University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
First institution of higher education west of the Alleghenies and north of the Ohio River. Founded in 1787 as the Pittsburgh Academy, it became the Western University of Pennsylvania in 1819. Present name was adopted in 1908.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Founded in 1787 as the Pittsburgh Academy, this school claimed the distinction of being the first institution of higher learning west of the Allegheny Mountains and north of the Ohio River. It became the Western University of Pennsylvania in 1819 and took its present name, the University of Pittsburgh, in 1908. Its founding placed a beacon of learning on what was then the edge of American settlement.
Why it matters
Pitt's early founding shows how the new republic planted schools alongside its westward push, insisting that education follow the frontier rather than lag behind it.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Reverend John McMillan - PLAQUE
North Strabane Township, PA · est. 1931
The Reverend John McMillan carried Presbyterian faith and formal schooling into the rugged country of western Pennsylvania in the years after the Revolution. Over six decades of ministry he helped plant churches at Chartiers, Pigeon Creek, and beyond, and lent his energy to founding institutions that became Jefferson College and Western Theological Seminary. He and his wife endured the hardships of frontier life to build lasting religious and educational roots in the region.
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)
Pittsburgh, PA · est. 1996
Andrew Carnegie arrived from Scotland as a poor immigrant boy and rose to become the steel magnate whose Pittsburgh mills helped power America's industrial age. Preaching a "Gospel of Wealth" that held the rich were duty-bound to give their fortunes away, he funded more than 2,500 libraries and endowed institutions devoted to education and world peace. His philanthropy reshaped access to books and learning across the country and beyond.
Jane Holmes (1805-1885)
Pittsburgh, PA · est. 2007
In Gilded Age Pittsburgh, as industrial fortunes rose alongside deep need, Jane Holmes devoted her wealth to organized charity. She founded and funded a range of social service institutions—among them the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children—at a time when such systematic philanthropy was still novel. Notably, she extended her giving without regard to race, class, or gender.
Salk Polio Vaccine
Pittsburgh, PA · est. 2005
In the years after World War II, polio was one of America's most feared diseases, paralyzing thousands of children each summer. At the University of Pittsburgh's Virus Research Laboratory, a team led by Dr. Jonas Salk worked from 1948 to 1955 to develop the world's first effective polio vaccine, announcing their breakthrough to a jubilant nation on April 12, 1955. Mass inoculations of schoolchildren followed, and within a few years the disease had all but vanished from the United States.