NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Pittsburgh, the erstwhile 'Steel City,' hosts the leaders of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing countries at a summit on Thursday and Friday. For stories, please see:
Once smitten with smog so thick that a journalist in the mid-19th century described Pittsburgh as 'hell with its lid off,' the city was chosen by President Barack Obama as a 'bold example' of America's potential to build a new green economy.
Pittsburgh is banking its future on a cleaner economy -- one based on education, healthcare and innovation in green technology. Here are five facts about the city:
* Pittsburgh boasts that it is home to American firsts that include the Ferris wheel, an invention meant to outshine the Eiffel Tower (1893), the first U.S. motion picture house (1905), the country's first drive-through gasoline station (1913), and the Big Mac (1967).
* The city was named Pittsburgh in 1758 in honor of William Pitt the Elder, a British statesman who masterminded the military strategy that enabled the British to defeat the French in Pennsylvania during the Seven Years War.
* Sports-crazy Pittsburgh is home to the most recent champions in professional hockey and football, the Penguins and the Steelers, who have won the most Super Bowls, with six titles.
* Divided by three rivers -- the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio -- Pittsburgh has 446 bridges, and is so hilly it has more than 700 sets of public stairs, a number that some locals say is the most of any city in the country.
* A quirk of the local 'Pittsburghese' dialect is the use of 'yinz,' a variation on the contraction 'y'all,' or 'you all,' which has earned Pittsburghers the nickname 'Yinzers.'
(Sources: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, The Pittsburgh Speech and Society Project at Carnegie Mellon University, Senator John Heinz History Center, Reuters.
(Compiled by Rebekah Kebede and Herb Lash; Editing by Howard Goller)
((rebekah.kebede@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: rebekah.kebede.reuters.com@reuters.net; 646 223 6057;)) Keywords: G20/PITTSBURGH (For help: Click 'Contact Us' in your desk top, click here or call 1-800-738-8377 for Reuters Products and 1-888-463-3383 for Thomson products; For client training: training.americas@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646-223-5546) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Once smitten with smog so thick that a journalist in the mid-19th century described Pittsburgh as 'hell with its lid off,' the city was chosen by President Barack Obama as a 'bold example' of America's potential to build a new green economy.
Pittsburgh is banking its future on a cleaner economy -- one based on education, healthcare and innovation in green technology. Here are five facts about the city:
* Pittsburgh boasts that it is home to American firsts that include the Ferris wheel, an invention meant to outshine the Eiffel Tower (1893), the first U.S. motion picture house (1905), the country's first drive-through gasoline station (1913), and the Big Mac (1967).
* The city was named Pittsburgh in 1758 in honor of William Pitt the Elder, a British statesman who masterminded the military strategy that enabled the British to defeat the French in Pennsylvania during the Seven Years War.
* Sports-crazy Pittsburgh is home to the most recent champions in professional hockey and football, the Penguins and the Steelers, who have won the most Super Bowls, with six titles.
* Divided by three rivers -- the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio -- Pittsburgh has 446 bridges, and is so hilly it has more than 700 sets of public stairs, a number that some locals say is the most of any city in the country.
* A quirk of the local 'Pittsburghese' dialect is the use of 'yinz,' a variation on the contraction 'y'all,' or 'you all,' which has earned Pittsburghers the nickname 'Yinzers.'
(Sources: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, The Pittsburgh Speech and Society Project at Carnegie Mellon University, Senator John Heinz History Center, Reuters.
(Compiled by Rebekah Kebede and Herb Lash; Editing by Howard Goller)
((rebekah.kebede@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: rebekah.kebede.reuters.com@reuters.net; 646 223 6057;)) Keywords: G20/PITTSBURGH (For help: Click 'Contact Us' in your desk top, click here or call 1-800-738-8377 for Reuters Products and 1-888-463-3383 for Thomson products; For client training: training.americas@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646-223-5546) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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