PITTSBURGH’S
200
th
CELEBRATE THE 200 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF PITTSBURGH’S INCORPORATION
The year 2016 ushered in the official 200th anniversary of Pittsburgh as an incorporated city. On March 18, 1816, Pennsylvania’s legislature voted to incorporate the city, giving its citizens not only status as a city across the young nation, but rights of self-governance such as the right to vote and a framework for municipal services.
In June of 1970, well before Facetime, our own mayor, Pete Flaherty, made the world’s first video telephone call on a machine known as the Picturephone. The call was made from Bell Telephone headquarters, located in Pittsburgh. Our city was Bell Telephone’s first test city for the Picturephone.
To recognize this important date, and to help celebrate the anniversary, Mayor Bill Peduto created and launched the Bicentennial Commission. Community and business leaders from various walks of life have joined forces to celebrate all that makes Pittsburgh extraordinary, while bridging the past, present, and future.
There are many other firsts that Pittsburgh can claim. Our own WQEDTV was the first publicly funded television station in the nation. Today, public television is a national staple and leader in original programming and it all began here.
Pittsburghers have always embraced a can-do attitude and demonstrated innovative and future-focused thinking, learning, and doing. From our start as a pioneer outpost to our current status as a city of the future, Pittsburgh has offered young people a place to grow, learn, and expand. Opportunities abound here, whether in the fields of the arts, medicine, or technology, and our young people are encouraged to dream big. Many exciting innovations sprang from inventors and entrepreneurs from Pittsburgh. We all think of Dr. Jonas Salk and his famous breakthrough vaccine to eradicate polio. His research has saved countless lives, but there are so many more.
Pittsburgh also launched the first commercial radio station in the country, KDKA, and was the home of the first newspaper west of the Alleghenies, the Pittsburg Gazette (note, the “h” was missing from our city’s name at this time). There are many more “firsts” to our credit. You can learn more by visiting the Carnegie Library site: www.clpgh.org
Holly Bulvony is the Senior Vice President of Communications at A to Z Communications. Learn more about Pittsburgh’s 200th at www.pgh200.com.
“The Pittsburgh Promise is an amazing opportunity that allowed me to choose a school that is right for me, without having to worry about loans. I chose Edinboro University because of the variety of majors that are offered here. Because of the Promise, I was able to choose the best path for me and for my future, without financial constraints.”
Choose Excellence. Choose Edinboro. Apply at edinboro.edu | 888-8GO-BORO SINCE 2008, THE PITTSBURGH PROMISE HAS PROVIDED SCHOLARSHIPS TO HUNDREDS OF EDINBORO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS.
21 ideapod // SPRING 2016