Person
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania (PA)est. 1758pop. 303,255/PITS-burg/
The meaning
“Pitt's fortified town”
How it got the name
General John Forbes took the forks of the Ohio from the French in 1758 and named the site for the Secretary of State who had backed the campaign. Forbes was Scottish and used the Scots '-burgh' spelling. The federal government stripped the h in 1891; the city fought for twenty years and won it back in 1911.
Former names
- Fort Duquesne
- Pittsburg (1891-1911)
- Pittsburgh