Happy 'H' Day: The Celebration Of Pittsburgh, And Not Pittsburg
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- July 19, 1911 is a pretty memorable date for the city of Pittsburgh.
It's the date that the letter "h" was added back into our city's name.
Pittsburgh was named after William Pitt, a former prime minister of England who had Scottish roots.
When our city was named, it included the "h" to pay tribute to Pitt's Scottish heritage.
But from 1891 to 1911 a federal commission decided that Pittsburgh should be spelled Pittsburg to unify cities across the country ending in "burg."
Even today, the city's name is commonly misspelled Pittsburg, because most cities and town in America use the German -burg suffix.
It took 20-years, but an effort by the mayor, city council and postmaster finally did the trick.
On July 19, 1911, the government finally agreed and formally returned the "h" to Pittsburgh.