Date of Award
5-2014
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
Committee Chair(s)
Kyle Bulthuis
Committee
Kyle Bulthuis
Committee
Peter McNamara
Committee
Christopher Conte
Abstract
The primary reason for urban growth in the Early Republic was the growth and linking of transportation networks. This study will show how two cities, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Wheeling, Virginia, sought to bring the many rapidly changing transportation networks to their city. Through the examination of the role of boosters, local, state, and federal investments, and the conflict or cooperation between eastern elites in each state versus the concerns of the western counties, one of these cities, Pittsburgh, will be show to have achieved regional hegemony by bringing more trade networks into its hub. The role of geography in settlement patterns and construction of these networks will also be discussed.
This study examined existing scholarship in books and journals as well as archival evidence from the University of Pittsburgh, West Virginia University, the University of Virginia, the Historical Society of Wheeling, the Carnegie Foundation, and records from the United States Congressional Series.
Recommended Citation
Alfred, Jon W., "To envy its rising greatness, and to dvise every possible means of doing it injury Pittsburgh and Wheeling: The Struggle for Hegemony on the Upper Ohio, 1808 - 1855." (2014). All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023. 361.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports/361
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