History · Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh has 189 places on the National Register, 5 of them National Historic Landmarks

Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #15 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it

Dated to 1758 (Wikidata), with 48% of its homes built before 1940 and 31 historic districts holding 8,164 contributing buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, the census since 1800, and every listing on the Register.

1758founded

189on the National Register

48%homes built before 1940

4old photos & papers

23famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

Quick answers

How Pittsburgh began, and where its name came from

When was Pittsburgh founded?

1758

Pittsburgh dates its founding to 1758 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1800.

First census: 1,565 in 18002020 census: 302,971268 years

How did Pittsburgh get its name?

Pittsburgh was named in 1758, by Scottish General John Forbes, in honor of British statesman William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham.

More on the name

As Forbes was a Scotsman, he probably pronounced the name PITS-bər-ə (similar to Edinburgh).

How historic is Pittsburgh?

A⁺

Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1788. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Pittsburgh’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pittsburgh is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #15 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs put Pittsburgh near the top nationally; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest.

A⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pittsburgh’s overall grade.

Founding era1758, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA⁺Homes built before 194048.3% of homes (±1.0) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%A⁺National Register189 listings, 8,164 historic buildings, 268 per 10,000 residents · typical PA town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Among the top 1%

NewerOlder

Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)#15 of 1,035

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Pittsburgh ranks #3 on History.

Pennsylvania towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Pennsylvania town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Pittsburgh’s 268 sits above most of its state (92% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 8,164 historic buildings outnumber those of 100% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1758.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A+. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Pittsburgh’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark189 places on the National Register, 5 of them National Historic Landmarks.A historic districtThe Lawrenceville Historic District takes in 3,186 historic buildings.Lost villages20 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Pittsburgh, and 82 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

189 listings protect 8,164 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 5 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

189

National Historic Landmarks

Forks of the Ohio

historic buildings protected

8,164

each building in a district counts

first listed

1966

Forks of the Ohio

BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructures★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Italianate22

Art Deco18

Romanesque15

Richardsonian Romanesque14

Beaux Arts14

Victorian13

★ Landmark

Forks of the OhioBuilt 1974

★ Landmark

Allegheny County Courthouse and JailRichardsonian Romanesque

★ Landmark

Smithfield Street BridgeBuilt 1883

★ Landmark

Emmanuel Episcopal ChurchRomanesque

★ Landmark

Chatham Village Historic DistrictColonial Revival

Allegheny Post OfficeItalian Renaissance · Built 1897

St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic ChurchRomanesque

Rotunda of the Pennsylvania Railroad StationNeo-Baroque · Built 1903

All 190 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

20 other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Pittsburg

1788–today

Allegheny

1836–1911

Remington

1850–1902

West Manchester

1850–1868

Arsenal

1851–1868

Carrick

1853–1906

Hulton

1854–1894

Chartiers

1863–1907

Soho

1865–1868

Saint Elmo

1867–1871

17801900today

Hamlets and corners on the map

AlleghenyAllegheny CenterAllentownArlingtonBanksvilleBeechviewBellefieldBelmarBeltzhooverBloomfieldBon AirBrighton HeightsBrooklineBrushtonCalifornia KirkbrideCarrickChartiersCity ViewCorlissDowntownDuquesne HeightsEast AlleghenyEast CarnegieEast Liberty

Gone or out of use

Allegheny High SchoolschoolAnnunication SchoolschoolAspinwall Seaplane BaseairportForbes FieldlocaleHalls Grove SchoolschoolLatimer Junior High SchoolschoolPolice AirportairportSouth Hills High SchoolschoolThree Rivers StadiumparkViking AirportairportWightman Elementary Schoolschool

37family graveyards and cemeteries inside Pittsburgh

AlleghenyBeth AbrahamBirminghamCalvary Catholic Cemetery and MausoleumCalvary Episcopal Church ColumbariumChartiersConcord Presbyterian ChurchGates of WisdomHighwoodHollywood Memorial ParkHomewoodLaw Enforcement Officers Memorial of Allegheny CountyLorettoMinersvillePoale ZedeckSacred Heart of Jesus Polish National CatholicSaint AdalbertSaint GeorgeSaint John Vianney Cemetery - Saint Georges SectionSaint John Vianney Cemetery - Saint Josephs SectionSaint Johns LutheranSaint MartinSaint Mary CatholicSaint MichaelsSaint Paul of the Cross MonasterySaint Peter'sSaint Peter'sSaint Wendelin Roman Catholic ChurchShaare TorahShaare ZedeckSmithfield East EndSouth SideTrinity ChurchTurnerUniondale Cemetery 1VoegtlyWest Liberty

