Father Pitt

“Pittsburgh, at the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany Rivers, is the second city in the State. It has a large trade and is noted for its commerce and its vast manufactures of iron. Alleghany City and Birmingham are connected with Pittsburgh by bridges.”

From A System of Modern Geography. The engraving may not be accurate down to the individual buildings, but it probably does a good job of conveying the general impression produced by the city just after the Civil War.

The Railroad Riots of 1877 destroyed millions of dollars in property in Pittsburgh, not least of which was the main Pennsylvania Railroad station. The railroad commissioned Daniel Burnham to design the new station, a masterpiece that is still with us today, but also a big fat raspberry to the rioters, telling them to their faces that the railroad only grew stronger in the face of their opposition. This print (which old Pa Pitt has cleaned up a bit) comes from a book called Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Great Riots, which is a history of all the famous urban riots in America up to 1882.

This painting by H. A. Bailey was probably made in the 1940s or early 1950s. It has never been published before, so here is a rare privilege for old Pa Pitt’s readers.

Old Pa Pitt does not have an exact date for this old postcard, but it appears to be from about 1915 or so, to judge by the buildings. In those days, Pittsburgh was one of the three great homes of the skyscraper, along with New York and Chicago.