Pittsburgh Timeline

  • George Washington describes the value of the Forks of the Ohio to the governor of Virginia.

    George Washington describes the value of the Forks of the Ohio to the governor of Virginia.
    On November 24, 1753 George Washington wrote a letter to the governor of Virginia telling him about the new land a came across. The land was the Forks of the Ohio which is currently part of Pittsburgh. He was suggesting they build a fort there because the land was in good condition and also because the fact that it was by both rivers.
  • Mary Jemison is captured.

    Mary Jemison is captured.
    At age 15, everything changed for Mary. The French and Indian war started which caused the frontier to suffer the most. In 1758 during the spring, French and Shawnee soldiers came to the frontier area and captured many people, including Mary and her family. Mary’s two older brothers got away while Mary saw her family killed right in front of her.
  • Mary Jemison adopted by Seneca Nation.

    Mary Jemison adopted by Seneca Nation.
    After Mary was captured she was later brought by a party of Senecas. They adopted into the Seneca traditions. She got a new name which was now Dehgewanus.
  • General John Forbes names the area near Fort Duquesne “Pittsbourgh” after William Pitt the Elder

    General John Forbes names the area near Fort Duquesne “Pittsbourgh” after William Pitt the Elder
    Pittsburgh was named after William Pitt the elder in respect by General John Forbes. William Pitt was called William Pitt the elder to serprate him from his son William Pitt the younger.
  • Fort Pitt Build.

    Fort Pitt Build.
    In the winter of 1761 the Fort Pitt was completed. The Fort Pitt was the last and largest Fort build by the British and the French.
  • Isaac Craig and Stephen Bayard are first real estate owners in “Pittsburgh”.

    Isaac Craig and Stephen Bayard are first real estate owners in “Pittsburgh”.
    They brought the first estate from the Penn family at the forks and from then they made a lay out of the streets and plan for the town. By 1796, there were 230 houses and 800 citizens.
  • Pittsburgh Gazette founded by John Scull, 1st newspaper west of the Alleghenies

    Pittsburgh Gazette founded by John Scull, 1st newspaper west of the Alleghenies
    The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was founded by John Scull. He brought a printing press with him to the west of the Alleghenies. A printing press an object that editor back in the day used to make newspapers, which very few were made because of all the work that had to be done unlike today.
  • Pittsburgh’s first iron furnace built by George Anschutz

    Pittsburgh’s first iron furnace built by George Anschutz
    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 Besssemer 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.
  • Whiskey Rebellion.

    Whiskey Rebellion.
    Farmers were using left over grain to make alcohol. The alcohol was very strong. The farmers then started getting taxed for it and they were and started the Whiskey Rebellion.
  • Pittsburgh is incorporated as a town.

    Pittsburgh is incorporated as a town.
    The layout of the "Town of Pittsburgh" was made by Thomas Viceroy of Bedford County. It was approved by the Penns in Pennsylvania's attorney.
  • Pittsburgh is incorporated as a town

    Pittsburgh is incorporated as a town
    In 1794, Pittsburgh was incorporated as a town.
  • Pittsburgh is incorporated as a borough

    Pittsburgh is incorporated as a borough
    The Act of March 5, 1804 consulted throughout to the "Borough of Pittburgh". The Act of March 5, 1804 is a modified version of the old charter of the Borough of Pittsburgh in 1794 which the orginal doesn't exist anymore.
  • Pittsburgh becomes a city; Major Ebenezer Denny is 1st Mayor

    Pittsburgh becomes a city; Major Ebenezer Denny is 1st Mayor
    Ebenezer Denny was a soldier during the Revolutionary War. He was selected by common councils to be appointed mayor of Pittsburgh.
  • Stephen Collins Foster was born.

    Stephen Collins Foster was born.
    Stephen Collins Foster was born on July 4, 1826. He was born in Lawrenceville. He was America’s first professional songwriter and he wrote about 189 songs during his life. He was inspired by slave songs, African American dialect, and minstrel songs, in which he heard while he was working as a clerk at his brother’s office on the Cincinnati Wharf. On the day he was born Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died.
  • Martin R. Delaney was the editor of The Mystery.

