watch a recent program. american artifacts, road to the white house rewind, lectures in history and more. at c-span.org/history. rogers was the start of the children's television program mr. rogers's neighborhood. differs and in 1968 on local pittsburgh television station wqed and later distributed nationwide. a statue dedicated to him sits near heinz field on the backs of allegheny river. up next we will take a look at some other pittsburgh pioneers highlighted in the heinz history center's judiciary -- tradition of innovation center. >> i'm glad we are together again. >> pittsburgh is an amazing place. it is a city with a tradition of innovation.

250 years people have come to the forks of the ohio, the place for the allegheny river comes together to form the ohio river. it is a place where ideas have converged. now follow me and let's take a look at 250 years of pittsburgh innovation. 20,000 years ago, people started coming to north america. no one is native to north america. they all came from someplace else. about 30 miles west of pittsburgh is a place called the meadow cropped rock shelter. it is deal decided human habitation in north america. representative of those first people in western pennsylvania. arrivedfirst europeans they found native peoples here. peoples who settled at the confluence of the three rivers.

when george washington arrives in 1753, he wanted to meet queen alaquip. she was a chief. she was probably already in her late 70's or 80's when 21-year-old george washington arrives. 21-year-old washington was six big and strong with red hair. he was trying to build a career. the governor of virginia hired him to come to the western wilds and chase out the french who were building forts along the allegheny river. george was captured. he nearly drowned in the allegheny river but he kept coming back. ohiocured the forks of the for the british empire. lewis and clark started their expedition right here in pittsburgh. meriwether lewis was at fort fayette, which replaced fort pitt.

he and william clark set out on a transcontinental exploration in 1803. they built the boat right here in pittsburgh, k 55 foot boat. the very first day of the expedition lewis took his air rifle, a 22 shot air rifle, didn't use powder or flint, and he gave a demonstration on bruno's island, the first island on the ohio river as had west. he was an expert marksman. tree and mark on a fired seven times and hit it. i -- hit bullseye each time. another man pulls the rifle from his hand in a one-off academic and shot a woman in the head. she went down, feathers from her hat flew into the air. he thought the first day of the expedition and i'm already killed someone. a from dr.some first

rush in philadelphia and apply direct pressure to the gushing headwind. in a few minutes he got her back on her feet. she was wobbly that she was alive. he said, boys, let's get out of here. they set off on their 8000 mile journey. the first day was a little rough but things got better. pittsburgh industry started early because pittsburgh was the gateway to the west. think about that for a minute. we think of st. louis as the gateway to the west, but in 1803 this is where lewis and clark started their expedition. this is where things could be manufactured. iron could be used for boilers, for steamboats, for tools of all kinds, packaged foods, clothing could all be acquired here is people headed west into the wilds. we will go this way and look up as you come through. airplanesee the first

to make a transcontinental flight from coast to coast in the united states. a pittsburgher was its pilot. it was the name of a great soda that sponsored his expedition. think about this. how many airports do you think there were in america in 1911? zero. he had a land on cow pastures, abandoned roads, baseball fields. he crashed 20 times on his flight across the country but he made it and dipped his wings into the pacific ocean had long beach. let's head in here and learn a little bit more about pittsburgh, the arsenal of the union. during the civil war pittsburgh was going 24 hours a day turning out cannons and munitions. the largest cannon ever made in american history were made here

in pittsburgh during the civil war, including an 80 ton behemoth designed by thomas jackson robin. it was 20 inch caliber. 4.5hrough a 20 inch ball miles when loaded on top of 200 pounds of mammoth gunpowder. a special kind of powder that he invented. pittsburgh was the arsenal of the union. it was going 24/7. women and girls rolled cartridges at allegheny arsenal. they turned out thousands and thousands of them every day using a machine that was invented by thomas jackson rodman that could turn out these mini balls, lead bullets uniformly and by the thousands. on september 17, 1862, a tragedy struck. a spark ignited the gunpowder that those women workers were using. it blew up the allegheny arsenal. three blasts rocked the city.

