Published in 1961 using survey data from 1960, the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Pittsburgh East” presents a finely observed portrait of Pittsburgh at a pivotal moment in its modern history. Drawn at the precise 1:24,000 scale, the map captures the city where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio, a geographic convergence that made Pittsburgh one of America’s great industrial capitals. The downtown point, the Fort Pitt Bridge, and Point State Park anchor the composition, while the surrounding hills and river valleys reveal why the city developed as a dense, dramatic urban landscape. This is Pittsburgh not merely as a street plan, but as a living terrain of ridges, ravines, rail corridors, neighborhoods, and waterways.

The U.S. Geological Survey brought to this map nearly a century of cartographic authority, precision, and public purpose. Founded in 1879, the USGS became the nation’s principal mapper of terrain, geology, water, and natural resources, producing maps indispensable to engineers, planners, scientists, and civic leaders. In “Pittsburgh East,” that institutional clarity is evident in the careful use of contour lines, hydrographic detail, and color-coded land use. Urban areas appear in red, parks and vegetation in green, and the city’s physical structure emerges with striking legibility. Rather than flattening Pittsburgh into a schematic grid, the USGS reveals the forces beneath the city: slope, elevation, drainage, transportation, and the constraints of topography.

Pittsburgh’s topographic drama is one of the map’s great pleasures. Mount Washington rises sharply above the river junction, its escarpment forming one of the most celebrated urban overlooks in the United States, while the Duquesne Incline speaks to the city’s ingenious adaptation to steep ground. Across the map, contour lines crowd and loosen, tracing the folded terrain that defines neighborhoods such as Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, Brookline, Carrick, and the Upper Hill District. Schenley Park appears as a broad green refuge amid the dense fabric of Oakland and surrounding districts, while Lake Elizabeth and other open spaces suggest the civic importance of recreation and landscape design in an otherwise highly engineered city.

The neighborhoods shown on the map evoke Pittsburgh’s complex mid-century identity. Oakland, with its universities, museums, and hospitals, was already a center of learning and culture; Lawrenceville and the Strip District reflected industrial and commercial energy along river and rail corridors; East Liberty, Point Breeze, and Squirrel Hill illustrated the city’s residential expansion eastward. Hazelwood, South Side, Millvale, Baldwin, Versailles, and the West End reveal a wider metropolitan organism shaped by mills, bridges, streetcar lines, highways, slopes, and river crossings. Each district occupies a specific relationship to the terrain, and the map makes clear how Pittsburgh’s communities were molded by access to water, elevation, and the practical demands of movement through a difficult landscape.

Created during an era of transition, “Pittsburgh East” records the city after its long reign as a manufacturing powerhouse but before the full force of late twentieth-century deindustrialization and reinvention. In 1960, steel, rail, river traffic, and heavy industry still defined much of the region’s economy and atmosphere, even as urban renewal, highway construction, and environmental reform were beginning to reshape the city. Point State Park, the Fort Pitt Bridge, and the surrounding infrastructure hint at the Renaissance-era projects that sought to modernize Pittsburgh’s image and reconnect it to its rivers. The result is a richly layered historical document: a technical topographic map that also captures the geography of ambition, industry, adaptation, and civic transformation.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Pittsburgh
• Allegheny River
• Ohio River
• Lake Elizabeth
• Schenley Park
• Fort Pitt Bridge
• Point State Park
• Mount Washington
• Squirrel Hill
• Oakland
• Greenfield
• Hazelwood
• South Side
• Lawrenceville
• East Liberty
• Strip District
• Brookline
• Upper Hill District
• Baldwin
• West End
• Monongahela River
• Duquesne Incline
• Point Breeze
• Carrick
• Versailles
• Millvale

Historical context & cartographic details

• Created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
• Created in 1960 and published in 1961.
• Historical topographical map at a scale of 1:24,000.
• Incorporates USGS survey data from 1960.
• Shows Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and surrounding areas.
• Highlights Pittsburgh’s topography, landmarks, and major infrastructure, including the Ohio River and its tributaries.
• Uses color to differentiate landforms and land uses, with red for urban areas and green for parks or vegetation.
• Illustrates Pittsburgh’s hilly terrain with contour and elevation lines.
• Reflects significant variations in elevation across the landscape.
• Documents Pittsburgh during a period of mid-20th-century industrial development and later transition away from manufacturing-based economies.
• Represents the USGS tradition of detailed mapping for geological research, land use planning, and resource management.

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.