    Martin R. Delaney was the editor of The Mystery.
    The Mystery was an Anti- Slavery newspaper back in the 1800s and Martin R. Delaney was the editor. Delaney was born in May 6, 1812. He graduated from Harvard Medical School. In one of his articles he was trying to convince the president to take African American soldiers to help in the Mexican War. He was major of the 104th regiment and he was the first African American field officer in the Civil war.
  • William Peter Eichbaum & James Chadwick develop “Oakland” estate

    William Peter Eichbaum & James Chadwick develop “Oakland” estate
    William Peter Eichbaum house was burned down during The Great Fire and moved east of Pittsburgh and build a Greek Revival above 5th Avenue. His last name in Spanish means “oak tree” in German which is why he named his nine-acre estate Oakland and also because the native trees there too. He brought his land form James Chadwick. He started his 1,000- acre Oakland Farm. The name then was adopted for the neighborhood.
  • Great Fire destroys much of the city and leaves 12,000 residents homeless.

    Great Fire destroys much of the city and leaves 12,000 residents homeless.
    On April 10th 1845 there was a huge fire that broke out which was started by a washerwoman. It destroyed a lot of buildings including Western University, Bank of Pittsburgh, Monongahela House and many more. At the end thousands of people were left homeless and two people died.
  • Pittsburgh Dollar Savings Institution opens

    Pittsburgh Dollar Savings Institution opens
    The first day the Pittsburgh Dollar Savings Instution opened nine deposits were made. It was designed by Philadelphia architect Isaac Hobbs. It was finshed in 1871 and til this day still stands.
  • Jones & Laughlin (eventually J&L Steel) begin building blast furnaces on the Monongahela River.

    Jones & Laughlin (eventually J&L Steel) begin building blast furnaces on the Monongahela River.
    James Laughlin was a banker who built a blast furnaces in 1859 and then later he got together with the Jones brothers. In 1923 the firm was renamed the J&L Steel Corporation and William Larimer who was the son of Thomas M. Jones was elcted the president of the firm.
  • Rodman Gun produced in Pittsburgh

    Rodman Gun produced in Pittsburgh
    Rodman Gun was produced during the Civil War by the C. Knapp Foundry, along with many others. It was names after Lt. Thomas J. Rodman who was the commander of the Allegheny Arsenal, it was the largest in the whole wide world. Joseph Kaye was the foundrys' superintendent. Piittsburgh's factories suppiled the union with many things for the war.
  • Henry Clay Frick, eventually known as the "Coke King," begins buying coal lands.

    Henry Clay Frick, eventually known as the "Coke King," begins buying coal lands.
    Frick was the first to ever mass produce coke in beehive ovens, which was an old-fashion oven that looked like a beehive. It was a major factor in the opening of the steel industry. By the late 1800s he had 10,000 ovens with11,000 employtees in Connellsville.
  • T. Mellon and Sons Bank started

    T. Mellon and Sons Bank started
    Thomas Mellon opened T.Mellon and Sons Bank 10 years after being judge of common pleas court. It was located on Smithfield Street, which backed much of Pittsburgh's industrial growth.
  • Monongahela Incline

    Monongahela Incline
    The Monongahela was the first incline in the city in 1870. It is still used until this day and is the world's steepest incline.
  • Duquesne Incline

    Duquesne Incline
    The Duquesne Incline was built in 1877. It costed about $47,000 and had attracted about 500,000 passengers by 1880 with out any one getting hurt.
  • Pennsylvania Railroad Strike leaves 61 people dead and 150 injured.

    Pennsylvania Railroad Strike leaves 61 people dead and 150 injured.
    Several Pennsylvania Railroad workers and others form other cities joined together to protest wage cuts and layoffs. The protesters bombardment of stones and a revolver shots at the troops who were called in from Philadelphia. They fired back on the strikers, which in the end left 61 people killed and 150 wounded and also caused 7 million dollars of property damage.
  • Smithfield Street Bridge

    Smithfield Street Bridge
    It was designed by Gustav Lindentahal. It was open in 1883, it seprated carriages and wagon traffic from horse drawn trolleys. The mansard roofs remained until the bridge was later modernized in 1915.
  • Allegheny County Courthouse

    Allegheny County Courthouse
    Henry Hobson Richardson made the Alleghany County Courthouse house and Jail. It became one of America's most aamired builtings. It was built to replace the John Chislett's courthouse, which was destoryed in a fire in 1882.
  • United States Board on Geographic Names designates the city as Pittsburg