windows were broken for blocks around and 78 women and girls perished in the flames. it was the worst industrial accident of the civil war. after the war the energy industry grew up as the steel industry group. people used the natural gas here in pittsburgh to fuel industry. they used the soft coal that was natural here. they burned it and made coke out of it. that was used to fuel last furnaces that made the steel. pittsburgh also used oil. in 1859, the first commercial oil well was drilled by a man named drake. another inventor used the oil and refined it to make gasoline. they called it rock oil in those days because it came out of the rocks. it replaced whale oil that was

used extensively for lighting america. pittsburgh is still an energy center today. not that cold center at once center, but now shale that is frakked and sucked out of the earth. it is one of the largest deposits of its kind in the world. safety has always been important in pittsburgh. the coal mines and factories and mills could be dangerous places. people came from all over the world to work here. but many people died. whether it was from lung ailment, black lung from working in the coal mines, or just dangers of a steel no. -- mill. mine safety appliances company developed breathing apparatus and special lighting apparatus that would not ignite volatile help in mines and would

men breathe underground. nsa is still here today. pittsburgh,ng in and labor unions grew up to protect the men who were working in those mills and mines. in 1892, an anarchist attacked henry clay frick, one of the coke and coal magnets. one day he burst into frick's office with this dagger and stab him repeatedly and shot him twice. frick was not killed, but he was badly wounded. they apprehended burtman. frick was about to be taken to the hospital when he said i have to finish some work. he signed the papers, the blood splattered papers on his desk and then he said ok, i'm ready.

they hold him off, patched him up. he always had a stiff neck for the rest of his life. he loves to play golf but he had a stiff golf swing. he was a tough guy. aluminum was first reduced. it was an electrolytic process developed by charles martin hall in the 1880's. right here in pittsburgh the first globules of aluminum or reduced. these are considered the crown jewels of alcoa aluminum, the aluminum company of america that started right here in pittsburgh. these are the fairie -- very first globules of aluminum ever produced. in the early days people did not know to do with aluminum. they tried making all kinds of things out of it, from violence, -- violins, divorce shoes, to cattle. they soon discovered for aircraft it was exactly the right thing. the wright brothers came to

pittsburgh in 1903 and had out co-op make them -- alcoa aluminum engine blocks and that make air flight possible. andrew carnegie was born in scotland, but he made history here in western pennsylvania. he was a giant of industry, but you can see he was only about 5'2". he is the guy who had a big vision. be vertically integrated his factories. min is he controlled the es, the transportation, the coke works used to make steel. and therolled the mills delivery systems, the railroads that took the steel to market. he was an amazing guy and he turned into america's greatest philanthropist. his goal was to make a lot of money and then give it all back

before he died. he made so much money he could not give it all back. in 1939, there was another world's fair. this one in new york. the westinghouse company wanted to do something special. so they invented the first robot. his name was electro. 7'1", he could walk, talk, recognize colors. he could even smoke cigarettes. yeah, smoke cigarettes. the woodsmoke in billows. the engineers who worked on electro were so disgusted by the tar and nicotine they found built up in his artificial lungs that they all quit smoking. the people of america said electro will be lonely. he is the only one of his kind. we have to build him a woman robot. so they designed a woman robot, but it was frightening. i can't even describe the designs they came up with.

