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Event Information:
Pittsburgh is well known for it's
celebrations of US Independence Day,
commonly known as the Fourth of
July, a federal holiday in the
United States commemorating the
adoption of the Declaration of
Independence on July 4, 1776,
declaring independence from the
Kingdom of Great Britain.
Independence Day is commonly
associated with fireworks, parades,
barbecues, carnivals, fairs,
picnics, concerts, baseball games,
family reunions, political speeches
and ceremonies, and various other
public and private events
celebrating the history, government,
and traditions of the United States.
Independence Day is the national day
of the United States.
The
Pittsburgh celebrations have as
their focal point the spectacular
fireworks display in Point State
Park. Point State Park is a
Pennsylvania state park on 36 acres
(150,000 m2) in Downtown Pittsburgh,
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA,
at the confluence of the Allegheny
and Monongahela rivers, forming the
Ohio River. Built on land acquired
via eminent domain from industrial
enterprises in the 1950s, the park
opened in 1974 when construction was
completed on its iconic fountain.
Pittsburgh settled on the current
design after rejecting an
alternative plan for a Point Park
Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright.
The
park also includes the outlines and
remains of two of the oldest
structures in Pittsburgh, Fort Pitt
and Fort Duquesne. The Fort Pitt
Museum, housed in the Monongahela
Bastion of Fort Pitt, commemorates
the French and Indian War
(1754–1763), in which the area soon
to become Pittsburgh was a major
battlefield. The confluence of the
Allegheny and Monongahela rivers,
creating the Ohio River, has greatly
impacted the history of Point State
Park. It was once at the center of
river travel, trade, and even wars
throughout the pioneer history of
Western Pennsylvania. During the
mid-18th century, the armies of
France and the Great Britain carved
paths through the wilderness to
control the point area and trade on
the rivers. The French built Fort
Duquesne in 1754 on foundations of
Fort Prince George, which had been
built by the colonial forces of
Virginia.
The
French held Fort Duquesne during the
French and Indian War, and it became
one of the focal points for that war
because of its strategic riverside
location in disputed territory. The
French held the fort successfully
early in the war, turning back the
expedition led by General Edward
Braddock. A smaller attack by James
Grant in September 1758 was
repulsed, but with heavy losses. Two
months later, on November 25, the
Forbes Expedition, under General
John Forbes, captured the site after
the French destroyed Fort Duquesne
the day before. The British built a
much larger fort on the site and
named it Fort Pitt.
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