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George Washington
George Washington describes the area and the value of the Forks of the Ohio in a letter to the governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie. -
Washington tries to push French off of land
Lt. Col. George Washington tries to push the French and Native Americans out of the Great Meadows. Rain-filled trenches and a "constant galding fire upon us" forced him to go back. -
William Pitt the Elder
England was struggling in its attempts to win the New World. Then, William Pitt the Elder became prime minister. His leadership resulted in British victories both in Europe and the French and Inidan War. -
Fort Duquesne
The Marquis Duquesne planned to build many military forts from St. Lawrence to Mississippi. Lack of supplies forced him to stop at the third, Fort Duquesne. It was a stockade fort at the forks of the Ohio. The French destroyed it in 1758. After destroying it they then left. -
Fort Pitt
Fort Pitt was cfinished in the winter of 1961. It was the last and largest of the five forts built by the British and the French at the Forks of the Ohio as they fought for control of the land. By 1796 the fort was in ruins, some of its bricks had been salvaged to build some of the town's earliest houses. -
Pittsburgh's Street Plan
In 1764, the Penns had commissioned Fort Pitt's Col. John Campbell to lay out a street plan for the town. But it only had four blocks adjacent to the fort, along the Monongahela River. -
Neville B. Craig
Neville B. Craig was born in a blockhouse, in 1787. He was the influential publisher and editor f the Post-Gazette from 1829 to 1841. The Post- Gazette was founded by John Scull. -
Pittsburgh's first iron furnace
The first iron furnace made by George Anschutz in 1792. Then in 1803 it turned into the first foundry, Joseph McClurg. Another Pittburgher, William Kelly, started experimenting with a new kind of metal in 1847. After that Andrew Carnegie opened the first Bessemer steel plant on a mass scale in 1875 on Braddock's Field. They first ordered 2,000 steel rails for the Pennsylvania Railroad president J. Edgar Thomson. -
Major Ebenezer Denny
Pittsburgh is changed from a borough to a city. Major Ebenezer Denny became the first mayor. -
Stephen Collins Foster
The same day that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died, Stephen Collins Foster was born. He was America's first professional songwriter. He wrote 189 songs in his life. He got inspiration from a lot of things. -
Burke's Building
Burke's Building was built in 1836 at 211 Fourth Avenue, it is the city's oldest office building. It was designed by John Chislett. -
Thomas Mellon
Thomas Mellon, who was born in Ireland, grew up on Wetmoreland County farm. He attended Western University. He started his own law business in 1839. He married Sarah jane Negley in 1843, and had 8 children. After being a judge of the common pleas court, he opened T. Mellon and Sons Bank on Smithfield Street. -
Jane Grey Swisshelm
Jane Grey Swisshelm was the editor of the newspaper, "The Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter". She wrote about ending slavery, adn women's rights. -
John Roebling
John Roebling developed the first wire rope in 1841 on his farm in Saxonburg, In 1845-1847 , he used wire rope in the design of the world's first cable suspension bridge across the Monongahela Bridge at Smithfield Street, whch replaced a bridge that was lost in the great fire. He also worked on the Sixth Street Bridge of 1859. The two bridges made him known as America's most prominent bridge engineer. -
Allegheny Courthouse
The Allegheny Courthouse was built in 1842 on top of Grant's Hill. It survived the Great Fire. John Chislett built the courthouse, he was Pittsburgh's first proffesional architect. -
Great Fire of Pittsbugh
In 1845, there was a massive fire that destroyed a lot of the city. The fire started as a fire for washing laundry. Sparks from the fire caused a nearby ice house to burn, Conditions of the city, also amde the fire spread, it was a ddry breezy day and there was debris everywhere from factories. -
Newspaper
Martin Delaney was the editor of a newspaper, called "The Mystery". He created the newpaper on his own. -
Draft
Andrew Carnegie was a messenger for the O'Reilly Telegraph Company. He found a lost $500 draft, the Gazette said "like an honest little fellow". he returned it, A few years later, he was an official of the Pennsylvania Railroad. -
