The New Student's Reference Work/Allegheny


Allegheny, a city located in western Pennsylvania, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, recently united with Pittsburg. Population is now reckoned with Pittsburg. Allegheny was incorporated as a borough in 1828, and as a city in 1840. It is connected with Pittsburg by ten bridges. Three theological seminaries are located here—Presbyterian, United Presbyterian and Reformed Presbyterian. The Western University of Pennsylvania, with its astronomical observatory, the finest in the state, is also here. The Carnegie Free Library, with its 50,000 volumes, erected at a cost of $300,000, occupies a beautiful and central location in the city. The Western Penitentiary, one of the largest and most modern penal institutions in the world, is within the city limits. The largest natural-gas tank in the United States is in Allegheny. Allegheny has a flourishing and efficient public-school system, embracing 372 teachers and ten kindergarten schools, with 20 additional teachers; also one high school, costing $150,000 and another in progress of construction at a cost of $350,000, besides four well-equipped manual-training schools. Total enrollment in the public schools, including the high school and kindergartens, for 1900 was 20,106. The industries of Allegheny are many and varied, steel and iron predominating. Leather is manufactured in great quantities. Many other pursuits contribute to the general wealth and thrift of the city, which is noted for its numerous churches and orderly people.