[Gutenberg 43259] • Pittsburgh in 1816 / Compiled by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Granting of the City Charter

This little book will interest the Pittsburgher of 1916 chiefly because the parts and pieces of which it is made were written by men who were living here or who passed this way in 1816.

The three newspapers of the day—the Gazette, the Mercury, and the Commonwealth—have furnished, though somewhat sparingly, the items of local news. They have also furnished advertisements—these in greater abundance and variety.

The men who were the tourists of the day in America, traveling by stage, wagon, boat, or on horseback, often made Pittsburgh a stopping place in their journey. Many of them wrote books, in which may be found two or three pages, or a chapter, on the city as it appeared at that time. It is from these books that the section "Impressions of early travelers" has been gathered. The date given with these extracts is the date of publication, but the period referred to in every case is between 1815 and 1817.

In addition to these gleanings from contemporaries, a number of paragraphs from various histories of the city have been included.

The sketches that have thus been bought together do not form a systematic or well proportioned description of the city; yet they may help, through their vivid pictures and first-hand impressions, to give some idea of life in Pittsburgh a century ago.