Rodman Gun
The Rodman Gun was one of the many produced. It is named after Lt. Thomas J. Rodman. It was the largest in the world at it's time. It was produced by the C. Knapp Foundry during the Civil War. Other Pittsburgh factories made other war supplies. -
Smith and Porter Locomotives
In 1866, Henry K. Porter, began building light switch locomotives in a Lawrenceville Plant. After his Civil War service in the Massachusetts Volunteers. He built them under the name Smith and Porter. He built almost 600 locomotives a year, until 1939, "when it entered into widely diversified fields. -
Westinghouse Air Brake
In 1869, at 22, George Westinghouse introduced the first air brake. It was the first effective means for stopping heavy trains. -
Duquesne Incline
The Duquesne Incline was built in 1877. It cost $47,000 to build. By the year it had 500,000 passengers "without injury to any one". In an article about it said "Experience in this plane has shown that popular predjudice against this mode of travel has ceased, and on Sundays during the summer 6,000 passengers are carried during the day and evening: the cars ascending and descending as rapidly as filled and emptied." -
Railroad Strike
On July 19, 1877, railroad workers from Pittsburgh and nearby cities started a riot to protest wage cuts and layoffs. The local militia and police decided to side with the people protesting, which caused the city to call troops from Philidelphia. On July 21st, after the protestors fired guns and threw stones at the troops, they fired into the crowd of people killing 20 people and wounding 29 others. The riot left 61 people dead, another 150 injured, and caused $7 million in property damage. -
Smithfield Street Bridge
The smithfield Street Bridge was designed by Gustav Lindenthal. It was opened in 1883, it wRoebling's Span. The brdge "seperated carriage and wagon traffic from horse-drawn trolleys." It was modernized in 1915, the mansard roofs on the portals were removed. The bridge was completely restored in the mid 1990's, the original paint style was applied and the put copper finials on the portals. -
Chatham University
The Pittsburgh female college was chartered in 1868 to give women the oppurtunity for education, that was denied by all male colleges. The name was changed to Pennsylvania College in 1890. Then, the name was changed again to Chatham College, for William Pitt, the first earl of the school. Lastly, it is now known as Chatham University since 2007. -
Henry Hobson Richardson
henry Hobson Richardson said, "If they honor me for the pigmy things I have done, what will they say when they see Pittsburgh finished?" In that statement, he was refferinf to the courthouse and jail. His work replaced John Chislett's courthouse, which burned down in a fire in 1882. The courthouse and jail are one of america's most admired and imitated works. -
Battle at Homestead
The Battle of Homestead was actually a strke cause by Henry Clay Frick. The strike was started by Henry Clay Frick, when he ahd a lockout. the strike is said to be one of America's bloodiest strikes. At the end of the strike, there were 14 dead; 11 steelworkers and 3 Pinkerton guards. Frick sealed off the mill, and brought in 300 Pinkerton guards. No one knows who fired the first shot, but in the end the Pinkertons surrendered and Company hired replacements. -
Ferris Wheel
The ferris wheel at the World's Columbian Expostion in Chicage, was designed and built by Geaorge W.G. Ferris. The ferris wheel was the fair's biggest atrraction. In the 19 weeks that it was at the fair, it had 1,453,611 passengers pay $726,805 to ride. The wheel was called the "Big Wheel from Pittsburgh." The ferris wheel ha 36 glass coaches, and it was 1250 feet high. At the time George Ferris, lived in a modest brick house at 204 (now 1318) Arch Street. -
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie founded Carnegie International "for the madded of the people primarily, not for the educated few." He founded it so he could bring the art world to Pittsburgh. A collection of contemporary art was built through purchase of the "Old Masters of Tomorrow." The building is the Oldest exhibiton of contemporary art in North America and the second oldest in the world. -
United States Steel Corporation
