Wilkinsburg Trivia

  • The borough has a remarkably high concentration of churches, mostly Protestant, which is unusual in a predominantly Catholic region of the country.
  • Bars and taverns have been prohibited in Wilkinsburg since 1870, with the exception of the years 1933 to 1935 (after prohibition was abolished nationwide).
  • Wilkinsburg was the 37th ward of the City of Pittsburgh from 1873 to 1876. According to James Kelly, Wilkinsburg needed independence in order to maintain the religious integrity of the community. Wilkinsburg was known by many during this time as ” The Holy City.”
  • In 1919, the world’s first commercial radio station, 8XK, began broadcasting here from the garage of Westinghouse engineer Frank Conrad. 8XK was later relicensed as KDKA.
  • In 1923, Wilkinsburg-based Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin designed and patented the iconoscope, the photocell “eye” of early television cameras.
  • The Pennsylvania Railroad laid its first tracks through the community in the mid-1800s.
  • There was an airport in the Blackridge area of Wilkinsburg from 1930 to 1938.
  • Wilkinsburg had an electric streetcar system from the early 1900s to the late 1960s.
  • There was a popular amusement park called “Dream City” in Wilkinsburg from about 1908 to 1916.
  • Popular home-construction styles in the borough’s heyday included Queen Anne and Romanesque (1890s), as well as Colonial Revival, Federal and Vernacular (early 1900s). Many buildings remain, forming the foundation for the borough’s rich architectural heritage.
  • The Wilkinsburg Library was founded in 1899 as a branch of the first Carnegie Library in Braddock. It was at one time the largest library in the state.
  • The first librarian of the Wilkinsburg Library was Fred Evans, whose father designed the British House of Parliament.
  • Wilkinsburg is birthplace of Scholastic Magazine. Wilkinsburg native Maurice Robinson established the magazine in 1920 as a newsletter for high school students. Scholastic Magazine would later become Scholastic Publishing, publisher of the wildly popular “Harry Potter” series.