Why Pittsburgh – A Story of Innovation - Sunday November 3, 2019 - 2 pm

Why Pittsburgh – A Story of Innovation
Fall General Membership Meeting & Program

Presented by the Cranberry Township Historical Society with the Cranberry Township Public Library

Please join us for the 2019 CTHS Fall Program on Sunday November 3, 2019 at 2:00 pm in the Council Chambers of the Cranberry Township Municipal Center - 2525 Rochester Road, Cranberry Township, PA 16066.

The Pittsburgh region has had rich and complex history; one area has been the city’s tradition of innovation. Blessed with abundant natural resources and linked to markets downriver, this region developed as first a commercial and industrial center. Coal and coke, steel, glass, and aluminum were some of our greatest contributions to the world. It attracted more business and immigrants to the area to support and run these nascent factories.

The region also attracted innovators who had specialties encompassing a wide range of interests. This included John Roebling of Saxonburg, with his wire rope that radically changed bridge construction; George Westinghouse, with his air brake that made trains safer; Charles Martin Hall, who started the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (a company still around today but with a new name), and included medicine, with Jonas Salk, who let children have full lives with his vaccine. The development of Pittsburgh would not have been achieved without the financial backing of the Mellon family.

Pittsburgh was also the birthplace of great minds such as Rachel Carson and August Wilson. Rachel spread the word as to what we were doing to the environment and August Wilson, the great playwright with his “Pittsburgh Cycle”, wrote ten plays that featured his hometown of Pittsburgh as its setting, and thus shared Pittsburgh with the world.

Our Speaker, Ms. Anne Madarasz, will talk about the unique story of the people and this place and how innovators from here have impacted the world.

Please join us for this free speakers program and learn about our trailblazers in industry, medicine and the arts.

Anne has been at the Heinz History Center since 1992 and currently holds the title of Curatorial Division Director, Chief Historian, and Director of the Western PA Sports Museum. A graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, she completed the coursework for her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. She served as Project Director and Curator for “Glass: Shattering Notions” and authored the accompanying catalog. She was awarded a Richards Fellowship for research from the Corning Museum of Glass. Anne oversaw the research and design of a major exhibit that opened at the History Center on the subject of innovation and invention titled: Pittsburgh: A Tradition of Innovation

As this is a joint program with the Library, you need to register for the program in one of three ways:

1. Call the Library at (724) 776-9100
2. Register at the library website: http://bit.ly/CTHS-why-pgh
3. Call and leave a message with Tom Cully – Program Director at (724) 776-6551 (leave your name and the number in your group)

See you there November 3rd!

As always light refreshments will be served (both programs). Fall is the time for apples and maybe the refreshments will include crisp apples from Treesdale Farms. The farm is right up the hill from the Harmony Line’s Warrendale stop.