A great city is more than just a pretty skyline
Take Pittsburgh
The amazing view of the three rivers isn’t what makes this place special
The people are. The lives of those who’ve lived here over the years
form a picture of a city that’s unlike any other
The stories of Pittsburghers are the story of Pittsburgh
August Wilson: one of America’s great playwrights
He devoted years to telling stories that showed the everyday life and beauty
of the Hill District’s Black community through each decade of the 20th century
Martha Graham was born on the North Side in 1894
Over the next hundred years, she invented modern dance
coming up with a whole new way for dancers to move their bodies
In 1976, President Ford honored her with the Medal of Freedom
Andy Warhol became an icon of the New York art world
But Pittsburgh is where he grew up and studied
before he found fame making pop art out of things like
Campbell’s Soup, Hollywood stars, and Heinz Ketchup
That’s another Pittsburgh life: Henry Heinz
who founded the H. J. Heinz Company in 1869
His tomato ketchup would become America’s favorite condiment
and his fortune would help shape Pittsburgh’s landscape
Earl Hines was only 11 years old when he started playing the organ
in his family’s church in Duquesne
By 25, he was one of the greatest jazz pianists and bandleaders of all time
broadcasting live weekly to homes across the nation
Hines wasn’t the only Pittsburgh native to chart the course of American jazz
Billy Strayhorn wrote the classic songs Duke Ellington made famous
Duke called him “my right arm, left arm, and all the eyes in the back of my head.”
Gene Kelly, Pitt’s most famous graduate
danced his way from Oakland to Broadway and on to Hollywood
His footwork, charisma, and athletic choreography
brought musical theatre to new life on the movie screens of the 1950s
Around the same time, Arnold Palmer was turning golf from a rich man’s pastime into a popular sport on TV
He swung big, looked great, and came from working-class Pennsylvania
In 1962, Sports Illustrated said he might be the greatest golfer ever
Meanwhile, one of baseball’s greatest was playing with the Pirates
Roberto Clemente took Pittsburgh to the World Series twice
and he inspired millions with his selfless charity work
Today, Pittsburghers walk to PNC Park over the Roberto Clemente Bridge
A neighboring bridge is named for one of the area’s great scientists
In the 1950s, Rachel Carson documented the harm being caused by too many synthetic pesticides
Her 1962 book, Silent Spring, launched the modern environmental movement
Jonas Salk’s research mission was more immediate:
to find a vaccine for polio, which killed thousands each year and left even more paralyzed
His success in 1955 meant that whole generations of American children
would no longer need to fear this deadly disease
Fred Rogers set out on a lifelong quest to use television to help children understand their own emotions
From the WQED studios, he broadcast “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” to the world
and the kindness he shared from the Land of Make-Believe still lives on today
So does the work of George Romero
who got his start making short films for Mister Rogers, and then
found a very different audience, with his horror movie “Night of the Living Dead.”
The very idea of a zombie apocalypse wasn’t a thing until Romero filmed one in the Monroeville Mall
Elizabeth Jane Cochran, better known by her pen name, Nellie Bly
chased real-life dangers, as a journalist for the old Pittsburgh Dispatch
She investigated horrifying factories and mental asylums
and in 1889 she actually made Jules Verne’s fictional “Around the World in Eighty Days” trip in only 72 days
But no Pittsburgher has ever traveled farther or faster than NASA astronaut James Irwin
As the pilot of Apollo 15’s Lunar Module, in 1971
he set foot on the surface of the Moon
One of only 12 people to do so in the history of planet Earth
These life stories made history
Every day history is made by all the lives around us
Celebrate and share the memories of your community at Legacy.com, where life stories live on