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The University of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory, circa 1912.
Credit: Allegheny Observatory, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
In 1859 a group of wealthy industrialists formed the Allegheny Telescope Association and built Pittsburgh's first observatory. Opened in 1912, the Allegheny Observatory sits just above where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River, about four miles from downtown Pittsburgh.