Monongahela Incline
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Mon Incline
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
By the 1860s “Pittsburgh was a rapidly expanding industrial city with most of its factories and mills located along the river flats. In a time when most people walked to work, homes quickly filled in the areas surrounding these industries and the need for additional housing within a short distance of their work caused people to begin living atop nearby Mount Washington” (“Monongahela Incline”), a city that lacked good roads and proper public transportation. German immigrants relayed the idea of inclines that functioned in their home country.
The Monongahela Incline was completed in 1870 for a total cost of $50,000 and finally provided the people in Mount Washington with quick access to the city. Port Authority took care and control of the incline in 1964 and it was dedicated as a historic structure in 1970. The Monongahela Incline serves over 1500 daily riders today.