| One hundred years have passed since Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania annexed a large land tract that already had an illustrious history as a city of its own. What became known from December 9, 1907 on as the North Side of Pittsburgh was originally a place called Allegheny City.
In population, land size and economic power at that time, the first-ranking city in the state was Philadelphia. The second and third, respectively, were Pittsburgh and Allegheny City. Flourishing in all ways imaginable, Allegheny City was "consolidated" against its will. Despite eventual acclimation and further prosperity as part of Pittsburgh, the identity of Allegheny City, indelible, hangs as a mist over the land-- for descendants of original families, for historians, and for visitors that today see all the modern spectacles set on the age-old stage that is the lowland at the juncture of three majestic rivers.
"The largest amount of material in the state on the cultural and social history of a region" describes the recently-unearthed archives of Allegheny City. They inform this book, along with much else, to give perhaps the most proper look, finally, to this lost city, this society that was Allegheny. Meticulous municipal detailings, housing surveys and discourse of the day tell so much of the 1800s. This work is also the first to look in-depth both at the natives who first put down footpath and peopled it, and, filled with significant maps, at the long transformation of the land. The latter went from early-on forest and remarkable witness to the French & Indian War, to common pastures to estate holdings to residential developments. Though now part of Pittsburgh for one hundred years and counting, the hills and valleys, woods and runs, early "Burying Ground," and overlooks and sunken islands are all imprints of the numerous catalysts that happened here.
This portrait of a place tells a tale up to present day-- tracing land-plot histories, showing a forward-moving society of the 1800s still centered around a town square of the 1790s, presenting life within pre-twentieth century homes, and even addressing the recent era where modern homesteaders have successfully battled challenges before and into the new millennium. Resurrecting Allegheny City explains why, in 2007, many Pittsburgh Northsiders are sacredly tied to their neighborhood, their historic homes, and the very land upon which they find themselves rooted. They are defined, still, by Allegheny City.
An unmistakable opportunity exists, at the time of the Centennial of the Consolidation, to celebrate the legacy of Allegheny City, but to also understand how that legacy can transform the North Side of Pittsburgh as it moves toward its future. The publication of Resurrecting Allegheny City for the Centennial date vividly brings to life what indeed still survives to this day in the spirit of the land, structures and people-- connecting history to the current work of every resident, employer and visitor to the northern bank of the Allegheny River. In so doing, it will also educate and entertain all individuals even slightly curious about the goings-on centuries ago in early southwestern Pennsylvania.
|
