[4] Named after the British statesman William Pitt the Elder, the city was settled around 1770 by the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut.

A company of militia, led by Captain Jeremiah Blanchard and Lieutenant Timothy Keyes, held and maintained a military fort in Pittston, which was surrendered on July 4, 1778, one day after the Battle of Wyoming, and was later partially burned.

From then on it was under patriot control until the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which largely brought the war to an end.

Money made through the mining and transportation of coal led some of the leading merchants to petition its separation from Pittston Township.

The anthracite and railroad industry attracted thousands of immigrants, making Pittston a true melting pot with once-distinct ethnic and class neighborhoods.

[7] Coal mining remained the prominent industry in Pittston for many decades, but disasters did strike on more than one occasion.

The first major tragedy, the Twin Shaft disaster, occurred at the Newton Coal Company near the city's railroad junction.

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1896, 90 miners were at work in the Red Ash Vein of the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston when, at 3:00 am, the roof quickly collapsed.

At 5:15 pm on November 27, 1942, the cave-in of an anthracite mine, that had not been operated since 1868, caused the earth of a half square mile of Pittston to crack and subside.

Lehigh Valley Railroad maintained a station in downtown Pittston, near the foot of the Water Street Bridge.

Pittston also had a station on the historic Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad, commonly known as the Laurel Line.

Besides mining anthracite coal, Pittston was home to many industries in the 19th and 20th centuries, including metals, plastics, paper products, apparel, electrical equipment and beverages.

On March 15, 1993, two Pittston firefighters, John Lombardo and Len Insalaco, were killed while fighting a blaze on the city's main street.

A monument was built in the downtown and the nearby Water Street Bridge was renamed to commemorate their sacrifice during that tragic March day.

From 2004 to the present, the Diocese of Scranton has closed many of the churches and private schools in and around Pittston due to declining population and enrollment.

Older buildings are being demolished and newer structures, including condominiums, restaurants, bars, and stores are being built.

In 2008, under the leadership of Mayor Joseph P. Keating, the city invested in renovating the downtown area sidewalks with a brick theme.

Older buildings are being demolished and newer structures (i.e., condominiums, restaurants, bars, and stores) are being built.

The Oregon Section is a neighborhood located on high ground overlooking the Susquehanna River (in the southern half of the city).

Two bridges cross over the Susquehanna and connect the Downtown with the Borough of West Pittston (on the opposite bank).

Pittston has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa) and average monthly temperatures range from 26.9 °F (−2.8 °C) in January to 72.4 °F (22.4 °C) in July.

According to the 2015 census, the top ten ancestries in the city are: Italian (26.6%), Irish (18.9%), Polish (13.6%), German (13.2%), English (10.9%), Slovak (7.2%), Russian (5.3%), Lithuanian (3.4%), Greek (2.3%), and Arab (1.0%).

Beginning during the first term of Mayor Thomas Walsh, nearly fifty thousand people attend the four-day event every year.

Food (from food vendors throughout the Greater Pittston region), a variety of live entertainment, games, rides, arts and crafts, bingo, and home-grown Pittston tomatoes keep bringing an enthusiastic crowd to the festival year after year.

In 2013, however, the electorate authorized Pittston's city government to commence operating under a Home Rule Charter effective January 2, 2013.

Pittston is also located near the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 476, providing a link to Allentown and Philadelphia.

In the spring of 2002, the airport began offering an increased number of non-stop flights across the nation, which are provided by Allegiant, Delta, United, and American.

A proposed nearby commuter train from Scranton to New York City has received some preliminary government funding.

On May 27, 2023, the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern opened the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Regional Rail station, which offers passenger service to Jim Thorpe on weekends.

The city's police provide full-time protection to its citizens, visitors, businesses, and public property.