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PITTSBURGH |
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The vibrant ten-block district known as the Golden Triangle, at the
heart of downtown PITTSBURGH , stands at the confluence of the
Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio rivers, once bitterly fought over as the
gateway to the West. The French built Fort Duquesne on the site in 1754,
only for it to be destroyed four years later by the British, who
replaced it with Fort Pitt . Industry began with the development of iron
foundries in the early 1800s, and by the time of the Civil War,
Pittsburgh was producing half of the iron and one third of the glass in
the US. Soon after, the city became the world's leading producer of
steel, thanks to the vigorous expansion programs of Andrew Carnegie ,
who, by 1870, was the richest man in the world. Present-day Pittsburgh
is dotted with his cultural bequests, along with those of other wealthy
forefathers including the Mellon bankers, the Frick coal merchants and
the Heinz food producers.
Though saddled with a Victorian reputation for dirt and pollution, the
city experienced a transformation after the 1950s. A face-lift involved
large-scale demolition of abandoned steel mills, which freed up much of
the downtown waterfront, but all-out yuppification has been kept in
check by the student population and the small-town feel of the older
ethnic neighborhoods to the north and south. Pittsburgh today is one of
America's most attractive and most liveable cities; resilience and
enthusiasm rather than coal fumes fill the air, and sleek architecture
and green parks supplant smokestacks and slums. The popular Andy Warhol
Museum , opened in 1994, has bolstered Pittsburgh's image as a
destination city, while an enormous new Convention Center will bring in
major conferences, which is sure to add to the influx of visitors.
Each of Pittsburgh's close-knit neighborhoods - the South Side and Mount
Washington , across the Monongahela River from the Golden Triangle , the
North Side across the Allegheny River, and Oakland , the university area
in the east - attests in its own way to the city's history and its
resurgence. Easily accessible from each other, they retain individual
identities while remaining part of a proud whole.
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Vacation Rentals in Pittsburgh |
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from $70.00
USD