Robert Pitcairn

Robert Pitcairn (May 6, 1836 – July 25, 1909) was a Scottish-American railroad executive who headed the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the late 19th century. He was the brother of the Pennsylvania Plate Glass Company founder, John Pitcairn, Jr.

Pitcairn was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He accompanied his parents to the United States and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

On July 26, 1856, Robert Pitcairn married Elizabeth Erb Rigg of Altoona, PA. Their children were: Agnes Laurene Pitcairn (born in 1857), Lillian Pitcairn (born in 1859), Susan Blanche Pitcairn (born in 1868) and Robert Pitcairn, Jr. (born on October 2, 1874). In later years (1906) Mr. and Mrs. Robert Pitcairn Jr. built a house in Pasadena California designed by the outstanding architectural firm Greene and Greene.

The Pitcairn family home was at the corner of Ellsworth and Amberson Avenues in Shadyside. Robert Pitcairn was a deeply religious man; he lived his Scottish Presbyterian beliefs as a founder, longtime member and leader of the Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh's fashionable East End. Before the congregation built its current building, for many years, Pitcairn served as its choir director.

Pitcairn's first job was as a messenger boy for the Eastern Telegraph Company where he worked alongside future steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. In 1853, when Carnegie left to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad, he got Pitcairn a job as a ticket agent at the Mountain House at Hollidaysburg, from there he was transferred to Altoona. Both men worked their way up the corporate ranks rapidly. When Andrew Carnegie left the railroad to start Carnegie Steel, Pitcairn replaced Carnegie as general agent and superintendent of the Pittsburgh division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was also a friend and financial backer of George Westinghouse.

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