For drivers accustomed to straight east-west and north-south roads laid out like grid work, the streets in and around Pittsburgh can pose confusing navigational problems. Due to our many streams and rivers, mountainous terrain, and numerous valleys, most of our roads are circuitous, following the natural lay of the land. In Pittsburgh, this means the road you are on could be more crooked than a
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When a city is located on a river, you expect to find several bridges spanning the waterway. When that city is Pittsburgh, however, you find not just several bridges, but a seemingly innumerable amount of them. One estimate puts the area’s bridge tally at nearly 2,000. Pittsburgh boasts more bridges than Venice, Italy! The area’s rugged terrain, with its deep valleys, creeks, and rivers, would
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Religion in Pittsburgh is as intrinsic as the rivers that flow through the terrain. The first documented evidence of religious influence in Pittsburgh dates back to the Native Americans. When the settlers first arrived here, they found a small hill near what is today Sixth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. This knoll had been used by local Native Americans as a burial ground. It is believed
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Greece has made a huge impact on the world. The Greeks have made enormous contributions to architecture, philosophy, theater, politics and government, sports, mathematics, science, and medicine: literally all of Western Culture. Like the diminutive size of their homeland (it’s about the size of Alabama), the Greeks who came to Pittsburgh were few in number when compared to some of their other ethnic counterparts, such
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Many cities in the United States have communities of Arabs. Although not as large as the communities in places such as Detroit, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles, Pittsburgh has a small, but thriving enclave of Arabs. The term Arab is a description of people located in Western Asia and North Africa. According to the Arab American National Museum, Arab Americans come from the 22 countries
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If cities have heartbeats, then Pittsburgh’s must thump like an oom pah pah band. Many immigrants have flocked to the Pittsburgh area over the centuries, but no nationality has come to the region in greater numbers than the Germans. According to the U.S. Census of 2000, more people in the Pittsburgh area claim German heritage than any other. The first Germans came to the New
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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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It’s la Dolce Vita for Italians in Pittsburgh We all know Christopher Columbus came to the New World in 1492, but it took many generations after that before his fellow Italians would establish a large presence in North America. During colonial times, there were a few Italians living here, but it wasn’t until later in the nineteenth century that the first sizable influx of immigrants
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When immigrants came to the United States, it was common for them to harken back to their homeland and 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
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Croatia is a bit smaller than the state of West Virginia. Nevertheless, this tiny country in southeastern Europe has had a large impact on the Pittsburgh region because many Croatian immigrants have settled here. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Community Survey, approximately 414,714 Americans claim to be of full or partial Croatian descent. That’s a considerable number since Croatia’s population is only around
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