imagine madonna wearing a target for all on steroids. they said we cannot build this thing. so they built him a dog. sparko, the wonder dog. he would only respond to electro's commands. they were the hit of the 1939 world's fair. pittsburgh has always been a place of innovation, but that is not limited to industrial or scientific innovations. jazz. this is one of the birthplaces of american jazz. here you can meet billy or mary lou williams. these were innovators. in the hill district in pittsburgh for the african-american community came together with other immigrant communities there was a hotbed of creativity and fun, excitement, and music. during world war ii pittsburgh

becomes the arsenal of democracy. a lot of you probably have seen that image, that "we can do it" image. rosie the riveter was invented here in pittsburgh. it was a westinghouse artist named jay howard miller who in february of 1943 came up with that poster. he got a contract to do 41 posters for the war effort for westinghouse workers. he came up with this woman. saysan see her color this westinghouse electric on it. the very week this poster came out a popular song hit the radio. it went like this. >> ♪ all the day long weather rain or shine she is working on bee is simply line she is making history working for history rosie and the riveter ♪ the people of america heard that song and saw that image and said that is resident riveter -- rosie the riveter.

people of america associated the song with that image. the jeep was invented in western pennsylvania. it was 1940 that the war requestnt sent out an for proposals to one of 35 carmakers in america. well, it said we need this miracle vehicle. something that will replace the horse. it has to go anyplace a horse can go. it has to climb a 30 degree parade, pull a gun, and i cannot wait more than a big horse. -- weigh more than a big horse. we need it and 49 days. the big car makers said we can design that you can do it and 49 days? ford and gm and the big guys did not submit. but a little carmaker in western pennsylvania, butler, pennsylvania, said no one is

buying our midget automobiles. they were building small cars on the british austin patent. those engineers stayed up all night at a diner and literally on the back of a napkin sketch the design for a jeep. delivered theey banton reconnaissance car as it was called. after pearl harbor the war department really wanted as little miracle cars. they said to the bantam car company can you make 300,000? bantam had ever made more than 500 in a years time in the history of the company. they did not have the horsepower. the war department pulled the contract, gave it to willis overland which made 343,000 in world war ii. so government wanted more they can forward a contract for another 300,000. after the war there was a battle

for the jeep brand and willis overland won out. after world war ii pittsburgh was a mess. it'd been going 24/7. there was smog that cover the valleys. the people of pittsburgh got together and said we have to clean this place up. the allegheny conference for community development was invented. with an eye for cleaning up the skies, then the waters, redeveloping downtown pittsburgh, critical projects were all the rage -- renewal projects were all the rage in the 1950's and 1960's. the pennsylvania turnpike was the first road with bank curves, rumble strips, concrete, and you could drive fast. there were stops along the way. you had to pay to use them but people did not mind because they could get you across the state in six hours.

it used to take six weeks when george washington was here with conestoga wagons trying to get over the allegheny mountains. now they were tunnels hunched through the barriers, the mountain barriers. every mother in america had one of dr. spock's baby books. you told them everything about feeding and disciplining. dr. spock said he should never spank your children. all generation of on spanked -- unspanked kids grew up. invented thes salk polio vaccine. he first determined the three strains of polio that were out there that were infecting millions of people around the world every year. most of those people were children. they were crippled by the disease and a guide. determine a way to make a

vaccine using a killed virus. everyone was afraid of the vaccine. they did not want to be infected so he had to convince america that the vaccine was safe. he gave himself an injection. then he gave the vaccine to his own children. this called some of the fears -- calmed some of the fears. he went to arsenal middle school and thousands of kids started getting the vaccine. they were the guinea pigs for the first polio vaccine. soon it was proven to be safe. kids around the world received the first polio vaccine. it was a miracle and he changed the world. we could go on forever in pittsburgh talking about art, science, innovation. the technologies that are changed the world. i just hope you will come and visit us here at the heinz history center and learn the

whole story of innovation. it is a good story. we are replaced with a tradition of innovation. -- a place with a tradition of innovation. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] this weekend we are featuring the history of pittsburgh, pennsylvania. together with our comcast cable partners learn more about pittsburgh and other stops on our cities tour at c-span.com/ citiestour. you are watching american history tv on c-span 3. >> president franklin d. roosevelt appointed general george c. marshall u.s. army chief of staff in 1939. next, professor andrew roberts discusses marshall's role in america's world war ii victories. a