# Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in the 1870s

> A crowded river-and-rail factory city, smoky with bituminous coal, pulled between immigrant labor, churches, schools, and industrial power.

- Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (40.441, -79.996)
- Years: 1870 to 1879
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/pittsburgh-allegheny-county-pennsylvania/1870s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Pittsburgh%2C%20Allegheny%20County%2C%20Pennsylvania%2C%20United%20States&at=40.4406,-79.9959&year=1875

## Looking around

You stand where the Allegheny and Monongahela meet to form the Ohio[1]. The old city is the delta between the rivers[1], while the ground rises eastward 400 to 500 feet above the Ohio[1]. Around you is a compactly built city[1] with graded and paved principal avenues[1]. Across the water are seven bridges over the Allegheny[1][1] and five over the Monongahela[1][1]. Horse cars run through the principal streets and to the suburbs[1][1]. Coal and iron shape the view: the place is called the “iron city”[1][1] and the “smoky city”[1][1] because bituminous coal is burned in dwellings and factories[1][1]. Railroad lines run east, west, northwest, and southwest, and regular steamers ply the Ohio to Cincinnati and other points[1][1]. Public buildings include the stone court house[1], the custom house and post office[1], municipal hall[1], St. Paul’s Roman Catholic cathedral[1], and large public school buildings[1].

## Work: Iron, glass, rail, coal

In 1870, 12,370 working Pittsburghers were in manufactures[1], including 2,542 iron and steel workers[1]. By 1878, Allegheny County was producing one-twelfth of U.S. pig iron[4] and one-fourth of U.S. glass[4].

## Faith: A crowded church map

The city’s religious life was dense and divided: 141 churches and chapels[1] included 34 Roman Catholic[1], 4 African Methodist Episcopal[1], 2 Jewish[1], and 2 Welsh congregations[1].

## Law & power: City hall and railroad power

Local government stood visibly in the stone court house[1] and municipal hall[1], but the 1877 strike showed how railroad authority could press the state into action. During the riots, Union Station at Grant and Liberty Streets[3] 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 stoppage[3] and civil authority faltered. The violence caused an estimated $10,000,000 in damage[3] and at least 25 deaths[3].

## Home & table: Families under coal smoke

The 1870 census recorded 16,182 families and 14,224 dwellings[1]. 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-born[1] and 2,015 were recorded as colored[1]. The largest immigrant groups were Irish, German, English, Welsh, and Scottish-born residents[1].

## Roads & news: Papers in several languages

News came through a large press: 9 daily newspapers[1], including 3 German dailies[1], 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 hall[1] 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

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

## 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 sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- Pittsburgh’s 1870 census listed 16,182 families and 14,224 dwellings. (from the sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[1]
- Allegheny County grew from 262,204 residents in 1870 to 355,869 in 1880. (from the sources)[4]
- 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 sources)[4]
- 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 sources)[3]
- 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 sources)[3]
- 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 sources)[3]
- 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. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_American_Cyclop%C3%A6dia_(1879)/Pittsburgh
2. 1870 Census: Vol. I, Statistics of the Population of the United States, Table XXV. U.S. Census Office, 1872. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1870/population/1870a-58.pdf
3. Railroad Riots. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 2015. https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/documents/1865-1945/railroad-riots.html
4. Pittsburgh and Vicinity—A Brief Record of Seven Years' Progress. American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, 1886. https://www.onemine.org/documents/pittsburgh-paper-pittsburgh-and-vicinity-a-brief-record-of-seven-years-apos-progress

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Ligonier, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the 1840s](https://yorehistory.com/place/ligonier-westmoreland-county-pennsylvania/1840s/md) (68 km)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-12 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania in the 1870s", https://yorehistory.com/place/pittsburgh-allegheny-county-pennsylvania/1870s