[7] Almost 1000 Pittsburghers gathered at the opening night ceremonies, headed by Mayor Cornelius D. Scully, J. Bailey Ellis, who was named chairman of the Center, and Mrs. Charles D. Marshall, who publicly turned the key to her home over to the city.

Ten artist groups comprised the center at its founding: The first program after the grand opening was a musicale given by the Musician's Club on March 25, 1945.

The center's dedication to improving the overall quality of life in Pittsburgh through education has been an essential part of its philosophy from the beginning.

University of Pittsburgh professor Walter Hovey, then president of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, asked for the use of the kitchen in order to hold a jewelry class for some 40 students.

In the April 1954, the Center went on the air on WQED-TV with the weekly, half-hour series You, the Artists hosted by sculptor Everett Sturgeon.

From 1981 to 1989, the center renewed its relationship with WQED with the weekly Lyceum (later Studio 13,) hosted by Mary Rawson.

Ongoing attempts were made in print as well, starting from the earliest days with a mimeographed newsletter, Musings, from 1975-79 with Quidnunc, and later in expanded course catalogs and the quarterly Art Lines.

By the late 1960s, the center's administration resembled “an octopus without a head,” according to the Pittsburgh Press's Patricia Lowry.

In February 2002, five staff—including Executive Director Laura Willumsen and Curator Vicky Clark—were laid off and the exhibitions department eliminated.

Previous winners of prizes include Delanie Jenkins, Clayton Merrill, and George Anastasios Magalios.

For the industrialists in the early 1900s, a major living area was Pittsburgh's East End, where a building boom was underway.

A parade of mansions were commissioned along Fifth Avenue to what became known as “Millionaires Row” for some of the wealthiest and most celebrated families in Pittsburgh, such as the Mellons, the Benedums, and the Fricks.

It was given as a wedding gift in 1927 to Richard Beatty's daughter Sarah, who married Alan Magee Scaife, fifth generation industrialist and the Director of Mellon National Bank.

Next door to the Mellon Estate, on the corner of Fifth and Shady Avenues, Charles D. Marshall, president and co-owner of the McClintic-Marshall Construction Company, which later became Bethlehem Steel, built his mansion.