North Side (always stated as two words) refers both to the region of Pittsburgh to the north of the Allegheny River and Ohio River and to a small neighborhood within that region.
In 1828, the Borough of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, was incorporated where the North Side now stands. It had a population of 1,000. In 1880, Allegheny was incorporated as a city. The City of Allegheny was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907, and became known as the North Side.
Historians proclaim that the Felix Brunot mansion on Stockton Avenue was once a station on the underground railway, where fugitive slaves from the South stopped for food and shelter.
The North Side has seven hills (Observatory, Monument, Troy, Spring, Seminary, Fineview, and Mt. Troy).
Gus & Yia-Yia's Iceball Stand, selling fresh popcorn, peanuts, and old-fashioned iceballs (sort-of like a snow cone) hand-scraped from a block of ice, has been in West Park since 1934. The "orange concession stand with a brightly-colored umbrella" is something of an unofficial Pittsburgh landmark during the summer months.
Mary Cassatt was born on Rebecca Street in 1844. Today Rebecca Street has become Reedsdale Street. If the house had not been torn down for Highway Route 65, it would be facing Heinz Field, the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Allegheny regional branch of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, located at 5 Allegheny Square was the first tax-supported library in the United States. It is now closed to the public following a lightning strike. A new building is being planned at 1210 Federal Street.
George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. lived in Pittsburgh's present North Side when he invented the Ferris wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in an attempt to create something as impressive as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
