What’s in a name? Well, if it’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, then it’s an “h.” Of the many other Pittsburgs — some 20 towns in California, Illinois, Maine, New Hampshire, and Texas — the city in Pennsylvania is the only one that ends in an “h.” That’s because as the country expanded and technology evolved, the need for standardization arose. In 1890, the U.S. Board of Geographic Names sought to bring consistency to the spellings of locations throughout the country. The board deemed that all towns ending in “burgh” must drop the “h” in the spirit of uniformity. However, city officials in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stood strong, refusing to drop the "h" in the city’s name. Eventually, a special meeting of the U.S. Board of Geographic Names met on July 19, 1911, and a preponderance of evidence citing Pittsburgh spelled with an “h” over the decades convinced the board to reinstate the final letter. The “h” was back! Of course, not everybody got the message. The Post Office didn’t change it’s machines to reflect the inclusion of the “h” until October 1911, and the Pittsburgh Press continued to use the “h-less” spelling for another decade. In order to quell the confusion, the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce finally released a pamphlet entitled “How to Spell Pittsburgh.”
