The First Internet Emoticon (1982): The Smiley® 🙂 was the first Internet emoticon, created by Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Scott Fahlman.

First Mr. Yuk Sticker (1971): Mr. Yuk was created at the Poison Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh after research indicated that the skull and crossbones previously used to identify poisons had little meaning to children who equate the symbol with exciting things like pirates and adventure.

SLINKYS® were invented here!!!

The First Baseball Stadium in the U.S. (1909): In 1909 the first baseball stadium, Forbes Field, was built in Pittsburgh, followed soon by similar stadiums in Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and New York. The First World Series (1903): The Boston Pilgrims defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three in baseball’s first modern World Series in 1903. First Night World Series Game (1971): Game 4 of the 1971 World Series was the first night game in World Series history, a series that Pittsburgh went on to win, 4 games to 3.

First Big Mac® (1967): Created by Jim Delligatti at his Uniontown McDonald’s®, the Big Mac® debuted and was test marketed in three other Pittsburgh-area McDonald’s® restaurants in 1967. By 1968 it was a mainstay on McDonald’s® menus throughout the country.

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 Bingo! Game (early 1920’s): Hugh J. Ward first came up with the concept of bingo in Pittsburgh and began running the game at carnivals in the early 1920s, taking it nationwide in 1924. He secured a copyright on the game and wrote a book of Bingo! rules in 1933.

Daylight Savings Time (March 18, 1919): A Pittsburgh city councilman during the first World War, Robert Garland, devised the nation’s first daylight savings plan, instituted in 1918.

The First Gas Station (December 1913): In 1913 the first automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining Company, opened in Pittsburgh at Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in East Liberty. Designed by J. H. Giesey.

First Motion Picture Theatre (1905): The first theater in the world devoted to the exhibition of motion pictures was the “Nickelodeon,” opened by Harry Davis on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh.

First Banana Split (1904): Invented by Dr. David Strickler, a pharmacist, at Strickler’s Drug Store in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

Primanti Brothers Restaurant invented the sandwich with coleslaw and fries on top, so that Mill Workers could carry their entire lunch with ease to the mills.

The Carnegie Museum of Art (1985) opened in 1895 as the world’s first museum of modern art.

Allegheny County has more than 1,700 bridges, 720 within city limits, and 15 major bridges crossing downtown Pittsburgh alone. (Pittsburgh has more bridges than any city in the world.)

Pittsburgh lost the “h” in its spelling in 1891, but after 20 years of protest, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names relented and the “h” was restored.

Pittsburgh’s St. Anthony’s Chapel is home to more Catholic relics than anywhere else in the world except for the Vatican.

Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood is home to the steepest street in the United States (and possibly the world): Canton Avenue. It is as steep as 37 degrees.

First Heart, Liver, Kidney Transplant (December 3, 1989): The first simultaneous heart, liver and kidney transplant was done at Presbyterian-University Hospital.

To double down on Medicine, First Polio Vaccine (March 26, 1953): The polio vaccine was developed by Dr. Jonas E. Salk, a 38-year-old University of Pittsburgh researcher and professor.

Dock Ellis, one of the best pitchers in the 1970s is also one of the first Black pitchers in baseball, and a Pittsburgh Pirate. He pitched his famous no-hitter against the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970 high on LSD. He said he took drugs to take off the pressure of being one of the only Black pitchers in the major leagues.

George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” the movie credited as the first in the zombie genre, was set in, and filmed around, Pittsburgh in 1968.

We have our own dialect called “Pittsburghese.” Yinz’ll love Picksburg! Check aht our progiees, keilbasi, and Picksburg salads. Check out more vocabulary and a translator at http://www.pittsburghese.com/