Pittsburgh, the Iron City

There is just one Pittsburgh in America. It's our Iron City. There are many cities in America that spell their name "Pittsburg." There is even one in PA. It is in Lancaster County.

But our Pittsburgh has an "h" at the end of the "burg." Not many cities do that in America. That style is found in a few place names, and curiously enough, most of them are also in Pennsylvania.

Even Pittsburgh was once known as "Pittsburg" for a short time, but the good citizens put an end to that officially in 1911.

Pittsburgh was given its name in 1758 by General John Forbes in honor of Sir William Pitt. Rumor has it that since Forbes was a Scotsman, he intended Pittsburgh to be pronounced "Pitts bur ra," which is how you would pronounce similar towns in Scotland. For example, Edinburgh is pronounced "Ed in bur ra."

The Iron City has a lot of nicknames. You can use: City of Bridges, Steel City, City of Champions, The 'Burgh, Iron City, The Smoky City, Steel Town, The College City, Roboburgh.

Give it time. They'll come up with some more, but it will always be Pittsburgh, no matter what they call it.

Pennsylvania

You may have thought it was the Pennsylvania Polka or even Pennsylvania 6-5000, but it isn't. The State Song of Pennsylvania is the aptly named "Pennsylvania." It became the state song in 1990. Words and Music are by Eddie Khoury and Ronnie Bonner.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania,
Mighty is your name,
Steeped in glory and tradition,
Object of acclaim.

Where brave men fought the foe of freedom,
Tyranny decried,
'Til the bell of independence
filled the countryside.

Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania,
May your future be,
filled with honor everlasting
as your history.

Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania,
Blessed by God's own hand,
Birthplace of a mighty nation,
Keystone of the land.

Where first our country's flag unfolded,
Freedom to proclaim,
May the voices of tomorrow
glorify your name.

Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania,
May your future be,
filled with honor everlasting
as your history.

That is a great song. Great sentiment. Great meaning.

I leave it at that.
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LivingQuotes will help you live.
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The Great PA-Connecticut War

Officially, it is known as the The Pennamite-Yankee Wars. What happened was that way, way back King Charles II gave the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania to two separate groups. First he gave it to Connecticut in 1663. Later, in 1681, he gave it to William Penn. Connecticut actually had the better claim and sent settlers to the valley several times. They were the ones who founded the town of Wilkes-Barre.

Each time they came, the hometown crowd chased them off or fought with them. Sometimes Connecticut won; sometimes PA did. The fighting went on for thirty years between 1769 and 1799. Some of the fighting was pretty mild. In one "war," only three people were killed.

The King of England tried to settle the dispute by ruling that the land belonged to Connecticut, but then the American Revolution happened, and the Continental Congress sided with Pennsylvania's claim. So the war dragged on with no end in sight. At one point, Vermont sent men to help Connecticut.

It ended in 1799 when it was agreed that the Wyoming Valley belonged to Pennsylvania, but that the Connecticut settlers could retain their lands.

And now everybody is happy. Yay!!!
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Do you like words? Do you like humor? The Dogs of Words are waiting for you.

Harris County, Texas has a connection to Harrisburg, PA

John Harris, Sr., was a trader. He settled in the Harrisburg, PA, area around 1719. His business went well. In fact, it went so well that he bought up 800 acres of land and started a ferry service.
In 1785, his son, John Harris, Jr., developed plans for a town on his father's land. It was to be called Harrisburg in honor of his father.

TOTALLY WEIRD FACT: In 1786, Harrisburg was renamed Louisburg in honor Louis XVI for his help during the American Revolution. Harris threw a hissy fit. He was a major landowner, and he wasn't going to put up with the name change. He got his way by out-maneuvering his opponents in a business deal. What he did was he refused to sell land for the county seat until the name Harrisburg was reinstated. It was. Harrisburg began a rapid growth and by 1812 it was the state capital.

Moving forward in time a little, in 1826 the grandson of John Harris, Sr, proclaimed that the new town he had started in Texas was to be named Harrisburg. Some say he named it after himself. Others say he was honoring his granpappy. Still others say that he simply named it after the town that his daddy started up north. I like to think he was a good boy who put his family ahead of himself, so I say he named it after Harris, Sr.

Harrisburg, Texas, became a colorful city. It took a short turn as capital of Texas in 1835. The next year, 1836, two bigs things happened: 1) The surrounding county changed its name to Harrisburg and 2) Santa Anna burned the city into the ground.

After the fighting ended, the city of Houston sprouted up right next to Harrisburg. It grew rapidly. It had the advantage of not being totally destroyed by Santa Anna. Harrisburg never really recovered. In 1837, Houston, not Harrisburg, became county seat of Harrisburg County.

Two years later, 1839, they shortened the name to Harris County. It is now the largest county in Texas with about 3.5 million people. That also makes it the third biggest in America.

The city of Houston annexed the city of Harrisburg in 1926.

So there you go. Harris County, Texas, has a strong (family) history with Harrisburg, PA.

Cheesteaks and brisket for everybody!!!

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If you want to know more about Texas, this is our sister blog: I Luv TX at IluvTX.com. Both blogs are carrying this particular post since it is about both states.

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Hillbillies, potato chips and mushrooms

Pennsylvania has more people that are classified as rural than any other state.

We produce more potato chips than anybody else.

We grow more mushrooms.

We have more covered bridges.

We make more sausage.

We have more bakeries. (Probably because of pretzel production)

And believe it or not, we produce more scrapple than any of those other wannabe states.

So there, nyahh (I'm now sticking out my tongue. It's a visual thing.)

PA had the first oilwell in the US

The first oil well in the US was drilled by Colonel Edwin Drake. The city was Titusville, PA. The year was 1859.

Colonel Drake was not the first to drill for oil in North America. That happened in 1858 in Ontario, Canada. And he was not the first to strike oil in the US or PA or even in Titusville. Others had struck oil while looking for other things, such as water. Finding oil instead usually meant that the well was abandoned.

Colonel Drake drilled where he did because Titusville was known for oil seeps and for other wells that had accidentally struck oil. Smart man. He struck oil at a mere 69 feet down.

Pennsylvania was producing oil way before Texas, Oklahoma, and California.

I Luv PA is found at IluvPA.com