Welcome to Pittsburgh!

I grew up in Pittsburgh Pa and it is a truly unique city. Nestled among the forested hills of southwestern Pennsylvania at the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers form the Ohio River, Pittsburgh is a city of skyscrapers, parks, fountains, more than 700 bridges, and close-knit neighborhoods with a vibrant cultural life. Founded in 1758, Pittsburgh is the largest inland port in the U.S., providing access to the nation's 9,000 mile inland waterway system.



Throughout the Golden Triangle, Pittsburgh's downtown area, sightseers can observe turn-of-the-century skyscrapers and other architecturally interesting modern and historic buildings, such as Pennsylvania Station, the Frick Building, the Union Trust Building, and the Omni William Penn Hotel. Among the city's most famous structures are the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail, completed in 1888 and connected by the "Bridge of Sighs." In Oakland, the architectural jewel of Pitt's campus is the Cathedral of Learning, which looks like a cross between a French Gothic church and a skyscraper.

This 42-story building houses 24 Nationality Classrooms designed by artists and architects from the nations represented. I used to take classes here when i attended the University of Pittsburgh and it is an absolutely astonishing building.

South of downtown Pittsburgh, across the Monongahela, is Mount Washington, formerly called Coal Hill, from which a spectacular view of the city is provided by means of cable car rides on the Duquesne and Monongahela Inclines.

Here is a view of the city from Mount Washington...



The city is also known for its many famous firsts... such as the first heart, liver, kidney transplant; the first Internet emoticon; the first Robotics Institute; the first Mr. Yuk sticker; the first Night World Series Game, the first Big Mac, the first pull-tab on cans, and many more...

information and images obtained from: www.usatourist.com, www.pittsburgh.about.com

Chapter 2 Physical Features

Location and Climate

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The city is located in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, at the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers join to form the Ohio. The city's humid climate is modified slightly by its relative proximity to the Atlantic Seaboard and the Great Lakes.

Due to its position on the windward side of the Allegheny mountains, Pittsburgh receives heavy precipitation, and many days are subject to overcast skies. The Pittsburgh area experiences extremes of all four seasons, with temperatures ranging from zero to 90° F or so. Precipitation is distributed well throughout the year, with a good bit of the precipitation occurring as snow during the winter months. From April through October, the sun shines more than 50 percent of the time.

Downtown Pittsburgh

The city can be broken down into the Downtown area, called the Golden Triangle, and four main areas surrounding it. These four surrounding areas are further subdivided into distinct neighborhoods (in total, Pittsburgh contains 89 neighborhoods.) These areas, relative to downtown, are known as the North Side, South Side/South Hills, East End, and West End

The downtown area is located on the triangular parcel at the confluence of the rivers. We'll start off by looking at downtown through the view at Point State Park, where a 150-foot fountain symbolizes the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers. Located within the park is the Fort Pitt Blockhouse,the only remaining structure of Fort Pitt.

In addition to the downtown Golden Triangle, the city extends northeast to include the Oakland and Shadyside sections, which are home to the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University,Carnegie Museum and Library, and many other educational, medical, and cultural institutions.

Pittsburgh occupies the slopes of the river valley on the opposite side of the Monongahela and the ridges beyond. Many of the city's neighborhoods, particularly south of the Monongahela, are steeply sloped. In fact, of all U.S.cities, only San Francisco has a more extreme terrain.

Information and images obtained from city-data.com

Chapter 3 Settlement Patterns Before 1950

The first humans to live in what is now southwestern Pennsylvania were descendants of Asians who had crossed the Bering Straight and spread down through North America, hunting, gathering, and migrating, around 12 to 18 thousand years ago.

The coming of Europeans is what is likely to have wiped out the original native tribe of the Pittsburgh region, the Monongahela. Spread of European diseases to which the natives had no resistance, plus the fur trade resulting in depleted game supply, are theorized to have contributed to the disappearance of all humans from vast sections of western Pennsylvania in the 1600s. Soon, however, other displaced tribes from the south and east of Iroquois and Algonquian origins, especially the Shawnee, Seneca, Susquehannock, and the Lenni Lenape (Delaware), moved in to take their place.

