To help celebrate Pittsburgh's 250th birthday, WPXI.com presents It's A Pittsburgh Original!
Each week through 2008 we'll post a world famous item that originated right here in the Steel City.

WEEK 23: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968)
Fred Rogers returned to WQED in Pittsburgh to begin writing and hosting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood May 22, 1967. Several other public television stations from Chicago to Boston carried the show on a trial basis that year. In all, 305 new programs were taped from 1979 through 2001. Upon its conclusion, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was the longest-running series in PBS history (a record eclipsed by Sesame Street in 2003).


Click here to the 'Mister Rogers' Web page.



Pittsburgh World Firsts

Long-Distance Electricity (1885): Westinghouse Electric developed alternating current, allowing long-distance transmission of electricity for the first time.

First World Series (1903): The Boston Pilgrims defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three in baseball's first modern World Series.

Daylight Saving Time (1919): A Pittsburgh city councilman during the first World War, Robert Garland, devised the nation's first daylight savings plan, instituted in 1918.

First Polio Vaccine (1953): The polio vaccine was developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk, a 38-year-old University of Pittsburgh researcher and professor.

First Pull-Tab on Cans (1962): The pull-tab was developed by Alcoa and was first used by Iron City Brewery in 1962. For many years, pull-tabs were only used in this area.

First Robotics Institute (1979): The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University was established to conduct basic and applied research in robotics technologies relevant to industrial and societal tasks.

Well-Known Movies Filmed In Pittsburgh

Flashdance (1983)

Robocop (1987)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Kingpin (1996)

Dogma (1999)

The Mothman Prophecies (2002)