John Scull (1765-1828)
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Pioneering editor and publisher who issued first edition of Pittsburgh Gazette, 1786. First newspaper west of Alleghenies, it became the Post-Gazette, 1927. A Berks County native, he was active in Western PA's civic affairs; home and print shop were here.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In 1786, when Pittsburgh was still a raw frontier town at the forks of the Ohio, the Berks County native John Scull printed the first edition of the Pittsburgh Gazette—the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains. From his home and print shop here, Scull carried the printed word into the trans-Appalachian West and took an active hand in the region's civic affairs. His paper endured, becoming the Post-Gazette in 1927.
Why it matters
It marks the arrival of the press on the western frontier, where a newspaper helped bind a scattered settlement into a community and extend American civic life beyond the mountains.
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