(H)our History Lesson: The Development and Contributions of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, WWII Heritage City

Photo 2: "Increase in pig iron and steel production, January 1, 1940-January 1, 1945.” Pig iron is a type of crude iron produced by blast furnaces. Look for Pittsburgh on this map.

Pennsylvania State Archives.

About this Lesson

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the World War II home front, with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania designated as an American World War II Heritage City. The lesson contains photographs, two secondary source readings, and a newspaper excerpt to contribute to learners’ understandings about the home front contributions of Pittsburgh and the people who lived there. It examines Pittsburgh’s contributions to the US and its Allies, and the change and development of the area. The lesson also contains connections to home front propaganda posters. Extension activities include a civics connection and examining the environmental impacts of the area.
To see more World War II lessons, visit Teaching with Historic Places.

Objectives:

1. Describe the war effort and contributions of Pittsburgh as a major industrial center.

2. Explain and reflect on the impact of World War II on the way of life, workforce composition, and industries in Pittsburgh.

3. Identify challenges and opportunities faced by Pittsburgh on the home front.

Materials for Students:

1. Photos (can be displayed digitally)
2. Readings 1, 2, 3 (two secondary; one primary)
3. Recommended: Map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Example plat map, a map showing the division and use of land)
4. Extensions: links and resources

Getting Started: Essential Question

How did Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania develop as a home front city, and what was the impact on those who lived and worked there?

Reading to Connect

The following secondary reading and primary newspaper source explore the development of Pittsburgh as an industrial production site during World War II.

Reading 1: Pittsburgh Secondary Reading

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a home front city during World War II  

By Sarah Nestor Lane 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was a bustling center of industry and transportation. The location and land features of Pittsburgh were convenient. The rivers and railways supported movement of troops, equipment, and supplies. It was well-connected to the rest of the country in this way. This supported resource movement to other domestic manufacturing sites and the front lines overseas. 

Production in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh became known as the “Steel City.” Pittsburgh produced mass amounts of steel to make weapons, ships, and tanks. The steel industry was critical for providing materials needed for the war effort. For example, the Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation developed alloys for use in aircraft and tanks.  

Pittsburgh was a leader in steel production. It also produced other important materials. These included aluminum, rubber, radar systems, machinery parts, fuel and energy, and more. Aluminum is lightweight and durable. These characteristics made it ideal for making aircraft, weapons, and equipment. Synthetic rubber was used for tires and vehicle parts. Radar systems made in Pittsburgh were used by the US and allies for detecting enemy aircraft and ships. Pittsburgh-made machinery and heavy equipment included artillery pieces, locomotives, and ship pieces. Coal mining in the area helped produce energy for this production and transportation.   

Also in Pittsburgh was the research center for the US Bureau of Mines. The center worked on experiments with explosives in mines and labs. Scientists worked on safe handling and storing of explosives. They studied how explosives react to things like heat and impact. The research contributed to designing a trigger for the atomic bomb for the Manhattan Project. This trigger would set off a reaction causing the bomb to explode. This work, and other projects for the Manhattan Project, was top-secret at the time.

Workforce  

Many men from Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania joined the Armed Services. About 1.25 million Pennsylvanians served. Approximately 900,000 of those were men. There was a need for both workers in industry and men in the service. This led to the opportunity for women to work in previously male-dominated professions.  

At first, male managers and workers did not welcome women in the mills and industry jobs. Longstanding prejudice against women in these jobs led men to worry that women could not do the work, or that they would be distracting and cause liabilities. However, women filled these roles and succeeded in supporting the war efforts. 

Expansion in Pittsburgh: Benefits and Challenges 

There were benefits to the industry in Pittsburgh. Factories, mining, and other operations in Pittsburgh supported the war efforts and the Allies' win of World War II. The home front efforts led to women being in the workforce in new ways.  

African American workers and service members launched the Double V campaign from Pittsburgh. The campaign started from a letter by James G. Thompson in the Pittsburgh Courier. It called out discrimination and inequalities experienced by African Americans in the US. The campaign had long-lasting impact on the fight for equal rights of African Americans.  

Some of the geographical challenges faced in Pittsburgh were displacement and pollution. The federal government and private industry displaced approximately 8,000 residents from an area called Homestead. Many lost their homes to make way for new steel mills. 

Factories and mills contributed to pollution in the area. Polluted air, water, and soil had negative health impacts on residents. The most noticeable to visitors was the smoke. The local government passed a smoke control ordinance in October 1941, but due to the war effort, implementation of the ordinance for industry and railroads was delayed five years, to October 1946. 

