Journey back through the pages of time. Long before the internet or smartphones. Way back before answering machines and VCRs, to the early to mid-part of the 20th century when horse and buggies still traveled along Pittsburgh’s streets and the steel mills churned day and night. Here are 13 vintage photos of Pittsburgh’s streets that will take you back in time.
- A picture perfect photo of Fourth Avenue, at the time known as Pittsburgh’s Wall Street, in downtown Pittsburgh circa 1900.
Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
- Horses pulling buggies travel down the brick Liberty Avenue in this photograph of downtown Pittsburgh in 1904.
Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
- A spectacular photograph of the Smithfield Street Bridge in the early 1900s.
Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
- Crossing over the Shaler Street Bridge from McKnight Street, this 1921 photograph also features a shot of an automobile from the era.
Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
- Pittsburgh’s streets are hidden by the flood waters of the St. Patrick’s Day Flood of 1936.
Wikimedia Commons/Mother of Upheld
- A worker at a steel mill descends down a staircase leading to the South Side Slopes in this photograph from January 1940.
Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
- Laundry dries in the breeze in this July 1938 photograph of the Hill, then considered a slum in Pittsburgh. Photo by Arthur Rothstein.
Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein
- Parochial school children line up as they prepare to go home at the end of the day in this July 1941 photograph by John Vachon.
Photogrammar/John Vachon
- Moviegoers stand outside of a downtown movie theater in this 1941 photograph by Jack Delano.
Photogrammar/Jack Delano
- Pittsburghers head to church on a gloomy Sunday morning in this 1941 photograph by John Vachon.
Photogrammar/John Vachon
- A rainy June day is shown in this 1941 photograph by John Vachon.
Photograpmmar/John Vachon
- Two servicemen walk away from Union Station in this August 1942 photograph as captured by Alfred T. Palmer
Photogrammar/Alfred T. Palmer
- A dirt road leading toward the Montour Number Four Mine, owned by the Pittsburgh Coal Company, is seen in this November 1942 photograph by John Collier.
Photogrammar/John Collier
Do you recognize our modern day Burgh in these 13 vintage photos of Pittsburgh? Click here for more vintage photos of Pittsburgh.
Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
Wikimedia Commons/Mother of Upheld
Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein
Photogrammar/John Vachon
Photogrammar/Jack Delano
Photograpmmar/John Vachon
Photogrammar/Alfred T. Palmer
Photogrammar/John Collier
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