In the 1700s the French were the first European settlers to come to the Pittsburgh area. When the British learned that the French had settled in the area, young Major George Washington was sent to demand their withdrawal. When the French refused to leave, Washington returned with troops to evict them; however, the British garrison was defeated. It was not until the French and Indian War that the British managed to capture Fort Duquesne and construct a larger fort on the same site. They named the new “burgh” Fort Pitt after William Pitt the Elder, a famous British statesman.

Model of Fort Duquesne

Large coal deposits were discovered in the early 19th century. Pittsburgh’s central location along trade routes helped make the city an industrial center. When steel, iron and glass production began, thousands of immigrants poured into Pittsburgh to work in the mills and coal mines. From late 1800s through mid 1900s, Pittsburgh led the U.S. in the production of iron, steel, glass and coal mining.

Unfortunately the industrial success was a mixed blessing to Pittsburgh. Through the centuries the city’s environment began to suffer. The air was filled with soot. Buildings were covered with grime and the rivers were polluted. World War I and World War II brought an increased need for the very products that were destroying quality of life in Pittsburgh. Today the city is is cited as one of the “Most Livable” cities in the United States, after the 1970s revitalization and the “greening of Pittsburgh” became priorities for city leaders.

Now The Fort Pitt Blockhouse, dating to 1764, is the oldest extant structure in the city of Pittsburgh.

information and images obtained from the following sites : www.fortedwards.org, wikipedia.com, www.hellopittsburgh.com

Chapter 4 Population Geography Since 1950

Pittsburgh, once referred to as "the smoky city" and "hell with the lid off" because of its sooty factories, is a modern success story. Air quality controls, stream purification laws, and the razing and redesign of congested areas since World War II have resulted in a city that surprises first-time visitors.

However, Pittsburgh has been a culturally diverse city since its origin in the 1700's. Its earliest settlers were French, English, and Scottish, and the population grew over the next two centuries to include more than 25 ethnic groups. With more than five dozen distinct neighborhoods, Pittsburgh has been called the biggest small town in America. Each year, communities hold a variety of ethnic festivals celebrating these different cultures and their many contributions to Western Pennsylvania. The celebrations range from parish food festivals to the nationally-recognized Pittsburgh Folk Festival.

Pittsburgh also has a strong religious heritage. Its earliest settlers were mostly Protestant, followed by the Catholic and Jewish faiths of the southern and eastern European immigrants who flocked to Western Pennsylvania in the late 1800's. The area's continuing growth as a medical, educational and research center brings new residents and their ethnic and religious heritages to the area. As a result, symbols of faith, which include churches, synagogues, Hindu temples, and a Moslem mosque abound as important parts of the landscape. Pittsburgh is a unique city with a proud past and an exciting future

Population Statistics in Pittsburgh:

• White Non-Hispanic (66.9%)
• Black (27.1%)
• Two or more races (1.6%)
• Hispanic (1.3%)
• Chinese (0.9%)
• Other race (0.7%)
• American Indian (0.7%)
• Asian Indian (0.6%)

information obtained from: pennsylvania.itypeusa.com/Pittsburgh.html

Chapter 5 Political Geography

In the past decade, no political party has been clearly dominant in Pennsylvania. This, combined with Pennsylvania's rank of 6th in the country in population and holding 21 electoral votes, has made it one of the most important swing states. The capital of the Commonwealth is Harrisburg. The legislature meets in the new State Capitol there. The current Governor is Ed Rendell, a former head of the Democratic National Committee who began as a popular District Attorney and mayor in Philadelphia.

Democrats are strong in urban Philadelphia and the areas of Pittsburgh, Reading, Allentown, Erie, Johnstown, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Republicans are generally dominant in the vast rural areas that make up the balance of the Commonwealth. Traditionally, Republicans have also fared well in the densely populated and wealthy suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but in the 1990s and 2000s many of these suburbs began to associate more with the Democratic Party.

In the 2004 Presidential Election, Senator John F. Kerry beat President George W. Bush in Pennsylvania 2,938,095 (50.92%) to 2,793,847 (48.42%).

Pennsylvania State Senate

Pittsburgh is represented in three Districts in the State Senate, all Democrats.

District	Senator	Party
38	Jim Ferlo	Democratic
42	Wayne D. Fontana	Democratic
42	Jay Costa	Deomcartic

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Pittsburgh is represented in nine Districts in the State House, all Democrats.

