Log Cabin (University of Pittsburgh) - Symbolism, History, and Legend

Symbolism, History, and Legend

Tradition of the university, then the Pittsburgh Academy in the 1780s, and scattered evidence suggests that the school began life in a log cabin. A lack of concrete information of Pitt's early days can be blamed on the fires of 1845 and 1849 that wiped out most of Downtown Pittsburgh, where the school was then located. For this reason, very few records about Pitt's early days exist, and definitive information on classes being held in a log cabin is scarce. Records do exist of a gathering of individuals discussing the need for a new school, which was to become Pittsburgh Academy, occurring in a log house near the Point (this meeting was known to take place but the records from the meeting were lost). According to Pitt historian Agnes Lynch Starrett, there is "plenty of evidence that classes were held in a log building, even before the charter was granted". Most structures in 1787 Pittsburgh, then the frontier of America, were wooden structures or log cabins. Further, it appears other schools in the area, such as Washington and Jefferson College whose first building was known to be John McMillan's Log School, also operated out of similar structures. In the 1790s, a two-story, three-room, brick building was erected for Pitt Academy on the south side of Third Street and Cherry Alley. It is also known, that the school owned both its brick building and a log house next to it that served as the home to its principal. It seems in the very least that it can be inferred that Pitt Academy had an early log building in its possession. Even if the history of the school starting in a log cabin is factually unclear, it has been a tradition told within the university for over 100 years and at least represents the era of Pitt's founding, if not the actual 1st meeting in a log cabin to discuss the institution's creation. Since then, the image of a log cabin has become an iconic representation of the university's origins and has appeared on numerous publications and promotional items celebrating the university's sesquicentennial, bicentennial, and other anniversaries.