Pittsburgh | |
City in the United States | |
Location | |
State | Pennsylvania |
County | Allegheny County |
Coordinates | 40°26’30″W, 80°0’0″WL |
General | |
Surface | 151.11 km² |
– country | 143.42 km² |
– water | 7.69 km² |
Residents (April 1, 2020) |
302,971 (2112 inhabitant/km²) |
– agglomeration | 2,447,393 (2010) |
Politics | |
Mayor | Ed Gainey (D) |
Website | pittsburghpa.gov |
According to ehuacom, Pittsburgh is a city in the US state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. The city had a population of 304,391 in 2015, making it the second largest city in the state, behind Philadelphia. The agglomeration has approximately 2.4 million inhabitants. Pittsburgh is located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, which further form the Ohio River.
History
The first Europeans to settle in the Pittsburgh area were the French, who opened forts and trading posts there.
During the War of 1754–1763, the British captured Fort Duquesne, located where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers meet. This downtown Pittsburgh spot is known today as the Point. The British built a larger fort on the same site and named it Fort Pitt, after British statesman William Pitt the Elder.
A special feature is that well into the 1970s, Pittsburgh had one of the largest public transport networks in the US. Public transport was carried out almost entirely by trams of the PCC type. At its peak, it was just over 600 miles in size. The carrier was the PRC, Pittsburgh Railways Co.
Geography
Climate
In January the average temperature is -3.3 °C, in July it is 22.3 °C. Annually there is an average of 936.0 mm of precipitation (data based on the measurement period 1961-1990).
Nearby places
The figure below shows nearby places within 5 miles of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh
Aspin Wall (8 km)
Brentwood (7 miles)
Crafton (8 km)
Dormont (7 km)
Edgewood (5 miles)
Etna (7 km)
Green Tree (7 km)
Homestead (7 km)
Ingram (8 km)
McKees Rocks (5 miles)
Millvale (5 km)
Mount Oliver (3 km)
Reserve Township (4 km)
Sharpsburg (7 km)
Swissvale (8 km)
West Homestead (7 km)
Demographics
16.4 % of the population is older than 65 and 39.4 % consists of single – person households. Unemployment is 4.1% (2000 census figures).
About 1.3% of Pittsburgh’s population is Hispanic and Hispanic, 27.1% of African origin and 2.7% of Asian origin.
The population decreased from 370,139 in 1990 to 334,563 in 2000.
Economy
City silhouette of downtown Pittsburgh
From the early 1800s, Pittsburgh industrialized rapidly, thanks in part to the presence of large amounts of coal nearby. The main activity was steel production and the city was nicknamed Steel City.
In 1960, Pittsburgh was the world’s first city to have electricity from a nuclear power plant.
The recession in the 1970s made Pittsburgh’s steel mills unprofitable and most of them closed.
Today, services and technology are the biggest economic factors in and around the city. The city is also the headquarters of the food group Heinz, which produces tomato ketchup, sandwich spread and related foods.
Art and culture
Pittsburgh has a ballet theater building, an opera house, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, several entertainment venues, etc., as would be expected in a city of this size. The city is home to several museums, including the Andy Warhol Museum, the Frick Art Museums, which since 1969 have housed the collections of the collector of that name (including a painting by Peter Paul Rubens), and the history museum named Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Region History Center.
Education & Science
Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University, and the University of Pittsburgh are the city’s best-known universities. In addition, there are:, Robert Morris University, Point Park University, Chatham University and Carlow University. Pittsburgh also has an observatory.
Sports
- The city’s best-known sports club is the American football team of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- The local ice hockey team is called the Pittsburgh Penguins.
- The local baseball club is called Pittsburgh Pirates.
- The local soccer team is called Pittsburgh Riverhounds.
Traffic and transport
The city can be reached by plane via Pittsburgh International Airport.
The town has two funicular lines, the Duquesne Incline and the Monongahela Incline.
Cities partnering
- Charleroi (Belgium)
- Ostrava (Czech Republic)
- Wuhan (China), since 1982
- Zagreb (Croatia), since 1980
- Skopje (North Macedonia), since 2002