Pittsburg, KS
| Pittsburg, Kansas | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Downtown Pittsburg (2012)
|
|
 Location within Crawford County and Kansas |
|
 KDOT map of Crawford County (legend) |
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| Coordinates: 37°24′37″N 94°41′59″W / 37.41028°N 94.69972°WCoordinates: 37°24′37″N 94°41′59″W / 37.41028°N 94.69972°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Kansas |
| County | Crawford |
| Founded | 1876 |
| Incorporated | 1880 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–Council |
| • Mayor | Chuck Munsell |
| • City Manager | Daron Hall |
| Area | |
| • Total | 12.90 sq mi (33.41 km2) |
| • Land | 12.80 sq mi (33.15 km2) |
| • Water | 0.10 sq mi (0.26 km2) |
| Elevation | 942 ft (287 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 20,233 |
| • Estimate (2015) | 20,409 |
| • Density | 1,600/sq mi (610/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP codes | 66762 |
| Area code(s) | 620 |
| FIPS code | 20-56025 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0469594 |
| Website | pittks.org |
Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, in southeastern Kansas, United States. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and in southeastern Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 20,233.
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. During this period, the 'h' was dropped from the official spelling, as the name was pronounced with a "berg" ending, and not a "burra" ending (Scottish). For this reason, the United States Board on Geographic Names altered the city's official name as part of a country-wide standardization effort. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania similarly lost its 'h' from 1891 to 1911, before winning a rare name reversal following a twenty-year appeal.
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