On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 11:43:54 AM UTC-6, Ken Barr wrote:
One of the medals I have for auction on eBay at present is a 25th Anniversary medal from Heeren Bros. Jewelers in Pittsburg PA. I knew there was something strange about Pittsburgh, adding and dropping the "H" at the end of it's name, but I never knew the details. I had heard that it had something to do with World War I and de-Germanizing U. S. town names, but wuzzen't confident of the source of that info ... Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know ... Pittsburgh was named in 1758 by General John Forbes in honor of the British statesman William Pitt. Given that Forbes was a Scotsman, it is possible that the intended pronunciation of the settlement was /�pjtsbJrY/ (PITS-brY or PITS-bY-rY), similar to the pronunciation of Edinburgh.[28][29][30][31][32] It was incorporated as a borough in 1794 and chartered as a city in 1816.[33] Pittsburgh was officially named with its present spelling on April 22, 1794, by an act of the Pennsylvania Department, stating, "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that the said town of Pittsburgh shall be, and the same is hereby, erected into a borough, which shall be called the borough of Pittsburgh for ever."[34] Pittsburgh is one of the few American cities to be spelled with an h at the end of a burg suffix.[35] While named "Pittsburg" from 1890 to 1911 following a declaration by the United States Board on Geographic Names, the "Pittsburgh" spelling was officially restored after a public campaign by the citizens of the city.[34] Another interesting numismatic fact re Pittsburg(h) it that FIVE national banks chartered during the 1890 - 1911 period used Pittsburg in their titles, while all the other banks chartered prior to 1890 retained the Pittsburgh spelling ... Unfortunately, it looks like all five have VERY FEW notes reported, so a complete collection of these is quite unlikely. So the next time you're in Pitts-bra, be sure to pronounce it correctly ... -- Ken Barr Numismatics � � � �email: P. O. Box 32541 � � � � � � website: �http://www.kenbarr.com San Jose, CA �95152 � � Coins, currency, exonumia, souvenir cards, etc. 408-272-3247 � �� NEXT SHOW: Peninsula CC 11/4 Napredak Hall SJ

For Americans, it's probably important to inform them that there was a William Pitt the Elder and William Pitt the Younger, father and son.

Pittsburgh was named after the father. However, William Pitt the Younger was the far more important as he was the great nemesis of Napoleon Bonaparte..

William Pitt the Younger (died 1806) was also one of the greatest alcoholics in History and died early from its effects. The stuff he drank wasn't as strong as today's fortified wines, but he drank all day long, every day from the moment he got out of bed. It's good to be Prime Minister - they always bring you more instead of shutting you off.

The absolute roughest commercial jet landing that I was ever involved in was in vast thunderstorm in Pittsburg in 1983. Still amazed at that one.

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