The History of Pittsburgh's Freight Industry

Pittsburgh is deep rooted in the trucking and logistics industry. Stemming all the way back to the days of Andrew Carnegie when Carnegie Steel still in its infancy. Andrew Carnegie actually started his career in the logistics industry working at Penn Railroad. This was the perfect foray into the steel industry as he took on a project to build a mile long bridge over the Mississippi with a tight deadline.  The building of the bridge alone was solving a logistics related challenge by connecting two separate parts of the country.  To have a bridge withstand the current of the Mississippi, he needed to build it with steel. Steel was very expensive and took a long time to make.  To meet the deadline and get the bridge built, he needed a better way to get steel fast.  By figuring out a way to solve a logistics problem, Carnegie Steel, now US Steel was born.  As a result of the successful build, the demand for steel skyrocketed and US Steel boomed and help build America. 

As a result of Pittsburgh’s trucking history, Pittsburgh’s famous Primanti Brother's sandwich was born.  This sandwich is an entire handheld meal. It consists of meat, fries, coleslaw, and cheese - all stuffed between 2 fresh pieces of thick bread. This sandwich was invented to help quickly feed truckers on the go a full handheld meal.  The first location is located in the Strip District is a former distribution hub that has been reinvented into a popular area to live with many condos, bars, restaurants, and shopping options.

Additionally, having 3 rivers and being located between Chicago and New York, close to the port of Baltimore and also close to the the great lakes and the Canada border, Pittsburgh is strategically located to be a logistics and transportation hotbed.

With Pittsburgh’s deep history in the transportation and logistics industry, it only makes sense that today Pittsburgh is home to hundreds of companies in the industry. From start ups to some of the biggest trucking companies in the country, Pittsburgh has a lot going on in the transportation & logistics scene.  Pittsburgh wouldn’t be known as the steel city and wouldn’t have the Steelers or the famous Pirmanti Brother's sandwich if it wasn’t for logistics.