Pittsburgh

3746

Pittsburgh

 

it, The Gateway of the West/ Other titles,
such as 'The Smoky City/ 'The Workshop of
the World,' 'The Hearth of the World/ were
given to it on account of its extraordinary
development of the iron, steel, coal and coke
industries. In the production of these, Pitts-
burgh ranks first in the world. It is the
greatest distributing point for coal in the
United States. The manufacture of steel is
the chief industry of the Pittsburgh district,
among its leading concerns being the Carnegie
Steel Company and the Wcstinghouse works.

William Pitt.
Pittsburgh, besides being the headquarters
of the United States Steel corporation, is the
largest producer of steel rails and armor
plate in the United States. The Heinz works,
the largest pickling and preserving establish-
ment in the world, are located here, with 12
factories, using the products of 20,000 acres
of vegetable farms. The Westinghouse air-
brake works employ 3,000 operatives. The
natural-gas interests are enormous. Since
1911 the city is governed by a mayor, con-
troller, and a board of nine councilmen elect-
ed at large, to replace the old bi-cameral
council of 67 members. In 1911 the 66 in-
dependent district school boards were also
abolished, giving place on Jan, i, 1912, to a
central board of 15 members. The population
of Pittsburgh is 671,639, In 1753 Governor
Dinwiddie of Virginia aeat George Washing-

ton to warn the French—who had advanced
into the region about the source of the Ohio,
which they claimed—that the Colony would
resist their encroachments. The next year he
despatched militia to build a fort on the pres-
ent site of Pittsburgh; but a large force of
French and Indians compelled them to with-
draw. In the same year the French built
Fort Duquesne, and Washington captured a
body of French troops in the first actual fight
of the French and Indian War. In 1758 Gen-
eral Forbes led a powerful expedition against
the fort, which was burned by the French.
At Washington's suggestion the place was
named Pittsburgh, in honor of the British
Prime Minister. A new fort was built, called
Fort Pitt, which in Pontiac's War (1763)
was besieged by the Indians, holding out until
relieved by a British force. A town was laid
out in 1784; in 1791 it became a county
town ; a borough in 1804; and a city in 1816.
In 1906 the citizens of Pittsburg and Al-
legheny voted on the question of uniting the
two cities. A majority of the citizens of
Pittsburgh favored consolidation, but a ma-
jority of the citizens of Allegheny voted
against it, and subsequently appealed to the
courts. In 1907 the U. S. Supreme Court
held that the Consolidation Act was valid,
and annexation became effective on Dec. 9 of
that year. Allegheny is now the North Side
of the present Pittsburgh. For years the prob-
lem of smoke prevention has engaged the at-
tention of municipal officials, and their efforts
have resulted in a great improvement in the
situation. In 1911 a thorough investigation of
the smoke problem, authorized by the city,
was undertaken by the Department of Indus-
trial Research of the University of Pittsburgh.
As a result, the smoke nuisance was abated
fully 75 per cent. In 1940 further steps in
smoke prevention were taken. In World War
II Pittsburgh's industry was almost wholly
absorbed in production of goods for national
defense.
Pittsburgh, University of, a non-sectari-
an institution of higher learning for both
sexes, chartered Feb. 28, 1787, as the Pitts-
burgh Academy, reorganized as the Western
University of Pennsylvania in 1819, and re-
named the University of Pittsburgh in 1908.
It comprises a College of Liberal Arts, Grad-
uate School, and Schools of Engineering,
Mines, Education, Economics, Medicine, Den-
tistry, Law, and Pharmacy, and the Mellon
Institute of Industrial Research, as well as
an evening and a summer school.