    United States Board on Geographic Names designates the city as Pittsburg
    Somewhere between 1890-1911 the United States Board on Geographic Names designated the city as Pittsburg. The orginal charter was detoried in the fire at old Court House.
  • Pennsylvania College for Women

    Pennsylvania College for Women
    The female college was chartered in 1868, it give girls an opportunty to get a higher education which was denied them by the all male school Western University. The name kater changed in 1890 to Pennsylvania College for Woman and then changed again to Chatham College in honor of William Pitt in 1955.
  • Homestead Steel Strike

    Homestead Steel Strike
    It all began when Henry Clay Frick who at the time was incharge of Carnegie's factory started a lockout. It cut off the mill and hired about 300 pinkertons to protect it. The steelworkers and all there family came there to start a strike, but i didn't end well. The pinkertons and the steelworkers started fighting shots being fired and people dying, The Pinkertons later surrendered. The company then hired replacement workers which set back labor 30 years. In the end at least 14 people died.
  • Ferris Wheel

    Ferris Wheel
    It was about 250 feets above the the Midway Plaissance of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in chicago was form Pittsburgh. It was designed by Goerge W.G. Ferris . It was the fair;s biggest attraction.
  • Carnegie International

    Carnegie International
    The Carnegie International was founded in 1896. It brought art to the world of Pittsburgh and it build a collection of comtemporary art throught the purchase of "Old Masters of tomorrow. It is the oldest exhibtion in North America and the second in the world.
  • Schenley Hotel

    Schenley Hotel
    It is now called the William Pitt Union. It's stillstanding til this day and is a historical landmark in Pittsburgh.
  • Luna Park

    Luna Park
    Luna Park was first opened on May 25, 1905 on the old estate, Aspinwall estate. It had attracted about 35,000 people nightly with their aerial acts, band concerts and a shhot-the-chutes ride into a pool. In 1907 a menagerie lion esacped and killed a woman and after that the popularity went down. Sometimes in 1907, there was a fire and it was not rebuilt after.
  • Due to protests, the USBGN reverses its decision, and city becomes officially Pittsburgh

    Due to protests, the USBGN reverses its decision, and city becomes officially Pittsburgh
    Protests made the SBGN change their decision. Which is a big reason on why Pittsburgh is now a city.
  • Gulf Oil

    Gulf Oil
    Gulf Oil was founded in 1901 and has developed in many phases of cars. On December 1. 1913 Gulf Oil opened the world's first drive-in service station. Before the drive in was made gas pumps were at tthe curbs and automobiles parked on the street to get their gas.
  • KDKA Radio Broadcasting

    KDKA Radio Broadcasting
    The world's first scheduled radio broadcasting was on NOvember 2, 1920 by KDKA. About 1,000 Pittburghers tuned in to KDKA to hear the updated on the election.
  • King Tutankhamen's tomb in Kennywood Park

    King Tutankhamen's tomb in Kennywood Park
    In 1923, Kennywood changed their attraction, Bug House, theme to Tut's Tomb. In 1995, they made their Lost Kennywood addition which they got after Luna Park's shoot-the-chutes.
  • Liberty Tubes Project

    Liberty Tubes Project
    The Liberty Tubes Project waa completed in 1924. On March 27, 1928 Joseph G. Armstong's, who was the country commissioner, two grandsons untied the ribbon that opened the Liberty Bridge to the world. Thousands of Pttburghers came out and walk and drove along the bridge. It was a big time in Pittsburgh history.
  • New Era of Brew

    New Era of Brew
    On April 7, 1933, Pittsburgher went to the barrooms like Louis Americus's Oyster Bar to drink the new series of brewed conviviality.
  • Pittsburgh Snowed Up

    Pittsburgh Snowed Up
    November 23, 1950 thousands of cars blocked the trolley routes. Pittsburgh was snowed up to 30.5 inches of snow. National Guardsmen had to come and patrol the streets.
  • Steinberg, Conductor of Pittsburgh Symphony

    Steinberg, Conductor of Pittsburgh Symphony
    William Steinburgh was from Germany but left with Adolf Hitler's rise. In 1952 he was named associate conductor of Toscanini's NBC Symphony. Later in 1952 he was appointed the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's permanent conductor. The orchestra developed one of the world's best and culture force in Pittsburgh.
  • Greater Pittsburgh Airport