District	Representative	Party
19	Jake Wheatley	Democratic
20	Don Walko	Democratic
21	Lisa Bennington	Democratic
22	Chelsa Wagner	Democratic
23	Dan Frankel	Democratic
24	Joseph Preston Jr.	Democratic
27	Thomas C. Petrone	Democratic
34	Paul Costa	Democratic
26	Harry Readshaw	Democratic

Information obtained from: www.politicspa.com

Chapter 6 Agriculture, Gathering, and Extractive Industries

Agriculture is Pennsylvania's number one industry.

Although Pennsylvania is often recognized for its mining, steel, and manufacturing industries, Pennsylvania has always been a leader in agriculture.

Pennsylvania is America's fourth largest producer of food products. While nearly every county has some type of food plant, Philadelphia, Dauphin, Allegheny, Berks, York, Lancaster, and Montgomery Counties employ the most food workers. Philadelphia is known for its bakery products, its ice creams, and its candies. Hershey in Dauphin County is the home of Hershey Foods while York County is home to Hanover Foods. There are fruit canneries in Adams County and vegetable canneries in Northumberland County. Since 1869 when Henry J. Heinz began bottling horseradish and ketchup, Pittsburgh has been world-famous as the home of Heinz products.

Dairying is Pennsylvania's number one agricultural industry; the state is the fourth largest milk producing state and fourth in the country in the production of ice cream. Dairy farming is centered in the northeast and southwest. Erie County is noted for its fruits and vegetables. Other farm regions supply specialized crops such as mushrooms near Avondale and Kennett Square, cigar-leaf tobacco around York and Lancaster and maple sugar and Christmas trees within the Allegheny Plateaus. Livestock sales account for 68 percent of Pennsylvania's farm income.

Pennsylvania ranks the first nationally in producing mushrooms with annual production of 443 billion lbs. Winter wheat is an important crop in the southeast whereas Buckwheat is a major crop in the northeast. Other important crops include potatoes, oats, rye, barley, and a variety of truck crops. Pennsylvania also grows apples, cherries, peaches, and grapes.

Agriculture in Pennsylvania has a long and rich history and it is an
industry that promises to keep on growing and changing over time.

information and images obtained from: www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/agriculture/page1.asp?secid=31

Chapter 7 Industrial and Commercial Organization

Pittsburgh's access to large reserves of raw materials, especially coal, was instrumental to the emergence of the “Steel City” as a leading industrial center in the late 19th century.

By the 1920's Pittsburgh produced one
third of the national output of finished and rolled steel. It had the world's largest tube and pipe mill, structural steel plant, rail mill, wire manufacturing plant, bridge and construction fabricating plant. Pittsburgh also led in the manufacture of electrical machinery, railroad cars, tin plate, glass, fire brick and aluminum finishing. Forty percent of the nation's coal came from within 100 miles of Pittsburgh.

The heavy reliance on the metals industries resulted in economic stagnation and decline in the Pittsburgh economy when these industries experienced decreased demand and increased competition from foreign producers. After the mid-1970s, as the number of those employed in the steel industry declined, the city's economic base underwent a dramatic shift from manufacturing to service industries and commercial enterprises. Once a major center for corporate headquarters, many departed in the 1990s, a period, however, that saw the growth of high-technology companies. ..............................................................................Pittsburgh steel mill in 1890

As we mentioned earlier, the earlier growth of Pittsburgh and its economy was caused by the extensive trade of steel. Since, Pittsburgh has adapted to the collapse of the region's steel industry. The "Golden Triangle" of the downtown has been renovated. The primary industries have shifted more to high technology, such as robotics, health care, nuclear engineering, tourism, biomedical technology, finance, and services. Education is also a major employer, from primary through magnet schools, specialized professional institutes and highly-ranked universities.

In fact, Pittsburgh still maintains its status as a corporate headquarters city, with seven Fortune 500 companies calling the city home. This ranks Pittsburgh in a tie for the sixth-most Fortune 500 headquarters in the nation. In 2006, Expansion Magazine ranked Pittsburgh among the top 10 metropolitan areas in the nation for climates favorable to business expansion. Pittsburgh is the headquarters of many major corporations; e.g. U.S. Steel, Gulf Oil, Westinghouse Electric, Rockwell International, Alcoa, National Steel, PPG Industries, H.J. Heinz. Next to New York and Chicago, Pittsburgh is the most important city for corporate headquarters.

The following is a summary of data regarding the Pittsburgh metropolitan area labor force, 2004 annual averages.

