Pittsburg

History

On October 23, 1864, a wagon train of refugees had come from Fort Smith, Arkansas, and was escorted by troops from the 6th Kansas Cavalry under the command of Col. William Campbell. These were local men from Cherokee, Crawford, and Bourbon counties. Their enlistment was over, and they were on their way to Fort Leavenworth to be dismissed from service. They ran into the 1st Indian Brigade led by Maj. Andrew Jackson Piercy near the current Pittsburg Waste Water Treatment Plant. They continued to the north when a small group of wagons broke away in an unsuccessful rush to safety. The Confederate troops caught up with them and burned the wagons. The death toll was three Union soldiers and 13 civilian men who had been with the wagon train. It was likely that one of the Confederates had also been killed. A granite marker memorial for the "Cow Creek Skirmish" was placed near the Crawford County Historical Museum on October 30, 2011. Pittsburg sprang up in the fall of 1876 on a railroad line being built through the neighborhood. It was named after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and maps of the time give the town's name as "New Pittsburgh". George Hobson and Franklin Playter are credited with being the city's founders, establishing a government after its beginnings as a coal mining camp in the 1870s. The city was incorporated in 1879. The "New" was dropped upon incorporation of the city as a third class city on June 21, 1880, with M. M. Snow as its first Mayor. In 1892 it was advanced to a city of the second class, in 1905 Pittsburg attained the rank of first class. The first dwelling was built by J. T. Roach in July 1876. The first post office in Pittsburg was established in August, 1876. The post office's name was shortened from "New Pittsburgh" to "Pittsburgh" in 1881…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Pittsburg sits in the Ozark Highlands region, a mix of prairie and forests. It lies west of Springfield, Missouri, south of Kansas City, Missouri, and northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pittsburg has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) bordering on a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa). Summers are hot and humid, with as many as 73 mornings per year staying above and eight mornings remaining above – indeed in July 2012 the temperature did not fall below .

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,790
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,530
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,381
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  1,130
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,062
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,031
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  973
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  967

Largest nearby schools

• Pittsburg High
  High · Pittsburg · 1,017 students · 17.8:1 ratio
• Pittsburg Middle School
  Middle · Pittsburg · 720 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• Westside Elem
  Elementary · Pittsburg · 527 students · 25.1:1 ratio
• Frank Layden Elem
  Elementary · Frontenac · 467 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• Lakeside Elem
  Elementary · Pittsburg · 422 students · 14.6:1 ratio
• Meadowlark Elementary
  Elementary · Pittsburg · 411 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• Northeast Elem
  Elementary · Arma · 341 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• Geo E Nettels Elem
  Elementary · Pittsburg · 293 students · 12.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2014-11-13
  5 km WNW of Prescott, Kansas
• M 3 — 2014-10-01
  9 km SSW of Galesburg, Kansas