PITTSBURGH 



PITTSBURGH 



Buildings. Pittsburgh shows evidence of its 

 prosperity in its magnificent churches, for which 

 it is noted. All denominations find places of 

 worship in the 400 religious edifices, so the 

 prophecy of Arthur Lee, the American diplo- 

 mat, who visited the town in 1784, is not likely 

 to be fulfilled. He said: 



The place I believe will never be very consid- 



re. it is likely to be damned without benefit 

 of elergfy. since there is not a priest of any per- 

 suasion, nor church nor chapel. 



Besides the buildings of the Carnegie Insti- 

 tute and Library, Pittsburgh has many impos- 

 ing public edifices; among the most notable 

 are the Allegheny County courthouse and jail, 

 which occupy two separate blocks and are con- 



d by a "bridge of sighs;" the costly Fed- 

 eral building, and the Frick building, con- 

 structed of granite, with white marble finish 

 throughout the interior. The Union, Arcade, 

 Carnegie, Henry W. Oliver and Chamber of 

 Commerce buildings, and those of the First 

 National, Farmers' Deposit and People's Sa- 

 vings banks are structures of the finest modern 

 "skyscraper" variety. Memorial Hall, erected 

 to the memory of Allegheny County's soldiers, 

 is a noteworthy structure which was completed 

 in 1910 at a cost of $1,700,000. 



Benevolent Institutions. Few cities of the 

 Tinted States are so well equipped as Pitt>- 

 burgh to care for the unfortunate. There are 

 about twenty hospitals, twelve of which are 

 important and receive aid from the state. The 

 largest general hospital is the Western Penn- 

 mia. There are the United States Marine 

 Hospital, homes for newsboys, for widows and 

 for orphans, harbors for the friendless and the 

 unfortunate, and asylums for the blind, the 

 ami tin- dumb. Sarah Heinz and Irene 

 im-nt houses are memorials to 

 tin- wives of two prominent citizens. The West- 

 ern Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane at 

 Dixmont cares for hundreds of pat 

 Commerce. The prosperity of Pittsburgh is 

 to its location in one of the larg< >t and 

 most productive fields of coal, petroleum and 

 nil gas in the world. Access to the vast 

 coal fields of West Virginia is had through the 

 M Tiongahela River, and to the coal and oil 

 is of Western Pennsylvania through tl>. \l- 

 <-ny River, while the Ohio River afTords 

 i ;il relations with important points on 

 2,500 miles of waterways. The transportation 

 ities of these rivers are greatly increased 

 by the service of a number of railroads, by 

 which the city has connection with all parts of 

 294 



the country. These arc the Pennsylvania, the 

 'Baltimore & Ohio, the Buffalo, Rochester & 

 Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie, the 

 Bessemer & Lake Erie, the Wabash Pittsburgh 

 Terminal, the Montour and the West Side Belt 

 Line. Interurban electric lines radiate from the 

 city in all directions. Coal, coke and the prod- 

 ucts of its industries are the leading articles 

 of commerce, and the city is important as a 

 distributing point for lumber, dry goods, gro- 

 ceries and merchandise. 



Industry. The abundance of cheap fuel has 

 attracted to the locality those great industries 

 which need fire for their operation. The Pitts- 

 burgh district is not only the greatest coal-pro- 

 ducing (bituminous), but the largest coal-con- 

 suming, center in the country ; natural gas which 

 formerly gave impetus to manufactures is now 

 used chiefly for domestic purposes. Some of 

 the largest blast furnaces in the world and the 

 most extensive plants for making steel rails, 

 armor plate for battleships and structural work 

 for steel bridges are located here. Pittsburgh 

 might well be called the hearth oj the nation; 

 these immense furnaces, factories and foundries 

 that produce so much smoke also send up great 

 tongues of flame which illuminate the sky by 

 night, and make the locality visible for many 

 miles. 



Pittsburgh leads the cities of the world in 

 the manufacture of steel and iron products, 

 plate and window glass and glass tableware, 

 steel cars, air brakes, electrical machinery, corks 

 and fire brick. In Allegheny are located the 

 main factories of the largest pickle and preserv- 

 ing company in the country, famous for the 

 "57 varieties" of its products. Besides these, 

 there are refineries of petroleum and copper, 

 factories for making optical and surgical instru- 

 ments, slaughtering and meat-packing plants, 

 printing and publishing houses, and manufacto- 

 of stogies, small cigars which hail their ori- 

 gin here. Pittsburgh produces more than 

 per cent of the coke made in the United States. 



History. George Washington visited the 

 present sit. <>f Pittsburgh in 1753, and advised 

 the erection of a fort there, as the place had 

 command of the rivers. Accordingly, a fort, or 

 blockhouse, was begun at the "Forks" in tin- 

 February of the following year, but the detach- 

 in. nt of militia sent to occupy it was forced by 

 the I i. n,l, .ind Indians to abandon the port. 

 t>mldmg of Fort Duquesne by the French 

 followed; it was taken by the English under 

 General Forbes in 1758, who called the place 

 hurg. in honor of William Pitt, the V' 



