History of the University of Pittsburgh

[5][6] Brackenridge obtained a charter for the school from the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that was passed by the assembly on February 28, 1787, just ten weeks before the opening of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

[13] Within a short period, more advanced education in the area was needed, so in 1819 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania amended the school's 1787 charter to confer university status.

By the 1830s, the university faced severe financial pressure to abandon its traditional liberal education in favor of the state legislature's desire for it to provide more vocational training.

[18][10][11][12][19][20] The University's buildings, along with most of its records and files, were destroyed in a widespread 1845 fire that wiped out 20 square blocks of the most valuable part of Pittsburgh.

Langley was professor of astronomy and physics and remained at WUP until 1891, when he was succeeded by another prominent astronomer, James Edward Keeler.

The Department of Medicine was in West Penn Hospital, the departments of Dentistry and Pharmacy were in a building on a hilltop at Pride and Bluff Streets, and the Law School was in the former University building at Ross and Diamond Streets after having moved from the Orphan's Court in the Old Allegheny County Court House.

To consolidate its components on one campus, WUP bought 43 acres (170,000 m2) of land in December 1907 in what is now the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh and began relocating departments there by 1909.

[24] The initial campus layout plan came from the winning submission from a national architectural contest that incorporated a Greek Acropolis design by Henry Hornbostel for 30 buildings.

It was also during this period that the university, led by Chancellor Samuel McCormick, would again fend off pressures to abandon the school's commitment to liberal education in favor of more technical-based training.

During his administration, McCormick would also lead the university into a new level of national recognition, expansion, and growth, as well as began institutional support of athletics.

[18] When the United States entered World War I in 1917, by law of Congress, all male college students were subject to military training.

The barracks, meant to be temporary, were used for some time to help alleviate congestion, but it was apparent that this was an inadequate solution; by 1920, Pitt alumni had begun a campaign to fund construction of a sorely-needed new building.

By 1925, Bowman had settled on a design by Charles Klauder for the "tall building": an attention-getting 535-foot (163 m) tower whose great height, with open spaces all around, would suggest the "character that ought to be in an educated man."

It remains the second-tallest education building in the world (the tallest in the Western Hemisphere) and contains an equally-impressive interior highlighted by 26 nationality rooms.

Plans to continue building a traditional gothic quadrangle on the former Frick Acres parcel came to an end with the construction of Clapp Hall in 1956.

As hospitals filled with patients in iron lungs, and tens of thousands were left crippled, fear of contracting polio grew rampant and led to the closing of many public facilities.

Soon, however, Salk began to test inoculations in paralyzed polio patients and by 1953 human trials among the general population were initiated (the majority were Allegheny County residents).

The breakthroughs in immunology and vaccine development at Pitt by Salk and his team are considered one of the most significant scientific and medical achievements in history.

Upon affiliation with the state, subsidized tuition led to a massive influx of new students and rapid expansion of Pitt's size and scope.

Mark Nordenberg was chancellor of the University from 1995 to 2014, leading Pitt through a period of substantial progress, including the "Building our Future Together" campaign raising $2.135 billion across 188,000 donors and a $1-billion 12-year facilities plan.

[30][31] The current chancellor is Patrick D. Gallagher, who previously served as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Hugh Henry Brackenridge founded the forerunner of the University of Pittsburgh in 1787.
An illustration depicting an artist's rendition of first building, a log cabin, of the Pittsburgh Academy.
Western University of Pennsylvania, the previous name of Pitt, is depicted in this 1833 oil painting at its location on 3rd Ave. between Smithfield St. and Cherry Alley in downtown Pittsburgh.
The Great Fire of 1845 destroyed a third of Pittsburgh, including its University.
Western University of Pennsylvania's main building in downtown Pittsburgh from 1854 to 1882
Western University of Pennsylvania's campus on Observatory Hill on Pittsburgh's North Side from 1890 to 1909, prior to its move to Oakland and renaming of the university as the University of Pittsburgh.
This 1942 photo, shot from the 35th floor of the Cathedral of Learning , shows all the "Acropolis Plan" buildings that were constructed. Top left is Pennsylvania Hall (now the site of a residence hall of the same name ); just below it, on the upper far left, is the Mineral Industries Building (now demolished); State Hall is at the bottom right (now the site of Pitt's Chevron Science Center ); and in the center, just behind and to the left of the roof of Sailors and Soldiers Memorial , is Thaw Hall , the only remaining building from the Acropolis Plan. Eberly Hall (then called Alumni Hall) is the long building in the center, and the first to deviate from the Acropolis Plan. Allen Hall (the former home of Mellon Institute ) is in the middle at the far left. The Hill Campus, still much as it existed in this photo, was the main focus of student life from 1909 until the construction of the Cathedral of Learning .
Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburghers line up for vaccinations with Salk's polio vaccine in the Cathedral of Learning's Commons Room on February 26, 1957.