I got this Official Postcrossing postcard from Pennsylvania! For some reason, the name of that state seemed familiar (hehehe). Funnily enough, for as long as I’ve been a resident of Pennsylvania, I’ve never visited Pittsburgh! For those that might not know, Pennsylvania is on the eastern/northeastern side of the US. Pittsburgh is on the western side of the state (I live on the eastern side, kind of close to Philadelphia). Pittsburgh is the second-most populous city in the state, just behind Philly, and it’s known for being “The Steel City” due to the hundreds of steel businesses that were around at some point here. Its status as a place of booming steel industry started during the American Civil War, and continued through the very early 1900s with the formation of the Carnegie Steel Company and, subsequently, the United States Steel Corp. I’d like to highlight Carnegie Steel as it was created by Andrew Carnegie, one of America’s richest citizens, who was also majorly into philanthropy (or works of charity) and the subject of one of my 9th grade history projects that I’m particularly proud of. Anyway, the steel business in Pittsburgh was big until the mid-late 1900s, where the city’s status as a steel production hub gave way to a hub for things like education and medicine. Pittsburgh’s legacy of steel lives on, though, and one of those ways is through its NFL team, the Steelers! I only just today learned of the origins of the Steelers’ team name, even after having known about the team for like all my life. Mind blown. Pittsburgh is also known as the “City of Bridges” as it is home to 446 bridges. Pittsburgh is situated by three major rivers and has tons of valleys and hills within its midst, so bridges play a huge role in helping to connect its disjointed communities. I can only imagine how many of those bridges are steel ones. Thank you so much for sending me this awesome postcard!
