When Mark Twain visited in 1884, he claimed to spy a little bit of hell in Pittsburgh’s smoky appearance. Twain’s observations are among the many riveting firsthand accounts and anecdotes to be found in the archives of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Great War hit home after the sinking of the Lusitania, which carried more than a dozen Pittsburgh residents. A few years later, cheering throngs of black and white residents lined downtown streets to welcome African American soldiers returning home from the conflict. The Ringling Brothers Circus held its last outdoor performance here in 1956 and left eight hundred show workers without jobs in the city. With these stories from the archives and more, veteran journalist Len Barcousky shines a light on the hidden corners of Pittsburgh’s history.

Until his retirement in 2015, Len Barcousky had been a longtime editor and reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the oldest newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains. He covered the city’s history in his “Eyewitness” columns, and he received his BA from Penn State and MBA from Columbia University.