See all 37

Allegheny Cemetery · Beth Abraham Cemetery · Birmingham Cemetery · Calvary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum · Calvary Episcopal Church Columbarium · Chartiers Cemetery · Concord Presbyterian Church Cemetery · Gates of Wisdom Cemetery · Highwood Cemetery · Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery · Homewood Cemetery · Law Enforcement Officers Memorial of Allegheny County · Loretto Cemetery · Minersville Cemetery · Poale Zedeck Cemetery · Sacred Heart of Jesus Polish National Catholic Cemetery · Saint Adalbert Cemetery · Saint George Cemetery · Saint John Vianney Cemetery - Saint Georges Section · Saint John Vianney Cemetery - Saint Josephs Section · Saint Johns Lutheran Cemetery · Saint Martin Cemetery · Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery · Saint Michaels Cemetery · Saint Paul of the Cross Monastery Cemetery · Saint Peter's Cemetery · Saint Peter's Cemetery · Saint Wendelin Roman Catholic Church Cemetery · Shaare Torah Cemetery · Shaare Zedeck Cemetery · Smithfield East End Cemetery · South Side Cemetery · Trinity Church Graveyard · Turner Cemetery · Uniondale Cemetery 1 · Voegtly Cemetery · West Liberty Cemetery

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Pittsburgh came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pittsburgh.

Read it all →

The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee and several other settled groups of Native Americans. The Seneca people called the confluence of the rivers Diondega or Jaödeogë’. Shannopin's Town was an 18th-century Lenape (Delaware) town located roughly from where Penn Avenue is today, below the mouth of Two Mile Run, from 30th Street to 39th Street. According to George Croghan, the town was situated on the south bank of the Allegheny, nearly opposite what is now known as Washington's Landing, formerly Herr's Island, in what is now the Lawrenceville neighborhood.

ChaptersNative Americans 18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Pittsburgh, 1879–1922

Passages that mention Pittsburgh, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad opens a northern track for travel and trade, which, with the Pittsburgh & Erie Railroad, and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Road (the latter being the last brilliant evidence of Pittsburgh's enterprise), affords such ample communication with the lakes and the trunk l… — **Industries of Pittsburgh**1879 · page 39Read the page →
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The Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad opens a northern track for travel and trade, which, with the Pittsburgh & Erie Railroad, and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Road (the latter being the last brilliant evidence of Pittsburgh's enterprise), affords such ample communication with the lakes and the trunk lines to the North- West as leaves nothing in this direction for the most ambitious citizen to desire.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

entered the McCormick Medical College, complcfinp a special course in optics, and beinc; graduated in 1895 with the degree of Doctor of Ophthalmology. Coming to Pittsburgh, he was for a time superintendent of die Pittsburgh Optical plant, then entered the Park Institute to study medicine, a course … — **History of Pittsburgh and environs**1922Read the page →
Read the text
entered the McCormick Medical College, complcfinp a special course in optics, and beinc; graduated in 1895 with the degree of Doctor of Ophthalmology. Coming to Pittsburgh, he was for a time superintendent of die Pittsburgh Optical plant, then entered the Park Institute to study medicine, a course he later abandoned to pursue special studies in physics. He followed his prnftssion until 1899, in that year returning to Pittsburgh to become
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Kailroad is mainly indebted for its existence to the capitalists and business men of Pittsburgh, who, becoming dissatislied with the freiglit discriminations of older and wealthier corporations against Pittsburgh, determined to construct a road which should furnish an o… — **Industries of Pittsburgh**1879 · page 236Read the page →
Read the text
The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Kailroad is mainly indebted for its existence to the capitalists and business men of Pittsburgh, who, becoming dissatislied with the freiglit discriminations of older and wealthier corporations against Pittsburgh, determined to construct a road which should furnish an outlet for their manufactures, and carry their productions at reasonable yet paying rates. This line is the exclusive connection of the Atlantic and Great Western, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, New York Central, and Erie Kailroads for passengers and freight to and from Pittsburgh, East and West, and offers to our manufacturers and business men competing facilities, which must be appreciated.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

tecture, at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, taking largely, night courses, and working through the day to keep himself in funds for his education. He came to PilldMif!||h hi i9p7» entering the employ of the Pittsburgh ft Lake Erie railroad, and during that time designed the Terminal Station w… — **History of Pittsburgh and environs**1922 · page 178Read the page →
Read the text
tecture, at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, taking largely, night courses, and working through the day to keep himself in funds for his education. He came to PilldMif!||h hi i9p7» entering the employ of the Pittsburgh ft Lake Erie railroad, and during that time designed the Terminal Station which they erected at Pittsburgh, and a number of other stations all along the line of the railload. He later entered the employ of Joseph L. Neal,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Pittsburgh, 1758 to 1935

