How Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt helped define Pittsburgh and the nation

You've heard of "A Tale of Two Cities," but how about a tale of two forts that started a city? 

We all know the names Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt. Even if you're not a history buff, the bridges, tunnels and landmarks that still carry those names are a pretty good clue that these two forts played a big role in Pittsburgh's story. So, here's the quick history.

During the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years' War, Britain and France were once again battling, this time for control of North America. The French built Fort Duquesne at the Point in 1754, giving them control of the three rivers and a strategic gateway to the frontier.

Four years later, British forces under General John Forbes and a young officer named George Washington advanced on the fort, and the French burned it and retreated.

Forbes claimed the site and named it after British statesman William Pitt. But according to Mike Burke, the assistant director of the Fort Pitt Museum, before the British had a Fort Pitt, they had a Pittsburgh.

"From the moment Forbes arrives here in 1758, he calls this place Pittsburgh or 'Pittsborough,'" Burke said. "And it's Pittsburgh before Fort Pitt is even constructed. And so there is a town of Pittsburgh that springs up in different places, little clusters of buildings and things like that, so by the time Fort Pitt is under construction, there's already a town of Pittsburgh. And actually, they have to move some of those houses and evict people because they are building this giant fort on this site."

The rest, as they say, is history. Fort Pitt would change from British to American hands and stand throughout the revolution before eventually being dismantled as the city grew up around it.

And today, while visitors can explore that history inside the Fort Pitt Museum in Point State Park, no visit is complete without stopping next door at the Fort Pitt Block House, the last remaining piece of the original frontier garrison.

"It is the oldest documented structure in the city of Pittsburgh and west of the Alleghenies, in the state of Pennsylvania," said Heather Wallace, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the organization that has been caring for the Block House since the late 1800s.

"This building actually survived, because when they decommissioned the fort, there were people living in it," Wallace explained. "People were very frugal at the time, and they said, 'Hey, if they are leaving town, we will just move in.' So it is one of the buildings that survived because nobody took an interest in it at that time."

Today, it's a very different story. The DAR opens the Block House to visitors free of charge, giving people a chance to step inside one of the oldest chapters of Pittsburgh's history.

And even after more than 260 years, its walls still have a story to tell. Wallace says the Block House gives both her and her organization a lot of pride, and it seems to also give civic pride to the people of Pittsburgh in where we've been and in how far we've come: from a town to a fort to a city.