• Size of nonagricultural labor force: 1,134,700

• Number of workers employed in . . .

• construction and mining: 58,900

• manufacturing: 103,300

• trade, transportation and utilities: 233,700

• information: 24,100

• financial activities: 69,600

• professional and business services: 138,900

• educational and health services: 213,500

• leisure and hospitality: 105,100

• other services: 59,500

• government: 128,100

all data and images were obtained from: www.explorepahistory.com and www.city-data.com

Chapter 8 Modern Transportation and Communication Systems

Pittsburgh is a city of bridges - 446 in total. Pittsburgh has more bridges than Venice, Italy, which has historically held the title of "City of Bridges". Around 40 bridges cross the three rivers near the city. The southern "entrance" to Downtown is through the Fort Pitt Tunnel and over the Fort Pitt Bridge. The Panhandle Bridge carries the Port Authority's 42-S/47-L/52 subway lines across the Monongahela River. All told, over 2,000 bridges dot the landscape of Allegheny County.

Roberto Clemente Bridge

The Pittsburgh area is at the center of an extensive highway system focused around Interstates 70, 80 and 76/376 (the Pennsylvania Turnpike) which run east and west, and Interstate 79/279 that runs north and south. Improvements to the Southern Beltway, the Findlay Connector, and the Mon-Fayette Expressway south of the city were recently completed and improvements to I-279 from the city to the airport area are ongoing. A recent renovation of the Fort Pitt Tunnels, which go through the base of the cliff of Mt. Washington connecting I-279 north of the city to south, was completed in early 2005 and greatly helped traffic congestion. Amtrak provides train service and Greyhound provides bus service into Pittsburgh.

Traveling in the City

The city center is confined in size by the three rivers and may be traversed on foot. The Port Authority Transit of Allegheny county, commonly referred to as “PAT”, is the region's mass transit system. The Transit serves the city of Pittsburgh, all of Allegheny County and portions of five neighboring counties with 1,066 buses, 83 light rail vehicles, 4 incline cars, 75 other vehicles, and 457 ACCESS vehicles for elderly and handicapped riders.

Port Authority runs a network of inter- and intracity bus routes, one funicular (more commonly known as "inclines") on Mount Washington (used primarily by tourists rather than a means of commuting), a light rail system that runs mostly above-ground in the suburbs and underground as a subway in the city, and one of the nation's largest busway systems. PAT services 228,454 passengers on an average weekday and had an approximate ridership of 68 million in 2004.

Imformation and images obtained form: www.city-data.com

Chapter 9 Cities

According to the 2000 census there were 334,563 individuals, 143,739 households, and 74,169 families within the city limits. The population of the surrounding metropolitan area was 2,358,695. The largest groups in terms of race were 67.63% Caucasian, 27.12% African American, 2.75% Asian, and 1.32% Hispanic. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $28,588, with 20.4% of the population living below the poverty line. Despite the high poverty rate, Pittsburgh has the lowest property crime rate and a lower-than-average violent crime rate among cities of similar size.

Economy

Pittsburgh's access to large reserves of raw materials, especially coal, was instrumental to the emergence of the “Steel City” as a leading industrial center in the late 19th cent. Industries include transportation equipment; metal, wood, plastic, paper, and glass products; printing and publishing; oil refining; textiles; chemicals; and computers. After the mid-1970s, as the number of those employed in the steel industry declined, the city's economic base underwent a dramatic shift from manufacturing to service industries and commercial enterprises. Once a major center for corporate headquarters, many departed in the 1990s, a period, however, that saw the growth of high-technology companies.

Despite a declining population, Pittsburgh remains the chief city of the eastern Ohio River Valley. It is also anchors the largest metropolitan area in Appalachia. Because of its low cost of living, economic opportunities, education, transportational and medical infrastructures, Pittsburgh consistently is ranked high in livability studies, being ranked the most livable city in the United States in 2007 by the Places Rated Alamanac.

Chapter 10 Neighborhoods

The city can be broken down into the Downtown area, called the Golden Triangle, and four main areas surrounding it. These four surrounding areas are further subdivided into distinct neighborhoods (in total, Pittsburgh contains 90 neighborhoods.) These areas, relative to downtown, are known as the North Side, South Side/South Hills, East End, and West End.