Reading 2: Newspaper

Teacher Tip: Prior to reading, explain to students two of the abbreviations in the reading. CIO stands for Congress of Industrial Organizations, and A.F.L. for American Federation of Labor. Today, these are combined to make AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the US. 

Halifax Calls Pittsburgh The Arsenal of the Nation 

British Ambassador, Ending Industrial Tour Here, Voices Hope for Continued British-American Collaboration 

October 10, 1942; The Pittsburgh Press, p.2 

Lord Halifax, British Ambassador to the United States, declared in Pittsburgh last night that ‘this is most truly the arsenal of this great industrial country.’  

He addressed prominent Pittsburghers at a formal banquet for himself and Lady Halifax as they ended a two-day visit here.  

During the day, the Ambassador had been shown something of the Pittsburgh district’s industrial might. 

In the morning he was taken to the great Homestead Works of Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp., where he watched molten metal being poured from open hearth furnaces into huge ladles; saw glowing slabs being rolled into sheets, and inspected the new mill buildings rising where a year ago about half of Homestead resided. 

Visits with CIO Boss 

Later, he called on CIO President Philip Murray, who also came from the British Isles (Scotland) at the age of 16 to start his career in the mines. The two chatted about the contributions of organized labor to the war effort in Britain and America, then went to a luncheon meeting attended by leaders of the CIO and A.F. of L.  

In the afternoon the Ambassador was taken to the Dravo shipyards on Neville Island to witness two ship launchings and to see something of the assembly line system which is keeping the Ohio River at that point almost constantly roiled by the launchings of sea-going warships. 

He saw launched a submarine chaser and a big tank-landing ship. He and his party later inspected a tank-carrier riding at anchor in the river and saw the shops where parts are fashioned. While they watched, a giant press (largest in the world, it was said) bent a sheet of steel into a keel plate as effortlessly as if it were a stick of chewing gum. . . .  

Sees Long War 

Last night he stood under British and American flags in the William Penn Hotel and gave the banquet guests some of his ideas on the war situation. 

‘I see no need for pessimism about this war,’ he said, ‘but I do feel that unless we realize the gravity of it and put everything into it, it may last a long time and cause a great deal of suffering.’  

He later expressed a thought that he has previously voiced in speeches: the hope for continued collaboration between England and America after the war...

By the numbers:

• The Pittsburgh region spent $511 million on factory expansion during the war, the sixth largest among industry centers in the U.S.

• Production of steel was increased more than 200% by 1942, making Pittsburgh the world’s leading producer of steel

• The Mesta Machine Company in Pittsburgh produced more than half of the 155mm gun tubes used in the war.

• Pittsburgh produced 20 percent of LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) built during the war, as well as sub chasers, LSM (Landing Ship, Medium) and a variety of transport craft.

• More than 100,000 propeller blades were produced each year, 1942-1945 by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

Quotation to consider:

“By day, one who loves the American landscape has the feeling of riding over its cut-over grave, and by night he may not even enjoy the deception of darkness, for all around him the hoarse glare of converters and furnaces, the blue lights squinting out from the blackened panes of factory windows, will jeer at his antiquarian regrets. There is hardly a modern industry or trade that is not pounding by night or day through this frenzied area. ... Every small supply trade that can use the basic diet of the mines or the mills.”

- Alistair Cooke on Pittsburgh and the surrounding industry areas, where he visited in 1942, in The American Home Front: 1941 – 1942, p. 246

Student Activities

Questions for Reading 1 and Photos 1 & 2

1. How did the location and geography of Pittsburgh support the war effort?
2. What were some of the important materials produced in Pittsburgh during the war?
3. Why did more women enter the workforce in the Pittsburgh during the war?
4. What was the Double V campaign?
5. What were some of the social and economic impacts of the war on the Pittsburgh home front?

Questions for Reading 2

1. What did Lord Halifax do during his two-day visit to Pittsburgh?

2. What is the significance of Lord Halifax's meeting with CIO President Philip Murray?

3. What is Lord Halifax's message to the American people about the war?

4. How does Lord Halifax's visit to Pittsburgh reflect the importance of the city's war industries to the US and the Allies?

Reading 3: Pittsburgh in Propaganda

By Sarah Nestor Lane

Some famous propaganda posters have their roots in Pittsburgh. War propaganda is information that is used to influence people's opinions and attitudes about war. This can include posters, radio, and other media. These examples of propaganda posters show the impact the workforce in Pittsburgh had on the home front both locally and nationwide.

