of small businesses and over 1,200 residents, to make room for a cultural center that included the Civic Arena, which opened in 1961. [cite web | title = Building the Igloo | work = Pittsburgh Heritage Project | url = http://www.pittsburghheritage.com/projects/Igloo/History.htm | accessdate = 14 April | accessyear = 2007 ] 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 convert|125|acre|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. The businesses that remained tended not to serve the majority of nearby Pittsburghers, but only the captive audience that remained in what was now an urban ghetto.

Urban Renewal plans for the North Shore included demolition of all structures from and including East Street to the Ohio River Boulevard.

In reaction to the massive demolition campaigns and the imminent threat to the Pittsburgh's North Side, Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. and James Van Trump created the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, which advocated community development and revitalization through preservation instead of dislocation and demolition. This marked the birth of the national preservation movement that continues to this day.Fact|date=March 2008

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 were 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.

Despite this "faux pas", the city's industrial base continued to grow. 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. 1970 marked the completion of the final building projects of Renaissance I: the U.S. Steel Tower and Three Rivers Stadium. In 1974, with the addition of the fountain at the tip of the Golden Triangle, Point State Park was completed. [cite web | title = History, Point State Park | work = Pennsylvania State Parks Website | url = http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/point.aspx | accessdate = 14 April | accessyear = 2007 ] 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.

Reinvention (1973–present)

During the 1970s and 1980s, the U.S. steel industry came under increasing pressure from foreign competition. 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."And the Wolf Finally Came: The Decline of the American Steel Industry," John P. Hoerr, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1988., ISBN 0822953986] At this critical juncture, free market, anti-union policies, and deregulation, especially under President Ronald Reagan, came into play. Free market pressures exposed the U.S. steel industry's own internal problems, which included a now-outdated manufacturing base that had been over-expanded in the 1950s and 1960s, hostile management and labor relationships, the inflexibility of United Steelworkers regarding wage cuts and work-rule reforms, oligarchic management styles, and poor strategic planning by both union and management. In particular, Pittsburgh faced its own challenges. Local coke and iron ore deposits were depleted, raising material costs. The large mills in the Pittsburgh region also faced competition from newer, more profitable "mini-mills" and non-union mills with lower labor costs.

Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the steel industry in Pittsburgh began to implode. Following the 1981–1982 recession, for example, the mills laid off 153,000 workers. The steel mills began to shut down. These closures caused a ripple effect, as railroads, mines, and other factories across the region lost business and closed. The local economy suffered a depression, marked by high unemployment and underemployment, as laid-off workers took lower-paying, non-union jobs. Pittsburgh suffered as elsewhere in the Rust Belt with a declining population, and like many other U.S. cities, it also saw white flight to the suburbs. [cite web | title = Western PA History: Renaissance City: Corporate Center 1945–present | work = WQED's Pittsburgh History Teacher's Guide series| url = http://www.wqed.org/erc/pghist/units/WPAhist/wpa6.shtml| accessdate = 14 April | accessyear = 2007 ] The region, and the city in particular, were further impaired by high taxes relative to other cities and regions, as the city and county governments continued to increase spending despite a declining population. This situation eventually led to the city's bankruptcy. Fact|date=March 2008

The Pittsburgh Urban Area remains the 22nd largest in the U.S., between those of Cleveland, Ohio and Portland, Oregon.

Today, there are no steel mills within the city limits of Pittsburgh, although manufacture continues at regional mills, such as the Edgar Thomson Works in nearby Braddock. Beginning in the 1980s, Pittsburgh's economy shifted from heavy industry to services, medicine, higher education, tourism, banking, corporate headquarters, and high technology. Today, the top two private employers in the city are the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (26,000 employees) and the University of Pittsburgh (10,700 employees). [cite web | title = Top Private Employers | work = Pittsburgh Regional Alliance | url = http://www.alleghenyconference.org/public/cfm/d_and_d/index.cfm? | accessdate = 14 April | accessyear = 2007 ]

Despite the economic turmoil, civic improvements continued. In the mid-1970s, Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. and the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (Landmarks) wanted to demonstrate that historic preservation could be used to drive economic development without the use of eminent domain or public subsidies. Landmarks acquired the former terminal buildings and yards of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, a convert|1|mi|km|sing=on long property at the base of Mt. Washington facing the City of Pittsburgh. In 1976, Landmarks developed the site as a mixed-use historic adaptive reuse development that gave the foundation the opportunity to put its urban planning principles into practice. Aided by an initial generous gift from the Allegheny Foundation in 1976, Landmarks adapted five historic Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad buildings for new uses and added a hotel, a dock for the Gateway Clipper fleet, and parking areas. Now shops, offices, restaurants, and entertainment anchor the historic riverfront site on the south shore of the Monongahela River, opposite the Golden Triangle (Pittsburgh). Station Square is Pittsburgh’s premiere attraction generating over 3,500,000 visitors a year. It reflects a $100 million investment from all sources, with the lowest public cost and highest taxpayer return of any major renewal project in the Pittsburgh region since the 1950s. In 1994, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation sold Station Square in to Forest City Enterprises which created an endowment to help support its restoration efforts and educational programs. Each year the staff and docents of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation introduce more than 10,000 people — teachers, students, adults, and visitors — to the architectural heritage of the Pittsburgh region and to the value of historic preservation. [Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation]

In 1985, the J & L Steel site on the north side of the Monongahela river was cleared and a publicly subsidized High Technology Center was built. The Pittsburgh Technology Center, home to many major technology companies, is planning major expansion in the area soon. In the 1980s, the "Renaissance II" urban revitalization created numerous new structures, such as PPG Place. In the 1990s, the former sites of the Homestead, Duquesne and South Side J&L mills were cleared. In 1992, the new terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport opened. In 2001, the aging Three Rivers Stadium was replaced by Heinz Field and PNC Park, despite being rejected by voter referendum. [http://www.post-gazette.com/planb/]

Present-day Pittsburgh, with a diversified economy, a low cost of living, and a rich infrastructure for education and culture, has been ranked as one of the World's Most Livable Cities. [Livability Ranking, Economist Intelligence Unit, October 2005] cite news | url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07116/781162-53.stm | title = Pittsburgh rated 'most livable' once again | work = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | date = 2007-04-26 | accessdate = 2007-09-16 | last = Majors | first = Dan ]

See also

* Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* List of Pittsburgh neighborhoods
* List of major corporations in Pittsburgh
* University of Pittsburgh

References

External links

* [http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh Historic Pittsburgh] . Provides historic materials from the University of Pittsburgh's University Library System, the Library & Archives of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania at the [http://www.pghhistory.org/ Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center] , and the Carnegie Museum of Art.
* [http://www.clpgh.org/locations/pennsylvania/history/ Pittsburgh History] maintained by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
* [http://www.lifeinwesternpa.org/ Life in Western Pennsylvania] Contains digitized films and photographs from the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center
* [http://www.phlf.org/ Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation]
* [http://www.washjeff.edu/german/pittsburgh/ German Historical Sites in Pittsburgh]
* [http://www.billkamm.net/pittsburgh/ The History of Pittsburgh's Skyline]