Downtown Pittsburgh is tight and compact, featuring many skyscrapers, 9 of which top 500 feet. U.S. Steel Tower is the tallest at 841 feet. The Cultural District comprises a 14 block area of downtown along the Allegheny River. It is packed with theaters and arts venues, and is seeing a growing residential segment. Most significantly, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is embarking on Riverparc, a 4-block mixed-use "green" community, featuring 700 residential units and multiple towers between 20–30 stories. The Firstside portion of downtown borders the Monongahela River and the historic Mon Wharf. This area is home to the distinctive PPG Place Gothic glass skyscraper complex. This area too, is seeing a growing residential sector, as new condo towers are constructed and historic office towers are converted to residential use. Downtown is serviced by the Port Authority's light rail and multiple bridges leading north and south. It is also home to Point Park University, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Culinary Institute, a RobertMorris University branch campus and Duquesne University which is located on the border of Downtown and Uptown.

The North Side is home to various neighborhoods in transition. The North Side is primarily composed of residential neighborhoods and is noteworthy for well-constructed and architecturally interesting homes. Many buildings date from the 19th century and are constructed of brick or stone and adorned with decorative woodwork, ceramic tile, slate roofs and stained glass. The North Side is also home to many popular attractions such as Heinz Field, PNC Park, Carnegie Science Center, National Aviary, Andy Warhol Museum, Mattress Factory installation art museum, Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Penn Brewery and Allegheny Observatory.

The South Side was once an area composed primarily of dense inexpensive housing for mill workers, but has in recent years become a local Pittsburgher destination. In fact, South Side is one of the most popular neighborhoods to own a home in Pittsburgh. The value of homes in the South Side have increased in value by about 10 percent annually for the past 10 years. The South Side's East Carson Street is one of the most vibrant areas of the city, packed with diverse shopping, ethnic eateries, pulsing nightlife and live music venues. In 1993 the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh purchased the South Side Works steel mill property, and worked together with the community and various developers to create a master plan for a mixed-use development including a riverfront park, office space, housing, health-care facilities, and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pitt Panthers indoor practice fields. Construction began in 1998, and the Southside Works is now open for business with many store, restaurants, offices, and the world headquarters for American Eagle Outfitters.

Homes along East Carson Street on the city’s South Side

The East End is home to the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, CarlowUniversity, Chatham University, The Carnegie Institute's Museums of Art and Natural History, Frick Art & Historical Center (Clayton and the Frick art museum), Phipps Conservatory, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, and the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. The neighborhoods of Shadyside and Squirrel Hill are large, wealthy neighborhoods featuring large shopping/business districts. Oakland, heavily populated by undergraduate and graduate students, is home to most of the universities, Schenley Park and the Petersen Events Center. Bloomfield is Pittsburgh's Little Italy and is known for its Italian restaurants and grocers. Lawrenceville is a revitalizing rowhouse neighborhood popular with artists and designers. The Strip District is a popular open-air marketplace by day and one of Pittsburgh's hottest clubbing destinations by night.

Shadyside, a neighborhood in the East Side

The West End includes Mt. Washington, with its famous view of the Downtown skyline and numerous other residential neighborhoods like Sheraden and Elliott. Pittsburgh's patchwork of neighborhoods still retain an ethnic character reflecting the city's immigrant history. This includes:

• African American: Hill District and Homewood,
• Jewish: Squirrel Hill
• Italian: Bloomfield
• German: Troy Hill and East Allegheny
• Polish and other Eastern European: South Side, Lawrenceville, and Polish Hill

Several neighborhoods on the edges of the city are less urban, featuring tree-lined streets, yards and garages giving a more characteristic suburban feel, while other aforementioned neighborhoods, such as Oakland, the South Side, the North Side, and the Golden Triangle are characterized by a more diverse, urban feel.

Chapter 11 Recreational Resources

Pittsburgh is loaded with many recreational activities. Recreational away from downtown can include: golf, skiing, fishing, nature walks, bicycling, horseback riding and much more...

Downtown, you'll find the Carnegie Science Center, which is among the top five science museums in the nation, it features the Robot Hall of Fame, which was created by Carnegie Mellon University in April 2003 to attract attention to the increasing contributions from robots to human society. The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium ranks as the fourth best zoo in the United States; and the National Aviary, the only bird zoo in the nation.