Eighty-nine executives of carnegie companies all gathered for dinner. They gathered at Schenley Hotel Ballroom. Charles Schwab was afraid that the Carnegie-Rockefeller war would end in disaster, "he pleaded for peace and growth through consolidation." J. Pierpoint Morgan agreed, and he bought Carnegie and 8 other steel firms. -
Wabash Terminal
The Wabash terminal was located at ferry Street(now Stanwix) and Liberty Avenue. It was a busy travel center during the years of 1904 to 1913. Those were the years of the rise and fall of George Jay Gould's railroad empire. the $800,000 Beaux-Arts palace was an office building until 1953. It was torn down for Gateway Center. It is now the site of Pittsburgh's 7th skyscraper in 1958. -
Luna Park
Luna Park opened on May 25, 1905. It had its main entrance at craig street and baum Boulevard. It had crowds of at the most 35,000 people each night. The people came for aerial acts, band concerts, and the shoot-the-chutes ride.In 1907, a lion escaped and killed a woman. After that happned, the park became less and les popular. Two years later the park burned down, and it was never rebuilt. -
George W. Guthrie
George W. Guthrie was elected mayor in 1906. He was a part of the Democratic Anticorruption platform. he served 4 years. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson made Guthrie ambassador of Japan. Guthrie died there 4 years later. Guthrie had co-authored the Pennsylvania-Allegheny city mercer bill. -
Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson was born in 1907. She was born in the town of Springdale. She was a writer, scientist, and ecologist. She brought awareness to the danger of misusing pesticides. She also began the modern enviromental movement with her book, Silent Spring, that she wrote in 1962. She graduated in 1929 from Chatham University. She also recieved her masters in zoology from John Hopjins. She ahd a 15 year career as a scientist and editor for the federal government. -
King Tutankhamun's Tomb
King Tutankhamun's Tomb opened in 1923. A year later, Kennywood changed the teme of The Bug House to Tut's Tomb. In 1995, Lost Kennywood was inspired by the shoot-the-chutes ride and surrounding buildings. -
1960 World Series
In the final game of the 1960 World Series, Bill Mazeroski hit a home run. He is a player of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they were facing against the New York yankees. The home run won the game. In April of 2008, 57,125 fams voted the home run the greatest moment in Sport's history. -
John F. Kennedy
On October 12, 1962 it was the last of six political visits that John F. Kennedy did in Pittsburgh. He spoke to 8,300 people at the Pitt Field house, on behalf of democratic candidates. He didn't speak about what he originally intended to say, instead he talked about republicans. 300,000 people saw him drive from the airport, "open car", this was a year before he was killed. -
J.W. Abel
J.W Abel becomes the president of United Steelworkers. He was given the gavel by David J. Mcdonald, who he beat in the 1965 election. He came up with the Experimental Negotiating Agreement, in 1973. The Experimantal Negotiating agreement was when the Union agrred not to strike during contract talks. He revolutionized collective bargaining with the steelworkers. -
Hill District Riots
There were a lot of riots in the Hill District after the assasination of Martin Luther King Jr. occured. The riots resulted in 505 fires, 926 arrests, millions of dollars in theft costs, and trade losses. There were also a lot of costs for police and the National Guard. There was $620,000 worth in property damege. Also, there was a death of a woman in Homestead. -
Walt Harper
Walt Harper was a Jazz pianist. He made Market Square come alive at night by opening the Atiic Nightclub in 1969. The club closed in 1976. After that he opened Harper's Jazz Club in One Oxford Theater in the 1980's. He grew up in a musical family in Schenely Heights. He was also a mainstay at the crawford grill. His clubs featured Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Carmen McCrae, and Lionel Hampton. -
Gerald Ford
Ford made a commitment to federal aid for "day-to-day operations of financially troubled transit systems, at a conference at the Hilton." That was the day after he pardoned Nixon for his role in a cover up. He was the next president.
