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.

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.

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