Pittsburgh offers countless art museums and galleries such as the Andy Warhol Museum, a one-of-a-kind performance center and gallery devoted to an American pop culture icon. Picture of the Mattress Factory - A contemporary art museum that commissionis, exhibits, and collects new site-specific installations created by artists in residence. Acclaimed as the best facility for installation art in the United States. The museum is interesting in that the building is basically set up to be a part of the art.

Pittsburgh is also known for its outdoor fun. With such activities as rowing, kayaking, and whitewater rafting along this region's rivers - the Allegheny, the Ohio, the Monongahela, and the Youghiogheny - and creeks, including the Connoquenessing and the Slippery Rock. There are hundreds of miles of walking, hiking and bike trails along waterfronts and through wooded hillsides.

Fishing along Creek Falls

Chapter 12 Human Impact on the Environment

All cities possess environmental stories, but there is probably no city in the nation that surpasses Pittsburgh in terms of the scope of its air, water and land pollution history. The city's geographical site and location on major rivers; its natural resource endowments, particularly bituminous coal; and its development as one of the world's most industrialized cities for much of the period from 1850 to 1980 largely shaped its environmental history. This environmental history can best be examined by considering the media of air, water, and land.

Smoke pollution was the most visible byproduct of coal consumption, with atmospheric inversions in the city and in the region exacerbating conditions. Smoke's link with industrial prosperity made control of the problem difficult. A smoke control movement developed after the city experienced a brief clean air period in the 1880s and early 1890s due to a brief natural gas boom. But smoke control ordinances and a Bureau of Smoke Control produced only minimal results because of weak regulations and enforcement, and imperfect control technologies.

Pittsburgh and its region still have considerable water pollution problems because of problematic sewer systems. Pittsburgh, for instance, has a combined sewer system that cannot accommodate all wastewater flows. Raw sewage, therefore, enters the river on wet weather days, causing violations of the Clean Water Act as do overflows from communities with sanitary sewers. However, the rivers are still heavily used for recreational purposes and fish species are abundant.

Over the course of decades of intense industrialism and coal mining, the land and the ground water in the Pittsburgh region were also polluted. In addition to the coal mine waste, much of which was cleaned up during the 1950s and 1960s, the metal industry also disfigured the landscape through its disposal of slag, the waste metal produced in steelmaking. Huge piles of slag can still be found around the region.

Pittsburgh and its surrounding region have made substantial improvements in environmental quality over the past half-century. The skies are cleaner, the rivers are full of fish and lined by bike trails and new buildings, and brownfields have been restored to productive and sustainable use. These gains have been accomplished by a combination of purposeful action and non-regulatory factors such as the collapse of the steel industry.

But a number of problems remain, such as wet weather pollution of the rivers and development of greenfield sites. Today, pollution from the by-products of coking facilities and automobiles are the greatest source of air pollution in the region. Dealing with these will require powerful leadership by elected officials and environmental organizations throughout the entire region who can unite on the common goal of further environmental improvement. And even with its minor problems, Pittsburgh isn’t the Smoky City anymore. The deadly air pollution that hung over Pittsburgh’s steel mills for nearly 150 years is gone, and the region has undergone a dramatic environmental transformation.

Chapter 13 Culture Regions

Pittsburgh is an incredible melting pot of cultures from every part of the world. In the nineteenth century, the influx of new Americans arriving to work in the steel mills and factories made Pittsburgh one of the fastest-growing industrial cities in the country.

Today, the result is a pastiche of customs, cuisine, and linguistic oddities that are absolutely unique. Golden onion domes rise above South Side, a traditionally Ukrainian area of town. Large stone Presbyterian churches dominate downtown, where wealthy Scottish immigrants settled and built homes for their native faith. The gorgeous century-old St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oakland testifies to the millions of Catholics who live in the region.

Lots of cities in the industrial Northeast and Midwest have intriguing Old World heritage, but Pittsburgh expresses this diversity in a few unique ways. The Cathedral of Learning, located at the center of Pitt’s campus, is crammed with classrooms funded and designed by immigrant communities from the early 20th century. Called Nationality Rooms, they encompass nations and ethnicities and feature iconic interior designs, furniture, and textiles. Some rooms are simply beautiful—and the winter tour of the decorated rooms is a great way to celebrate a Pittsburgh holiday.

The mix of linguistic traditions has resolved into a creole of absolutely unique expressions and pronunciations called Pittsburghese. The signature “yinz,” a contraction of “you ones,” is Pittsburgh’s version of the South’s “y'all.” It's the word that helps define the region’s flavor.