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

18th century
1758
FoundingPittsburgh is established
1788Post officeThe Pittsburg post office opens
1798In the archiveAlexander Addison letter to Hugh Brakenridge September 3 1798
19th century
1814In the archiveArmory ("U.S. Arsenal"), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Front elevation
1836Post officeThe Allegheny post office opens
1850Post officeThe Remington post office opens
1871In the archiveJane Foster diary
1882In the archiveNote from frick to carnegie on stock purchases
1883BuiltSmithfield Street Bridge is built
1897BuiltAllegheny Post Office is built
20th century
1902Post officeThe Remington post office closes
1903BuiltRotunda of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station is built
1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1911Born hereWilliam Alfred Fowler is born here
1911Post officeThe Allegheny post office closes
1912Born hereGene Kelly is born here
1928Born hereAndy Warhol is born here
1935Born hereRon Paul is born here

By decade

Pittsburgh, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1790s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1790s–1810s2 items

Alexander Addison letter to Hugh Brakenridge September 3 1798

1798Alexander Addison letter to Hugh Brakenridge Septembe…Document

Armory ("U.S. Arsenal"), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Front elevation

1814Armory ("U.S. Arsenal"), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Fr…Document

1870s–1880s2 items

1871Jane Foster diary

1882Note from frick to carnegie on stock purchases

1890s–1990snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

On the map

Pittsburgh on the map, 1904 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pittsburgh. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1904Pittsburgh sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pittsburgh.

Every building

Pittsburgh, building by building, 1884–1905

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Pittsburgh fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 1

1884Sheet 1 of 77

Edition

Sheets

+76 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewJane Foster diary, 1871

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pittsburgh’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Pittsburgh, census by census

Peaked at 676,806 in 1950; 302,971 people lived here in 2020.

23 censuses, 1800–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pittsburgh’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

23 famous people were born in Pittsburgh

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Andy WarholAmerican artist, film director, and producer · b. 1928

Gene KellyAmerican dancer, actor, singer, director and ch… · b. 1912

Ron PaulAmerican politician · b. 1935

William Alfred FowlerAmerican nuclear physicist · b. 1911

F. Murray AbrahamAmerican actor · b. 1939

Clifford ShullAmerican physicist · b. 1915

Help out

Start Pittsburgh’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pittsburgh’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewJane Foster diary: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

BaldwinIts storyC Penn Hills1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Ross Township1 historic placeB⁺Green TreeIts storyC⁺Baldwin TownshipIts storyD Reserve TownshipIts storyB Crafton1 historic placeB⁺IngramIts storyA⁻Wilkinsburg5 historic placesA⁺West Mifflin1 historic placeB

Questions about Pittsburgh’s history

What year was Pittsburgh founded?

In 1758, according to Wikidata. Pittsburgh’s post office opened in 1788, and the census of 1800 counted 1,565 people here.

How does Pittsburgh rank for history?

Pittsburgh is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #15 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Pittsburgh?

189 listings, 5 of them National Historic Landmarks: 141 buildings, 32 historic districts with 7,917 contributing buildings, 3 sites, and 14 structures. 8,164 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Pittsburgh?

48% of Pittsburgh’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1942.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (190), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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Pittsburgh has 189 places on the National Register, 5 of them National Historic Landmarks

How Pittsburgh began, and where its name came from

When was Pittsburgh founded?

How did Pittsburgh get its name?

How historic is Pittsburgh?

What drives Pittsburgh’s History grade

What stands out about Pittsburgh’s past

189 listings protect 8,164 historic buildings

Architectural styles listings

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

How Pittsburgh came to be

What they wrote about Pittsburgh, 1879–1922

Pittsburgh, 1758 to 1935

Pittsburgh, decade by decade

Pittsburgh on the map, 1904 to 1993

Pittsburgh, building by building, 1884–1905

Stand where they stood

Pittsburgh, census by census

23 famous people were born in Pittsburgh

Start Pittsburgh’s collection

History across the town line

Questions about Pittsburgh’s history

Memory lane

Where this page comes from