A city’s skyline is its signature, distinguishing it from every other metropolis. New York’s with the Chrysler Building and Empire State building cannot be confused with Seattle’s Space Needle or Chicago’s Sears Tower. Likewise Pittsburgh’s own distinct skyline bears the mark of many who have written on the cityscape we know today. Fort Pitt Blockhouse and the Burke Building The oldest building in Pittsburgh is
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Whether it’s Extreme Makeover, Oprah, or What Not to Wear, it seems no one can resist a makeover, watching a dud transform into a dazzler. While the nation has been obsessed by these makeover fantasies, they’ve missed one of the greatest makeovers of all time: Pittsburgh’s! Over the years our hometown has gone from outdated and dilapidated to positively gleaming and trendy. When the steel
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Pittsburghers are no strangers to talismans. During the 1966 Pirates baseball season, legendary broadcaster Bob Prince introduced the Green Weenie, a green plastic rattle that was shaped like a hot dog. When shaken at an opposing team, the Green Weenie was supposed to jinx them. Eventually, the Green Weenie lost its magic and was replaced by another Prince creation, the babushka. In 1974, Pirates fans
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Explosions, fires, floods: it sometimes seems as if we are living in cataclysmic times, but if you open a book on the history of Pittsburgh, you’ll find that horrific disasters have happened before. For the most part, they have simply faded from our collective memory. While many are familiar with the Great Chicago fire of 1871 and the legend of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, few are
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If cities were alive, rivers would be their arteries. Since time immemorial, rivers have been the lifeblood of civilization. The greatest cities in the world are all built on rivers. The area around the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia is known as the “Cradle of Civilization” because it is believed that settled society began there. In Pittsburgh, we owe the existence of our own city
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When necessary, two disparate individuals can often forge a relationship based on a commonality, be it a mutual cause, a belief, a similar situation, or a character trait. Leadership, and the responsibility that inherently accompanies it, can be one of those binding elements. George Washington and Guyasuta must have recognized great leadership abilities in one other because these two titans, who crossed paths in southwestern
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What’s in a name? Well, if it’s our Pittsburgh, then it’s an ‘h’. Of the many other Pittsburgs in the USA, including some 20 towns in New Hampshire, Maine, Illinois, Kansas, California, and Texas, all spell their name without the ending ‘h.’ ‘The Artist formerly Known as Prince’ wasn’t the only one whose name has caused confusion. While residents are well aware that the city
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Until the late 1700s, there weren’t many women living in Western Pennsylvania other than the Native Americans. During that time, this part of the New World was the frontier, and life was hard and dangerous. The first permanent settlement was established at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers in 1758, after Fort Duquesne was captured and renamed Fort Pitt by the British. Other
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When immigrants came to the United States, it was common for them to name the places where they settled after their native land. That’s why we have places called New England, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, etc. Not only were regions and states named in such a manner, but there are also numerous towns, villages, and cities with names reflecting the areas from where
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As everyone knows, Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain in 1492 in search of a passage to India. Instead, he found the Americas. More than 500 years later we have a slightly different scenario: many Indians are leaving the subcontinent and discovering Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh area in the past has experienced waves of immigration; many came to the region seeking a better future in America than
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