View of Pittsburgh & Allegheny

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Few places show the geography of Pittsburgh as plainly as a view that takes in both sides of the river, with Allegheny City, then a separate municipality, across the water. Together the two towns sit where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio, a location that made the area a center of river trade and, by mid-century, of iron and glass manufacturing. City views like this one were popular in the years after the Civil War, when growing towns wanted to show off their size and prospects. Look for the river traffic, the dense blocks of buildings, and the smokestacks that marked the city's industrial economy.

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