Pittsburgh Civil Engineering Trivia

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The Pittsburgh Section was initiated in 1917 but was not ratified until 1918. It is theorized that the onset of the influenza pandemic of 1918–19 caused the delay.

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Emerald Park was built from a Native American trail that once traversed “Coal Hill,” as Mount Washington and Duquesne Heights were known.

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As many as 97,000 local children donated a dime apiece in the famous Buy a Brick campaign to help fund the Cathedral of Learning’s construction. Each child received a certificate testifying that he or she was a member of the “fellowship of builders of the Cathedral of Learning.”

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Standard Gage for Pittsburgh Railways streetcars was five feet, two and a half inches, six inches wider than railroad standard gage.

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The first train leaving Pittsburgh’s Wabash Terminal, in 1904, was an excursion train to the St. Louis World’s Fair.

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The grade on the Horseshoe Curve is 1.8 percent, eighteen feet in one thousand feet.

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Although there are many buildings taller than the U. S. Steel Building it boasts the distinction of having the largest floor area eight hundred and forty feet above its base.

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The structural designer for the Cathedral of Learning, Homer S. Balcom, also did the structural design for the Empire State Building.

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Built in 1906 the Penn Rose Building was Pittsburgh’s first all reinforced concrete building.

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The first Comprehensive Sewer Plan was prepared for the City of Pittsburgh in 1869.

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The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) wastewater treatment plant started operations in 1959.

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ALCONSAN received the ASCE Pittsburgh Section’s "Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award" in 1960 for a wastewater engineering project.

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Bigelow Boulevard is named after a City Engineer.

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A "Skybus" can be found at Bombardier Corporation in West Mifflin.

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Kirk Bigham was the champion for the Duquesne Incline.

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Pennsylvania’s original Charter from King Charles II set the southern boundary on the 40^th Latitude and the northern boundary at the 43^rd Latitude which would have placed Philadelphia outside PA but would have included present day Buffalo NY in it.

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Colonists from Maryland and Pennsylvania fought Cresap’s War from 1730 until 1738 over conflicting land claims along the border.

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The four sided stone obelisks used to every mile of the famous Mason and Dixon line were imported from England expressly for that purpose.

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It took until 1792 for the present borders of Pennsylvania to be settled.

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The “Point of Beginning” sits on PA’s western border near East Liverpool Ohio, it marks where the Public Land Survey System was extended to survey the majority of the United States.