"We Can Do It!" and Westinghouse

Top image
The now-iconic “We Can Do It!” poster that spread the character of "Rosie the Riveter." This one is from 1943.
Credit: J. Howard Miller, Library of Congress

Bottom image
This woman making helmet liners at Westinghouse in 1943 is one of many women who worked in war time industries as real life "Rosies"
Credit: Westinghouse Electric Corporation Photographs, 1886-1996, MSP 424, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center

Many recognize this iconic Rosie the Riveter poster. This poster was created in 1943 by J. Howard Miller. Miller produced the poster for Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, headquarters in Pittsburgh, to boost women workers’ morale there. The War Production Co-Ordinating Committee used this poster as part of a national campaign in encouraging women to join the home front workforce. 

Westinghouse manufactured over 8,000 different products and contributed research to technological improvements. Examples include developments in plastics, radar, and atomic energy. Women contributed to the important home front work at Westinghouse. 

Men Working Together

Left image
"Men Working Together!" poster was part of efforts to encourage people to work on the home front and appeared all over the country.
Credit: Office of War Information Photograph; Library of Congress

Right image
“A poster comes to life. For six days, Woolslayer acted as guide for his Army and Navy companions and even then failed to cover the entire mill. Note, in left background, an electric furnace in operation. Allegheny-Steel, Pittsburgh, 1942
Credit: Palmer, Alfred T., photographer; United States Office of War Information; Library of Congress

The Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation, located in Pittsburgh, increased production to support the manufacturing of aircraft, tanks, ships, and weapons. In October 1941 photographer Alfred T. Palmer came to document this production. He was hired by the Office for Emergency Management (OEM). On his visit, he took about 80 photos. 

A picture from Palmer’s trip was used in the creation of the poster “Men Working Together.” The picture was of a welder, George Woolslayer. Woolslayer’s picture was placed alongside US Army Corporal French L. Vineyard, and John Marshall Evans, US Navy Radioman, First Class. 

When Woolslayer saw his picture used, he wrote a letter in February 1942 to OEM asking for the names of the soldier and sailor also in the poster. 

In August 1942 the War Information Office arranged for the soldier and a sailor to visit the factory where Woolslayer worked. Palmer went back to Allegheny Ludlum Steel to take pictures of the three men meeting. Woolslayer was proud to show the visitors how the steel was made for ships, planes, and weapons. Chief Evans spoke to the steelworkers at the tour, saying, "I know now where we get the stuff for battleships and guns--and even radio parts. And with men like you producing this stuff we need and backing us up, we can't lose this war." 

These men, who were once unknown, became famous all over the country. The poster was in many publications and was hung up in factories and mills. (The full photo essay collection “A Poster Comes to Life” is in the Library of Congress online prints and photographs catalog.) 

Questions for Reading 3 with Comparison Photos

1. How do the “We Can Do It!” poster and “Men Working Together” poster connect to the home front industries and workforce in Pittsburgh?
2. Who are some of the Pittsburgh home front workers not represented in these posters?
3. Do you think these posters were effective propaganda tools? Why or why not?

Extension Activities

Teachers can use these if there is additional time in the lesson, or interested students can use these resources to explore more about Pittsburgh.

Extension 1: Civics and History Connection

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is an example of a city landscape that has changed geographically, socially, and economically throughout and because of World War II. There are multiple perspectives on the costs and benefits of those changes. 

• Have students explore collections that interest them by Historic Pittsburgh, hosted by University of Pittsburgh Library Systems 

• Take notes on different categories of change observed across time periods.  

Reflection questions:  

• How do you think changes were brought about in Pittsburgh?  

• How do the changes during the 1940s connect to the changes in the city over multiple time periods? 

Return to these questions as students learn more about Pittsburgh as a home front city. 

Extension 2: Environmental Impact

 

Photo: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1941. (Credit: Vachon, John, photographer; Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Allegheny County United States; Library of Congress) https://www.loc.gov/item/2017811857/ 

Examine the pictures in the Smoke Control Lantern Slides collection by University of Pittsburgh. The pictures show smoke pollution issues in Pittsburgh in the 1940s and 1950s, before and after smoke control ordinances were passed regulating the burning of coal. Consider the role of the war industries in contributing to pollution, and how regulations made a difference over time. 

Additional Resources

A History of the Bureau of Mines Pittsburgh Research Center (cdc.gov)

David A. Good Interview, Library of Congress; worker at Curtiss Wright (Pittsburgh)

Meet Winnie the Welder - Heinz History Center

This lesson was written by Sarah Nestor Lane, an educator and consultant with the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education, funded by the National Council on Public History's cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.