2021: EXPERIENCE PITTSBURGH
FIRE CHIEFS CONFERENCE
May 15 – 21, 2020 | Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh (/ˈpɪtsbɜːrɡ/ PITS-burg) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States and is the county seat of Allegheny County. A population of about 301,048 residents live within the city limits, making it the 66th-largest city in the U.S. The metropolitan population of 2,324,743 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania (behind Philadelphia), and the 27th-largest in the U.S.
- Pittsburgh is located in the southwest of the state, at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers.
- Pittsburgh is best known as “The Steel City” with more than 300 steel-related businesses and as the “City of Bridges” for its 446 bridges.
- The city features 30 skyscrapers, two inclined railways, a pre-revolutionary fortification, and Point State Park at the confluence of the rivers. The City developed as a vital link of the Atlantic coast and Midwest, as the mineral-rich Allegheny Mountains made the area coveted by the French and British empires, Virginians, Whiskey Rebels, and Civil War raiders.
- Aside from steel, Pittsburgh has led in the manufacturing of aluminum, glass, shipbuilding, petroleum, foods, sports, transportation, computing, autos, and electronics.
- For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment; it had the most U.S. stockholders per capita.
- America’s 1980s deindustrialization laid off area blue-collar workers and thousands of downtown white-collar workers when the longtime Pittsburgh-based world headquarters moved out.
- This heritage left the area with renowned museums, medical centers, parks, research centers, and a diverse cultural district.