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Photographer: Mike Wintermantel
Taken: May 14, 2014
Caption: Pittsburgh: A Crossroads
Additional Description: Just across from this Memorial, the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio. The confluence of three waterways capable of transporting cargo to and from virtually all of early America established Pittsburgh as the nation's busiest inland port. When nearby reserves of high-quality coal, gas and oil were discovered, a strong manufacturing component was added. Soon, steel and steel products were being turned out in amounts sufficient to earn Pittsburgh its designation as The Steel City. The description would apply for more than a century.

Area industries provided abundant opportunity for labor, much of it performed initially by European immigrants. They came first from Britain, Ireland and Germany, and later from Poland, Italy, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Romania and Greece. The arrival of African-Americans from the South during the Great Migration further enriched Pittsburgh's human mosaic. Other American population centers had grown larger, but none would surpass the region in its support of the nation's wars.

The city's status as a supplier to the military dates to the Civil War. A single local foundry produced 15 percent of all Union Army artillery; 10 percent of artillery rounds fired were Pittsburgh-made; and virtually all naval ironclads were protected by armor produced here. Regional producers helped arm the Allies in World War I and, despite the Depression-related shutdown of some capacity, they quickly retooled their facilities to meet the Axis threat.
Submitted: May 15, 2014, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Database Locator Identification Number: p273371
File Size: 1.842 Megabytes

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