Pittsburgh

I

Introduction

Pittsburgh, city in western Pennsylvania and seat of Allegheny County. Pittsburgh was the nation’s foremost industrial city of the 19th century and was famous for its steel production. Beginning in the 1970s it underwent severe deindustrialization as its massive steel complexes began to close. Today Pittsburgh is a postindustrial city, with an economy based on services, especially medical, financial, corporate, and educational, rather than steel.

Pittsburgh sits astride the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers where they unite to form the Ohio River. Much of the city lies on hills surrounding this historic river junction, although Pittsburgh’s downtown core is clustered on a wedge of level ground framed by the rivers and dubbed the “Golden Triangle.” Winters in Pittsburgh can be cold and snowy and summers hot and humid, but seasons are usually moderate. The average high temperature in January is 1°C (34°F) and the average low is -8°C (19°F); the average high in July is 28°C (83°F) and the average low is 16°C (62°F). The city annually receives 936 mm (36.9 in) of precipitation, with accumulations evenly distributed throughout the year.

The city developed around a frontier fort used by both the British and the French in the 18th century. In 1794 Pittsburgh was incorporated as a borough and in 1816 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted it city status. It is named after William Pitt, prime minister of Britain in the late 18th century.

II

Pittsburgh and its Metropolitan Area

Pittsburgh occupies a land area of 143.7 sq km (55.5 sq mi). Over the years it has grown primarily by annexation. Between 1868 and 1900, for example, the city increased its land area nearly 16 fold to 73 sq km (28 sq mi). In 1907 it annexed the neighboring industrial city of Allegheny, increasing its land area by 21 sq km (8 sq mi) and its population by 150,000. Average elevation of the city is 226 m (743 ft).

---

---

Pittsburgh is the center of a metropolitan area covering Allegheny, Westmoreland, Washington, Beaver, Butler, and Fayette counties, a region of 11,976 sq km (4,624 sq mi). The metropolitan area has several small cities and substantial towns, including Butler, Greensburg, McKeesport, Uniontown, and Washington. Among Pittsburgh’s suburbs are Bethel Park, Fox Chapel, McCandless, Monroeville, Mount Lebanon, Penn Hills, and Sewickley. Pittsburgh has many distinct neighborhoods; 90 are officially recognized.

The city is remarkable for its grand entrances, especially if approached from the west through the Fort Pitt tunnel and bridge or from the north on Interstate 279 and the Fort Duquesne or Veterans bridges. The city’s core remains hidden by hills until travelers come upon its central business district, the Golden Triangle, centered where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join to form the Ohio River. Greeting visitors is Point State Park, with its tall lighted fountain at the triangle’s tip, and a number of uniquely designed skyscrapers.

Notable among Pittsburgh’s buildings are the Gateway Center Complex (1950-1953), the Gothic towers of the PPG World Headquarters (1984), One Mellon Bank Center (1983), One Oxford Centre (1983), the Columbia Natural Gas Building (1987), Fifth Avenue Place (1987), and the USX Tower (1971), at 64 stories the tallest building between New York and Chicago. Other architectural landmarks within the Golden Triangle include the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail (1888), designed by the noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson; the Trinity Cathedral (1872); the First Presbyterian Church (1905); and the Union Trust Building (today Two Mellon Bank Center, 1916).

III

Population

The population of Pittsburgh has steadily declined since 1950, when it peaked at 676,806 residents. While some people left the city proper for suburban communities within the region, many moved out of the area in search of jobs.

In 2000 the city had 334,563 persons, compared to 423,938 in 1980. Pittsburgh was the nation’s 30th largest city in 1980, 40th largest city in 1990, and 53rd largest city in 2000. In 2005, its population was estimated at 316,718.

The population of Allegheny County dropped from 1,450,085 in 1980 to 1,281,666 in 2000. While the number of residents in the six-county metropolitan area fell in the 1980s, it remained fairly stable in the 1990s. In 2005 the metropolitan region had 2,386,074 inhabitants.

Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have a relatively elderly population compared to many other cities—in 2000 some 16.4 percent of city residents were age 65 years or older, compared to 12.4 percent for the country as a whole.

Pittsburgh had many immigrants from Britain, Ireland, and Germany through the first century or so of its existence. Later the nationalities of those arriving shifted to Poles, Hungarians, Serbs, Croatians, Italians, and Russian Jews. Most emigration to the city halted at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Since then relatively few people have come to Pittsburgh from other countries, even though the nation as a whole has seen a large increase in Hispanic and Asian immigration.

While foreign-born persons made up only 4.6 percent of the city’s population in 1990, Pittsburgh retains a strong ethnic character. Many neighborhoods have a clear ethnic identity, such as Bloomfield (Italian), the South Side and Polish Hill (Polish), and Squirrel Hill (Jewish). The eastern neighborhoods of Point Breeze, Shadyside, and Squirrel Hill are attractive city living areas, while other sections of the city afford views of the rivers and the Golden Triangle from houses constructed on steep slopes.

Pittsburgh’s black population began to arrive far back in the city’s history, but its biggest growth came in the first half of the 20th century largely through migration from the South. Blacks predominate in several areas throughout the city, the largest being Beltzhoover, the Hill, Homewood-Brushton, and Manchester. The black community possesses a rich cultural heritage in jazz and art, as well as having been the sponsor of the two of greatest baseball teams in the former Negro League, the Crawfords and the Homestead Grays.

According to the 2000 census, whites were 67.6 percent of the population, blacks 27.1 percent, Asians 2.7 percent, Native Americans 0.2 percent, and people of mixed heritage or not reporting race 2.3. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders numbered 111 at the time of the census. Hispanics, who may be of any race, made up 1.3 percent of the people.

IV

Education and Culture

Pittsburgh is a major educational center. The city’s most prominent universities are Carnegie Mellon University (founded as the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie); the University of Pittsburgh (founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787); and Duquesne University (1878). The Mellon Research Institute, at one time the largest private industrial research laboratory in the United States, is now part of Carnegie Mellon University. The University of Pittsburgh campus features the 42-story Cathedral of Learning, the tallest school building in the United States and a major medical center. Other educational institutions in the city are Point Park College (1960); the women’s schools Chatham College (1869) and Carlow College (1929); Robert Morris University (1921), in nearby Coraopolis; and the Community College of Allegheny County (1966), with branches in the city and suburbs.

Pittsburgh has many outstanding cultural institutions. The Oakland district is where Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh are located. The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh include The Carnegie Museum of Art (including the Scaife Galleries), which holds a distinguished motion-picture and video collection and a unique study of architecture; the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which displays an extensive collection of dinosaurs, gems, and Greek and Roman sculpture; the Carnegie Science Center, which includes a planetarium and a submarine from World War II; and The Andy Warhol Museum, which has a collection of works by Andy Warhol, an influential 20th-century artist and Pittsburgh native. The city is also home to the Carnegie Library, one of the nation’s most important, and the Carnegie Music Hall, which is noted for its opulent foyer.

On the city’s North Side, in the old Allegheny city post office, is the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, and the Mattress Factory, exhibiting contemporary art. In the Point Breeze neighborhood are the Frick Art Museum and Clayton, the former home and estate of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, now open to the public.

A major development in recent years has been the construction of the Pittsburgh Cultural District in the center of the downtown. It includes the Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony; the Benedum Center, where ballet and live theater are performed; and the Byam Theater, featuring live theater and cultural films. All three theaters are redesigned and redecorated movie palaces from the 1920s. Other cultural features include the City Theatre (South Side), the Pittsburgh Playhouse (Oakland), the Pittsburgh Public Theater (downtown), the Bach and Mendelssohn choirs, and the Nationality Rooms of the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning.

Notable as memorials to men who made their fortunes in Pittsburgh are the Phipps Conservatory (1893) in Schenley Park and the 77-m (253-ft) tall Heinz Memorial Chapel (1938) on the University of Pittsburgh campus.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain