Duquesne Heights

Duquesne Heights

Duquesne Heights is located right across the Monongahela River from Downtown Pittsburgh and is bordered by Mt. Washington, Beechview and the West End.  It began as part of Pittsburgh’s “Coal Hill”, comprising both Mt. Washington and the neighborhood.  Coal Hill was once the center of the city’s coal mining district, and a very ugly place in the 1800s and early 1900s.

The name of the neighborhood is taken from Fort Duquesne, the French outpost constructed in the 1750s.  Annexed into the City of Pittsburgh in 1872, many stairways and inclines were built to aid the residents and workers in travelling to the mines and railroads traversing the hills and byways around Pittsburgh.  The Duquesne Incline is still in operation today.

This neighborhood’s popularity as a place to live, along with its attraction for tourists, has grown rapidly since Pittsburgh’s first Renaissance began. The “Point of View” statue of George Washington and Guyasuta, dedicated in October 2006, represents the famous meeting of the two leaders, and is a focal point for both the neighborhood and the region.

The area was originally settled by German and Italian immigrants.

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