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Pittsburgh and Allegheny, from Coal Hill, 1849.
Credit: Courtesy of the NYPL digital gallery, New York Public Library
In the 1840s Pittsburgh was a thriving river port and emerging center of the state's iron industry. It was also the home to an active group of abolitionists, including Jane Swisshelm, who in 1847 became the first woman in America to launch an abolitionist newspaper.