    Greater Pittsburgh Airport
    Many Pittsburgh families took their kid to the Greater Pittsburgh Airport, which was opened on May 31, 1952. so that the kids could see the take-offs and the arrivals from the deck. One intersesting thing about it was the terrazzo compass that was in the lobby and another thing was the mobile created by Alexander Calder for the Carnegie International, which now hangs in the new Pittsburgh International Airport's Airside Terminal.
  • Mellon Square Park

    Mellon Square Park
    Mellon Square Park was created by Richard K. Mellon and David L. Lawrence. On October 18, 1955 thousands of people camee on the terrazzo plaza to watch Richard and David dedicate the park. It included a underground parking garage which was thorugh a Mellon family gift.
  • The Attic jazz club, Walt Harper

    The Attic jazz club, Walt Harper
    Walt Harper was a Jazz pianist who helped bring back life to Market Square by opening his nightclub, The Attic in June of 1969. While living in Schenley Height with his musical family, he was a mainstray at the Crawford Grill before he opened The Attic. In 1976 The Attic closed then he ran Harper's Jazz Club in One Oxford Centre in the 80's. He had manyh Jazz stars that were featured at both of his clubs, which include Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marslis and many more.
  • Tropical Storm Agnes flooding

    Tropical Storm Agnes flooding
    Sometime in June 1972, a Tropical Storm Agnes hit Pittvurgh. Four days of rain caused the rivers to rise more than 10 feet above flood stage and was the highes they have ever been since 1942. Many low leveled communities were flooded also including Point State Park. The estimated damage cost was about $45 million but the reservoirs and dams erected after the 1936 flood.
  • Dan Marino plays for Pitt

     Dan Marino plays for Pitt
    Sometime in February 1979 the Marinos watch as there son, Daniel Constantine Marino Jr., signs a letter to play for the University of Pittsburgh.He was a star at Central Catholic and became the Panthers' most promise recruit ever since Tony Dorsett. He had been a Miami Dolphins quateack fokr 17 years.
  • Dorothy Blast Furnace goes out of commission

    Dorothy Blast Furnace goes out of commission
    On August 1, 1988, onw of the world's biggest blast furnaces crashed down to it's very end in Duquesne. The failure to remodernize, foregin imports and high labor cost all had something to do with the decline of the American steel industry.
  • Andy Warhol Museum opens

    Andy Warhol Museum opens
    Andy Warhol was one of the four Carnegie Museum. It opened on the North Side in 1994. The museum celebrated the life and work of one of the world's influential artist. It showcsased a wide range of provoative exhibits. It showed Waehol's work.
  • F1 Tornado touches down on Mt. Washington

    F1 Tornado touches down on Mt. Washington
    Surprisingly, Mt. Washington had a Tornado, which is very rare. It was one of the other 14 Allegheny, Beaver, Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland counties also encountered. About 16 people were injured. Many homes were destoried along Grandview Avenue. Debris was all over the streets. House roofs and walls in the middle of the street. It was a surprising event in Pennsyvania history.
  • Steelers Win The Super Bowl

    Steelers Win The Super Bowl
    It was played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It was a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. The Steelers with this win became the first football team to win 6 Super Bowls. Santanio Holmes played the winning play and later won the Super Bowl MVP. He was the third Pittburgh player to win the award.
  • Penguins win Stanley Cup

    Penguins win Stanley Cup
    It was a game against Eastern Confernece champions Pittsburgh Penguins and Western Conference champions Detriot Red Wings. It was the Red Wing's 24th appearence in the Finals. It was Pittsburgh's 4th appearence. The Penguins won by winning 1 more game than than the Red Wings. Evgeni Malkin, Penguins player, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Vauable Player of 2009 playoff players.
  • Consol Energy Center/Demolition of Mellon Arena

    Consol Energy Center/Demolition of Mellon Arena
    The Civic Arena also known as "The Igloo" has been at risk ever since the Penguins new home The Consol Energy Center. It being right across the street from the Consol Energy Center made it an eve more risk because the space could be used for more parking spaces. Fans been trying to safe the Igloo but their protest didn't do anything. On March 31, 2010 the demolition of the Civic Arena was complete and gone forever butnever forgotten by the loving fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins.