• Pittsburgh is a city of bridges with a total of 446, it has three bridges more than Venice, Italy, which has historically held the title "City of Bridges.

• The David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh is the first certified green convention center in the United States and the largest certified green building in the world.

• Myron Cope's Terrible Towel that you seeing being waved all over NFL Stadiums, has raised over $3 million for Allegheny Valley School, which cares for people with mental disabilities.

• In the 1890s the Pittsburgh Alleghenys signed Lou Bierbauer to their team. He had previously played on the Philadelphia Athletics AA team, and the Athletics forgot to include Bierbauer on their reserve list. Their oversight was the reason that the Alleghenys got their eventual name “Pirates.” When the team signed Lou, the Athletics were angry and called the actions of the team “piratical."

• In the 1920s Bingo was born in Pittsburgh. It was originally called Beano and dried beans were used as the markers.

• Dr. Jonas Salk, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, developed the polio vaccine here in 1952

• In 1971 Dr. Richard Moriarty of the Children's Hospital Poison Center created the Mr. Yuk sticker to replace the skull and crossbones previously used.

• The Fort Pitt Block House celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, 2014. It is Pittsburgh’s oldest authenticated structure.

• The Monongahela River flows north to the Point from West Virginia.

• The Ohio River is the longest of the three rivers. It flows 981 miles west to the Mississippi River.

• The Grant Building, completed in 1930 has a beacon on top that flashes 'Pittsburgh' in Morse Code.



• You know that smiley face you use all the time online and in text messages? It was created in 1980 by Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Scott Fahlman. :-)