Old Pittsburgh Map

President Obama's affinity for Pittsburgh extends to the arts. For while he flew to NYC to see a play, Joe Turner's Come and Gone is set in Pittsburgh (in 1911).

In line with all things old and in the Pittsburgh way, here is a map found in the Library of Congress collection, with no exact date. The legend says "A Dot = 200 persons." Sometime around 1850?

Image Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University (via the Library of Congress online collection)

Old Fitsburgh

From the nullspace, Pittsburgh ranks 16th on the list of 50 fittest MSAs (.pdf)

16th is pretty good when you consider our aging population (17.1% over 65 compared to the national MSA average of 11.5%). Interesting ecological approach to defining fitness, but it seems the parks and recreational opportunities are just that -- indicators of fitness opportunities, not necessarily fitness.

Old and in the Way

...in a good way.