Kudos to Legendary - 1909 Pirate ID IQ Test

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Frank, the Pittsburg vs. Pittsburgh thing is trickier than you think.

In 1890 the US decided to Standardize all city names around the country as there were some cities with several different names and some with multiple spellings (as is the case here.) It was decided that ALL cities in the US that ended in "-burgh" or "-burg" would now be "-BURG" and thus the "H" was Officially dropped from Pittsburgh.

Despite this fact the city fought it and tons of stuff produced & printed after that date still retained the "H". Pittsburghers are a tough bunch and didn't really take kindly to the Gov't telling them how to spell the name of their city. I lived in the Burgh for several years and can testify they are a tough working-class city.

In 1910 Pittsburgh officially announced the restoration of the lost "H" to their city. Despite this fact some people still spelled the city w/o the H for several years, as had been the earlier custom. So, I would never use the "H" or no "H" to try and date anything, it just wasn't that cut & dry.

Anyways, that is why Pittsburgh retains their "H" while most cities ending in -burg/-burgh are today spelled without the H.

-Rhett