Pittsburgh Firsts

Steel City Confections Cupcake of the Month for February 2011

Pittsburgh’s number one (we just know you can’t get that song out of your head), but the city has also been first in a lot of different areas. As Charlie Sheen would say: winning.

BoringPittsburgh.com also knows a few things about being first. For example, the first ever “cupcake of the month” at Steel City Confections was the Boring Pittsburgh #BurghVerified cupcake! In celebration of this honor, we held a Pittsburgh Firsts contest on Twitter. The first #BurghVerified member to tweet to most Pittsburgh firsts in a single tweet (up to 140 characters) wins a dozen glorious #BurghVerified cupcakes!

It was not only fun, but also a lesson in Burgh facts and trivia. Here are some of the tweets we received:

Tiffanysblogs – Firstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirst @BoringPGH firstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirstfirst

Ok, just ignore that one lol

Tiffanysblogs – @BoringPGH big mac mr yuck terrible towel ferris wheel zombie opera secret agent l donut burgh verified shirt steely mcbeam (7/8)

twentyfive2life – @BoringPGH 1st heart liver & kidney transplant. 1st Big Mac 1st US Pub TV Co. 1st Comm radio station 1st gas station 1st World Series #Burgh (5/6)

StephanieG143 – @boringPGH bsebll stadium bigmac retractabledome,mr.yuk,pulltabs,zippo, emoticon,polio vac,public tv statn,comm radio,gas statn,movie theatr (11/12)

PghRunner – @BoringPGH WQED,MrRodgersBigMacGasStationWorldSeriesMovieTheatre BaseballStadium:-)BingoPolioVaccinePullTabsPrimantisIronCity TerrTowelMrYuk (14/15)

ciwanski1 – @boringpgh 1st heart/liver/kidney transplant-89 1st internet emoticon-82 1st robotics institute-1979, mr. Yuk sticker-1971, 1st big Mac-67 (7/7)

AiXeLsyD13 – @BoringPGH #BurghVerified Ferris Wheel, Big Mac, Pull-Tab, Mr. Yuk, Radio, PBS Station, Zippo, Gas Station, Banana Split, Baseball Stadium! (7/10)

Feed_The_Birds – @BoringPGH First city to have an organized EMS system (Freedom House) and first place to thoroughly develop life saving CPR (Peter Safar) (1/2)

kostuch – @BoringPGH commercial radio, air brake, jeep, 4 super bowls, unsupported dome, big mac, world series game, zippo, ferris wheel, (6/9)

29believe87 – @BoringPGH all-Aluminum Buldng,Polio Vaccine,U.S.Public TV Station,Retrctble Dome,Nitetime World Series Game,Robotics Centr,intrnet emoticon (7/7)

HappyHarryClown – @BoringPGH BigMac PolioVaccine MrYuk AirBrake 6SuperBowl KDKA Heinz PullTab Zippo Bingo DST FerrisWheel BananaSplit RobotInst MrRogers (13/16)

itsamanda9 – @BoringPGH the vaccine for polio was invented in Pittsburgh. But more importantly, we put fries and slaw on a sandwich before anyone else. (2/2)

Tiffanysblogs – @BoringPGH mryuk mrrogers bigmac ferriswheel terribletowel secretagentldonut artinstitute bananasplit jonassalk nelliebly airport car bank (7/13)

PghRunner – @BoringPGH WQEDBigMacGasStationWorldSeriesMovieTheatre BaseballStadium:-)BingoPolioVaccinePullTabsPrimantisIronCity TerrTowelMrYuk (13/14)

Here’s the breakdown in order of tweet (hover over links for excerpts):

• Big Mac – true
• Mr. Yuk Stickers – true
• Terrible Towel – true
• Ferris Wheel – not true, although the designer was a Pittsburgh bridge builder
• Zombie Opera – true
• Secret Agent L Donut – true
• Burgh Verified Shirt – true
• Steely McBeam – duh
• Heart Transplant – false
• Liver Transplant – false
• Kidney Transplant – false
• Heart, Liver and Kidney Transplant – true
• Public TV Company – basically true (was the 1st community sponsored, but 5th overall)
• Commercial Radio Station – true
• Gas Station – sorta true
• World Series – the Pirates were in the first game but it was played in Boston
• Baseball Stadium – true
• Retractable Dome Roof – true
• Pull Tabs on Cans – kind of true but not really
• Zippo -  not true, it was Bradford, PA about 78 miles south of Buffalo
• Emoticon – true
• Polio Vaccine – true
• Movie Theater – true
• WQED – true
• Mr. Rogers – not true but also true
• Bingo – true according to this, no other sources found
• Primanti’s – true
• Iron City – true
• Robotics Institute – true according to this, no other sources found
• PBS – not true, PBS was not founded in Pittsburgh but WQED is a PBS station
• Banana Split – actually in Latrobe 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, but really in Ohio
• Organized EMS System (Freedom House) – true
• Thoroughly Developed CPR – not true, although Peter Safar attended Pitt, he didn’t work on CPR there
• Air Brake – true
• Jeep – actually in Butler about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh
• Four Super Bowls – true
• Unsupported Dome – unknown, but not true according to this
• All Aluminum Building – true
• Night World Series Game – true
• Six Super Bowls – true
• KDKA – true since it’s nowhere else
• Heinz – true (actually Sharpsburg and most of the world’s Heinz ketchup is made in Ohio)
• DST – kinda true for America … but untrue for the world
• Fries and Slaw on a Sandwich – true
• Art Institute- true
• Jonas Salk -  true see Polio Vaccine
• Nellie Bly – not sure how to count this, but she was born in Armstrong Country 40 miles northeast of Pgh
• Airport – not true
• Car – not true, unless you can find Pittsburgh here lol
• Bank – not true, but same state

Many of these so-called Pittsburgh facts are copied and pasted around the internet, but a number of them are incorrect. Does that mean some of this town’s pride is based on twisted facts and false history? Who cares, we still have the most Super Bowls!

Congratulations @PghRunner for scoring 14/15