Pennsylvania: Allegheny County

Allegheny County (pop. 1,225,365) is west of Westmoreland County. The second-largest county in Pennsylvania by population, it reached its peak population of 1,628,587 in 1960.

Pittsburgh in red

The county seat of Allegheny County is the city of Pittsburgh (pop. 305,704). Now the 63rd largest city in the U.S., Pittsburgh was in the Top 10 from 1910 to 1940.

The Allegheny County Courthouse (1888), designed by H.H. Richardson in Romanesque Revival style, is well-known for its “Bridge of Sighs” to the jail (now a court building).

Across Ross Street

Pittsburgh has two 19th-century inclined railroads, descending Mt. Washington to the Monongahela River – the Duquesne Incline (1877) and the Monongahela Incline (1870)

Monongahela Incline

Pittsburgh has two restored movie palaces – Heinz Hall (former Loew’s Penn Theater, 1927) and the Benedum Center (former Stanley Theatre, 1928) now used for concerts, opera, and more.

Heinz Hall

The 535-foot Cathedral of Learning (1926) at the University of Pittsburgh is the tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere.

Gothic style

The actress and model Evelyn Nesbit (1884-1967) grew up in Pittsburgh. She was portrayed by Elizabeth McGovern in the 1981 film “Ragtime.

The real Evelyn

The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh contains Andy’s stuffed Great Dane.

Andy bought it already stuffed.

Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh is the steepest street in the U.S., with a grade of 37%.

The borough of Braddock (pop. 2,159) has the first Carnegie Library in the U.S., built in 1888. Braddock had a population of 20,789 in 1920.

Still a library

In West Mifflin (pop. 20,313), southeast of Pittsburgh, Kennywood (1899) is one of the few old trolley parks in the U.S. that are still open for business. It’s a National Historic Landmark.