Chapter I

Pittsburgh has thus passed through many battles, trials, afflictions, and adversities, and has grown in the strength of giants until it now embraces in the limits of the county a population rapidly approaching one million. This seems a proper moment, therefore, turning away from the romantic perspective of history, to attempt a brief description of Pittsburgh as we see her to-day. In order to give value to the record it will be necessary to employ certain statistics, but the effort will be to make these figures as little wearisome as possible. The present population after the annexation of Allegheny (December 6, 1907) is estimated at 550,000, and if we were to add McKeesport with its tube mills, Homestead with its Carnegie works, and East Pittsburgh with its Westinghouse plants, all of which lie just outside of the present corporate limits, the population would be 700,000. In 1900 we can give the population definitely (omitting Allegheny) at 321,616, of whom 85,032 were foreign born and 17,040 were negroes. Of these foreign born 21,222 were natives of Germany, 18,620 of Ireland, 8,902 of England, 6,243 of Russian Poland, 5,709 of Italy, 4,107 of Russia, 3,553 of Austria, 3,515 of German Poland, 2,539 of Wales, 2,264 of Scotland, 2,124 of Hungary, 1,072 of Sweden, 1,025 of Austrian Poland, and 154 Chinese.