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Pittsburgh was chartered as a
village in 1759. The following year, the commandant of Fort Pitt counted
149 people living within the village, besides the soldiers that manned
the fort. For the next 190 years Pittsburgh saw a steady growth in the
population count. In 1907, when Allegheny City was annexed, the count
was at 521,000, making Pittsburgh the sixth largest city in the
nation.
Although the city ranking within
the United State of America never moved past 6th place, and that ranking
has declined ever since, the number of residents within city limits
continued to grow, peaking at 676,806 in 1950. Since that high point,
the population has seen a steady decrease to a 2019 level of 300,286,
ranked 66th in the country.
The rapid growth of the city
during the 1800s was accelerated by a series of annexations of adjacent
boroughs and townships. The city that once included only the area of
the golden triangle now covered 55.6 square miles.
Below is a list of annexations
from 1868 through 1930 that helped Pittsburgh grow from a small village
at the forks of the Ohio to the metropolis of today, followed by a
list of census totals showing the growth, and subsequent decline, of
the Pittsburgh population.
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Pittsburgh's Growth By Annexation
March 1, 1837 - Annexed the
Northern Liberties Borough.
December 15, 1846 - Annexed part
of Pitt Township.
June 30, 1868 - Annexed the
Townships of Pitt, Peebles, Liberty, Collins and Oakland, and
the Borough of Lawrenceville.
April 2, 1872 - Annexed the
Boroughs of South Pittsburgh, Monongahela, Allentown, St. Clair,
Temperanceville, Birmingham, Sligo, Mount Washington, Union,
West Pittsburgh and Ormsby (East Birmingham).
July, 1881 - Annexed the
Village of Garfield.
December 1, 1894 - Annexed
the Village of Brushton.
March 1, 1898 - Annexed the
Borough of Beltzhoover.
January 2, 1905 - Annexed the
Borough of Elliott.
January 2, 1906 - Annexed the
Borough of Esplen.
January 8, 1906 - Annexed the
Township of Sterrett.
January 7, 1907 - Annexed the
Borough of Montooth.
November 21, 1907 - Annexed the
Borough of Sheraden.
December 6, 1907 - Annexed the
City of Allegheny (North Side).
January 6, 1908 - Annexed the
Borough of West Liberty (Brookline and Beechwood).
December 18, 1908 - Annexed parts of
Union Township (including Banksville) and O'Hara Townships.
January 4, 1909 - Annexed Beechview
Borough.
December 30, 1911 - Annexed parts
of Baldwin Township.
1920 - Annexed Chartiers
Township and Spring Garden.
February 7, 1924 - Annexed
remaining section of Lower St. Clair Township (St. Clair Village).
June 3, 1927 - Annexed the
Borough of Carrick.
January 6, 1930 - Annexed the
Borough of Overbrook.
In the following years, there
have been small parcels of land that have been added to the city tracts
from neighboring townships like Baldwin. For example, in the Brookline
community, parts of Ebenshire Village and a small strip of land along
McNeilly Road were added in the 1950s.
Despite efforts by the city and
the councilmembers of other nearby municipalities, places like Mount
Oliver, Dormont, Mount Lebanon and Brentwood have chosen to retain their
unique individual identities. This despite the fact that some of these
municipalities share city infrastructure.
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Pittsburgh
Population
(city ranking in parenthesis)
|
1760
1761
1790
1796
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
*2019 |
|
149
332
376
1,395
1,565
4,786 (31)
7,248 (23)
12,568 (17)
21,115 (17)
46,601 (12)
49,221 (17)
86,076 (16)
156,389 (12)
238,617 (13)
321,616 (11)
533,905 (8)
588,343 (9)
669,817 (10)
671,659 (10)
676,806 (12)
604,332 (16)
520,117 (24)
423,938 (30)
369,879 (40)
334,563 (52)
305,704 (59)
300,286 (66)* |
* July 2019 figures are an
estimate.
Census figures were obtained from the US Census Bureau.
<U.S. Census History>
Wikipedia: United States Cities By Population. |