History
Pittsburg has been a city in progress for nearly a century and a half. Located at the point where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers meet, Pittsburg is a City of both progress and promise. The earliest recorded history of our town starts in the year 1839 when the Mexican government granted almost 10,000 acres to Jose Antone Mesa and Miguel Jose Garcia. Shortly thereafter the little town was named New York of the Pacific, possibly because the man who laid out the town, Colonel J.D. Stevenson, was a native of New York. This area soon became known as New York Landing and thrived on fishing and canning industries. Following the discovery of coal in the hills three miles south of town, the town was renamed Black Diamond in 1868.
In 1906 Columbia Geneva Steel opened for business, and by popular vote on February 11, 1911, the name was changed to Pittsburg, after the eastern birthplace of the steel industry but without the “H” for simplified spelling.
In 1942 Camp Stoneman was built. This was to have a terrific impact on the City and its growth. For thousands of GIs who went to fight in the Asiatic-Pacific operations during World War II, Camp Stoneman was the last contact with the United States. In 1954, the Camp was closed and the property was added to the City of Pittsburg for commercial and residential development.
From a struggling settlement to an industrial center, Pittsburg has grown into a pleasant community of landscaped parks, recreational facilities, shopping centers, affordable housing and planned business and commercial development.
Pittsburg is striding into the future, each day more prosperous than the one before. New homes, renovated older homes, new businesses, a historic district being revived are all signs of even better times to come. Additionally, Pittsburg’s local government has expanded the parks system, improved the roads, increased commerce and employment, expanded the Marina and built a modern Civic Center to take it into the 21st century. All of this at no additional cost to the taxpayer. Working together, the progress will continue.
The city has an extensive history of coal mining and industrial development since the late 1800s, with USS-POSCO Industries (a joint venture between US Steel and POSCO of South Korea) and Dow Chemical Company maintaining substantial plants in Pittsburg.[citation needed] Ramar International manufactures Magnolia Dairy Ice Cream, a Philippine specialty brand, in Pittsburg.
Schools & Education
Pittsburg is home to Los Medanos College,[18] a two-year community college that is part of the Contra Costa Community College District. The college’s name is derived from that of the Rancho Los Medanos, one of the land grants made by the Mexican Government during its sovereignty over California from 1821 to 1846; Los Medanos, loosely translated from Spanish, means The Sand Dunes. Construction on Los Medanos College was completed in early 1974 and the campus opened its doors in the spring semester of 1974.[citation needed]
Pittsburg is served by three School Districts: Pittsburg Unified School District, Mt. Diablo School District, and Antioch Unified School District. All but one of the following schools listed are in the Pittsburg Unified School District boundary. All listed are in the City of Pittsburg city limits.
Pittsburg has two public high schools, one a continuation school:
- Pittsburg High School
- Riverside Continuation High School
The public Junior high schools in Pittsburg are
- Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School
- Hillview Junior High School
- Rancho Medanos Middle School
The public elementary schools in Pittsburg are:
- Delta View Elementary School (Mt. Diablo Unified School District)
- Foothill Elementary School
- Heights Elementary School
- Highlands Elementary School
- Los Medanos Elementary School
- Marina Vista Elementary School
- Parkside Elementary School
- Stoneman Elementary School
- Willow Cove Elementary School
- Synergy Charter School
Private schools in Pittsburg include the Christian Center, School of Saint Peter Martyr and Spectrum Center.
