Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in the 1870s

Work

Iron, glass, rail, coal

In 1870, 12,370 working Pittsburghers were in manufactures¹, including 2,542 iron and steel workers¹. By 1878, Allegheny County was producing one-twelfth of U.S. pig iron⁴ and one-fourth of U.S. glass⁴.

Faith

A crowded church map

The city’s religious life was dense and divided: 141 churches and chapels¹ included 34 Roman Catholic¹, 4 African Methodist Episcopal¹, 2 Jewish¹, and 2 Welsh congregations¹.

Law & power

City hall and railroad power

Local government stood visibly in the stone court house¹ and municipal hall¹, but the 1877 strike showed how railroad authority could press the state into action. During the riots, Union Station at Grant and Liberty Streets³ and other Pennsylvania Railroad property became targets.

What people feared

Strike, fire, and force

The sharpest danger of the decade came in July 1877, when laborers in other industries joined the stoppage³ and civil authority faltered. The violence caused an estimated $10,000,000 in damage³ and at least 25 deaths³.

Home & table

Families under coal smoke

The 1870 census recorded 16,182 families and 14,224 dwellings¹. The domestic city burned the same fuel as its factories: bituminous coal was burned in dwellings and manufacturing establishments^1,1.

Who lived here

Irish, German, Welsh, Black

Of 86,076 people^1,2 counted in 1870, 27,822 were foreign-born¹ and 2,015 were recorded as colored¹. The largest immigrant groups were Irish, German, English, Welsh, and Scottish-born residents¹.

Roads & news

Papers in several languages

News came through a large press: 9 daily newspapers¹, including 3 German dailies¹, plus German and Welsh weeklies. Rail lines connected Pittsburgh east, west, northwest, and southwest^1,1, while regular steamboats ran on the Ohio to Cincinnati^1,1.

Money

Costs are partly missing

The scale of capital was visible in public works such as municipal hall¹ and in industry, but ordinary grocery prices or rents for the 1870s were not found in the online local sources opened here.

Year by year

1. 1870The federal census counted 86,076 people in Pittsburgh and 262,204 in Allegheny County. here^1,2
2. 1872Pittsburgh annexed South Side boroughs including Birmingham, Mount Washington, South Pittsburgh, and others. here¹
3. 1873A new Pennsylvania constitution was adopted, part of a statewide argument over corporate power and railroad regulation. nearby
4. 1873A national financial panic began a long depression that framed wage cuts, unemployment, and labor conflict through the decade. the country
5. 1874Pittsburgh received more than 4.5 million tons of coal and 1.2 million tons of coke by river and rail. here^1,1
6. 1876The United States centennial was celebrated at Philadelphia, close enough for Pittsburgh newspapers and travelers to follow closely. the country
7. 1877The Great Railroad Strike reached Pittsburgh, where railroad property was burned and at least 25 people were killed. here³
8. 1878Allegheny County was reported to be producing one-fourth of the nation’s glass and one-eighth of its coal. here⁴

Pictures from the time

What the sources say

• Pittsburgh was the county seat of Allegheny County at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio River. from the sources¹
• The 1870 federal census counted 86,076 people in Pittsburgh before the decade’s annexations. from the sources^1,2
• Of Pittsburgh’s 86,076 residents in 1870, 2,015 were recorded as colored and 27,822 as foreign-born. from the sources¹
• The largest foreign-born groups in 1870 were 13,119 born in Ireland, 8,703 in Germany, 2,838 in England, 1,036 in Wales, and 584 in Scotland. from the sources¹
• The old city occupied the delta between the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers; in 1872 Pittsburgh annexed Allentown, Birmingham, East Birmingham, Monongahela, Mount Washington, Ormsby, Saint Clair, South Pittsburgh, Temperanceville, Union, and West Pittsburgh. from the sources¹
• A contemporary cyclopaedia described Pittsburgh as compactly built, with many principal avenues graded and paved, and with land between the rivers rising eastward 400 to 500 feet above the Ohio. from the sources¹
• By the late 1870s, seven bridges crossed the Allegheny River, five crossed the Monongahela, and horse cars ran through principal streets and to the suburbs. from the sources^1,1
• The surrounding country abounded in coal and iron, and Pittsburgh was known as the “iron city” and the “smoky city” because bituminous coal was burned in both dwellings and manufacturing establishments. from the sources^1,1
• Among 29,854 Pittsburghers aged ten or older recorded as working in 1870, 12,370 worked in manufactures, including 2,542 iron and steel workers. from the sources¹
• The Pennsylvania, Allegheny Valley, Pittsburgh Washington and Baltimore, Pittsburgh Fort Wayne and Chicago, and Pittsburgh Cincinnati and St. Louis lines connected the city by rail, while regular steamboats ran on the Ohio to Cincinnati and other points. from the sources^1,1
• Prominent public buildings in the late 1870s included the stone court house, the custom house and post office, municipal hall, the mercantile library, St. Paul’s Roman Catholic cathedral, the United States arsenal, and several large public school buildings. from the sources¹
• Pittsburgh received 4,507,175 tons of coal and 1,202,337 tons of coke in 1874, by river and rail. from the sources^1,1
• In the school year ending September 1, 1874, Pittsburgh’s public schools had 53 schoolhouses, 383 teachers, 21,009 pupils enrolled, and average daily attendance of 12,873. from the sources¹
• Pittsburgh had 141 churches and chapels in the late 1870s, including 34 Roman Catholic, 21 Methodist Episcopal, 16 Presbyterian, 11 United Presbyterian, 10 Episcopal, 9 Lutheran, 4 African Methodist Episcopal, 2 Jewish, and 2 Welsh congregations. from the sources¹
• The city had 9 daily newspapers, including 3 German dailies, plus 1 semi-weekly and 19 weekly newspapers, including German and Welsh weeklies. from the sources¹
• Pittsburgh’s 1870 census listed 16,182 families and 14,224 dwellings. from the sources¹
• The 1872 and 1874 annexations raised the 1870 population of the consolidated city area to 121,799, and local authorities estimated Pittsburgh’s 1875 population at 140,000. from the sources¹
• Allegheny County grew from 262,204 residents in 1870 to 355,869 in 1880. from the sources⁴
• A mining and metallurgical paper later reported that in 1878 Allegheny County produced one-twelfth of U.S. pig iron, two-ninths of rolled iron other than rails, one-fourth of glass, and one-eighth of coal. from the sources⁴
• In 1877 Pittsburgh was a working-class city with major railroads, steel mills, planing mills, glass works, other factories, and nearby coal mines. from the sources³
• The Great Railroad Strike reached Pittsburgh in July 1877, and civic authorities struggled because police and fire departments were understaffed and laborers in other industries joined the stoppage. from the sources³
• During the 1877 riots, Pennsylvania Railroad facilities were destroyed, including locomotives, rolling stock, roundhouses, repair shops, and Union Station at Grant and Liberty Streets; damage was estimated at $10,000,000 and at least 25 people were killed. from the sources³
• No single online local source found here gives ordinary Pittsburgh grocery prices or rents for the 1870s. not known
• No online source opened here describes the interior layout of ordinary workers’ houses in Pittsburgh during the 1870s. not known

Sources

1. The American Cyclopædia (1879): Pittsburgh. D. Appleton and Company / Wikisource, 1879
2. 1870 Census: Vol. I, Statistics of the Population of the United States, Table XXV. U.S. Census Office, 1872
3. Railroad Riots. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2015
4. Pittsburgh and Vicinity—A Brief Record of Seven Years' Progress. American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, 1886

Nearby, about the same time