Its official name is the Senator John Heinz History Center and the building includes six floors of artifacts about the Pittsburgh area. It also has expanded to include the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum which I will do as Part II in a future TravelGumbo story. This story is about Heinz, old vehicles, iconic companies, and the infamous Fred Rogers and his neighborhood.
The building is hard to miss with the giant ketchup bottle on one side and the neon ketchup bottle on the reverse side. Being the largest history museum in Pennsylvania and continuously operating since 1879 (albeit different building locations), USA Today voted it the #1 History Museum in the USA in 2024. It is currently located in the 1898 Chautauqua Lake Ice Company building where ice was originally harvested from western New York then distributed to the city.
Born to German immigrants, Henry J. Heinz started his tiny business in 1879 in Pittsburgh by creating horseradish grown in his garden and bottled in the bottom of his father’s house. After this venture went bankrupt, in 1888 he established the now well known H.J. Heinz company producing their first product which is the world renown ketchup. Currently over 650 billion bottles of Heinz Ketchup are sold annually.
Where did the 57 Varieties slogan originate? Rumor has it that Henry went to a local shoe store that boasted 21 varieties of shoes, so he took that slogan to his business and created his 57 Varieties for his business even though he had over 60 varieties of products. It is said his favorite number was 5 and his wife’s favorite number was 7.
Henry was a stickler for using clear glass and only fresh limited ingredients in his products and was a major supporter and influencer of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, advocating for transparency and purity in food production. He was very strict in his seed to product to table process. His guarantee was that if you were not pleased with your product, your money would be refunded. Another Heinz motto was “Results, not Promises.” My deceased brother was a manager of a glass factory that produced the clear glass vinegar bottles before going bankrupt.
Of course, besides ketchup, my favorite product was Heinz pickles. At the 1893 Columbian Expo in Chicago, Henry set up an exhibit in the agricultural building advertising free little pickle pins to visitors. Hundreds of thousands climbed the 2nd floor steps to get one and sample his pickles which was a massive success. I remember my mother taking us kids to the Heinz factory in Pittsburgh in the 1950’s where we were given one of those pickle pins. Sadly through a number of sales and mergers in the early 2000’s caused the Pittsburgh Heinz factories to be moved elsewhere out of Pennsylvania. Also, last year, my favorite Heinz Hamburger Dill Chips were discontinued. Dang It !
One of Henry’s innovations for grocers was the Heinz salesmen’s Pickle Sizer. Up until then grocers would get a barrel of pickles and not know the size or quantity until opening the barrel for sales. However, Henry had a process to allow the grocer to pick the size and barrel quantity before opening which gave Heinz a leg up over competitors.
Henry personally worked to control the “purity of his products by managing his employees”, offering hot showers and weekly manicures for the women handling food. A display showed a picture of the female workers and their puffy headgear.
And let’s not forget international sales. The Kraft Heinz Company is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world. I viewed a number of British YouTube programs that said the most common household breakfast in the UK was Heinz beans on toast. That has really not caught on in the USA.
On the first floor of the Heinz History Center is something different. The Heinz Hitch delivery wagon from the late 19th century and renovated in 1978 is on display. Along side is a 1919 Fire Engine made in Elmira New York for the City of Pittsburgh, a 1936 Ford Sedan stainless steel body, one of only six made in Brackenridge, PA, and the 1939 Bantam Speedster made in nearby Butler, PA. The Speedster originally went out of business during the Great Depression, but was resurrected in 1935 by another company and subsequently went out of business in 1940.
In 1965 over the concern of oil prices and air pollution, Westinghouse Corporation developed the Markette Electrical Car and only 50 were produced. And the 1941 Sixty Special Cadillac Hearse which was equipped with a record player under the dashboard to play hymns during the procession
The 1912 Vanadium Window by the Rudy Brothers for the Pittsburgh building of the same name reminds me of Tiffany windows. The angel in the middle holds a sign saying “Vanadium.”
One of the last Pittsburgh streetcars is #1724 saved in 1995 from demolition. Christmas décor was due to our visit the day after Christmas 2025. I totally remember riding streetcars in Pittsburgh to get around, now they are gone.
Also on the first floor are a few of Pittsburgh’s iconic images. Westinghouse and Gulf Oil. Gulf was headquartered in Pittsburgh and financed by the Mellon family before a number of mergers and acquisitions moved it elsewhere. The Gulf Tower was the tallest building in Pittsburgh for many years and the summit was lit to give locals the weather through a series of colors and blinking. I remember seeing this weather tower on clear dark nights from my bedroom. A gulf tower weather image is from the internet.
On the first floor of the center is the 1864 Rodman Gun. With a gun barrel weighing nearly 117,000 pounds it could shoot a cannon ball 4 miles and was produced at the Fort Pitt Foundry in Pittsburgh. It was situated at Fort Hamilton, New York to protect the harbor during the Civil War.
Everyone remembers amusement parks in their area. In Pittsburgh we had Kennywood Park and West View Park. Kennywood is still there, but West View Park where we had our school picnic days was demolished in 1980. Dang It Again!
And then there is Isaly’s Ice Cream Shop and Deli. This was my first job in a business after working as a lawn care kid in my early pre-teens. I was 15-1/2 with parental consent and started at 65 cents per hour. We made skyscraper cones which little kids periodically licked and knocked to the floor and our policy was to give them another one free of charge. And our iconic food item was chipped chopped ham made in a thin sliced automatic chipper.
The parking chair seems to be a Pittsburgh thing. Street parking is a premium, and residents would put a wooden chair or two in the parking space in front of their home to reserve the spot. Many are seen during the winter when a resident shovels his parking space then places those chairs to keep the space. Some will have names and warnings on the chairs. This chair is poking fun at Mayor Murphy’s parking chair.
Lastly, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. In 1968, Mr. Fred Rogers, a theology student, created Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood children’s TV program which ran for 33 years and was critically acclaimed for focusing on children’s emotional and physical concerns, such as death, sibling rivalry, school enrollment, and divorce.
IF YOU VISIT:
The History Center is located in the Strip District in Downtown, Pittsburgh. The address is 1212 Smallman Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. Parking is not free and can be found at a number of parking garages nearby or on the street. My sister Joanne and I stayed the night at the Hampton Inn directly across the street which included free parking with a room reservation.
General admission is Adult $20, Seniors over 65 $18, Students with valid ID $11, and youths under 17 years old is free.
The History Center is open daily from 10AM to 5PM.
