Pittsburgh - Built To Last

Long known for its heavy industry, Pittsburgh has reinvented itself as a thriving tech hub.

- Tom Otley

Pittsburgh deserves its moniker of the Steel City, even now that the steelworks have moved away. First, there are the 446 bridges, many made of the same material, that span its three rivers – the Allegheny, the Monongahela, and Ohio. Then there is the Steel Building – at 64 stories, one of the tallest in the city, and displaying its dark steel exterior as a badge of pride. Even its NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, is named after the city’s best-known export.

More than any of these, there’s the character of the people – friendly, welcoming and yet pragmatic, no-nonsense, and with a touch of toughness; a bit of steel, you might say, coming from the shared heritage of this industrial city. This was a tough, hard-working place, and you get the sense that no one wants to forget that history forged with grit. Why should they, when it has left such a legacy?

For Pittsburgh is the city that made America. Its steel went into rails that opened up the continent and provided the skeleton frames for the skyscrapers that came to define its cities. As that industry moved abroad, Pittsburgh suffered, although not as bad as many other places, and today it has been reborn as a high-tech center, meaning visitors see regeneration rather than decay.

PROUD PAST

Walk around downtown and you quickly find yourself examining brick and stone-cast frontages of 19th-century commercial and office buildings, many now converted into apartments. Grand civic buildings slow your step, while the huge theatres dating from a century ago – and refurbished many times since then – still welcome audiences.