Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania

Wilkinsburg
Borough
Entrance to Wilkinsburg's municipal building and library
Location in Allegheny County and the state of Pennsylvania
Coordinates: 40°26′38″N 79°52′39″W / 40.44389°N 79.87750°W / 40.44389; -79.87750Coordinates: 40°26′38″N 79°52′39″W / 40.44389°N 79.87750°W / 40.44389; -79.87750
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Allegheny
Area
• Total	2.3 sq mi (6 km2)
• Land	2.3 sq mi (6 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	15,930
• Density	6,900/sq mi (2,700/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Website	Official website

Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States adjacent to the city of Pittsburgh. The population was 15,930 at the 2010 census, having lost more than 13,000 in the 70 years since 1940, when 29,853 people were enumerated. The borough was named for John Wilkins, Jr., a United States Army officer who served as Quartermaster General of the United States Army from 1796 to 1802.

Wilkinsburg was founded and developed by highly religious European immigrants. The borough has a remarkably high concentration of churches, mostly Protestant, which is unusual in a predominantly Catholic region of the country. Wilkinsburg separated from the city of Pittsburgh in 1871. According to borough leader James Kelly, this was in order to maintain the religious integrity of the community. Wilkinsburg was known during this time by many as "The Holy City".

In 1899 the Wilkinsburg library was founded as a branch of the Braddock library, which was the first of the Carnegie libraries in the nation. The Wilkinsburg library also serves as a meeting place for council members as well as being the home of the local police department.

In 1916, the world's first commercially licensed radio station, KDKA, began broadcasting here as experimental station 8XK from a small garage owned by Frank Conrad before it was launched with its current call letters on November 2, 1920. In 1923, Wilkinsburg-based Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin designed and patented the iconoscope, the photocell "eye" of early television cameras. Today, ABC affiliate WTAE-TV is located in the borough on Ardmore Boulevard.

Although the borough has become economically depressed in recent years, many efforts are being made to change this. The Wilkinsburg Community Development Center (WCDC, open since 2008) on Wood Street has become a huge part in bringing positive change to the neighborhood through helping local businesses move in, spreading the word about events going on, and bringing the people of Wilkinsburg together.