Virginia Montanez

Pittsburgh

Freelance Contributor at Freelance

Author (NOTHING.EVERYTHING.), essayist, humor/history writer, hist grad student, founder Make Room for Kids at Mario Lemieux Fdn, creator https://t.co/R0D1HJ0v7a

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Articles

Andrew Carnegie: Respected Genius or Selfish Industrialist?

2 months ago | pittsburghmagazine.com | Virginia Montanez

Considering he arrived in Allegheny City in 1848 — at the age of 12 — you’d expect Andrew Carnegie’s name to first appear in Pittsburgh’s newspapers decades later, when he was a railroad man. Instead, the city met him on Nov. 2, 1849. A blurb in the Pittsburgh Daily Gazette informed the city that “A messenger boy of the name of Andrew Carnegie … yesterday found a draft for the amount of five hundred dollars.
Dahn Memory Lane: Who Started the Great Fire of 1845?

Nov 19, 2024 | pittsburghmagazine.com | Virginia Montanez

Pittsburgh’s Great Fire led to a rebuilding of the city that erased the final remnants of a frontier town. It’s just a small square tablet of text. Etched a century ago and embedded into a wall along Smithfield Street, it’s now weathered and worn. It sits about eye-level for the average adult but goes unnoticed by most who scurry past on their way to a job, a bus or a sporting event. Besides, why would anyone look?
Dahn Memory Lane: A Look Back at (Violent) Political Elections in Pittsburgh

Jul 25, 2024 | pittsburghmagazine.com | Virginia Montanez

While we don’t know what November will bring here in Pittsburgh, we can at least know that it won’t bring a chair-swinging, brick-throwing, shovel-wielding drunken election day battle royale. Forget winter, Ned Stark; I’ll tell you what’s coming. Something that should really generate intense trepidation and perhaps a touch of pre-traumatic stress disorder. November.
Dahn Memory Lane: The Unexpected Tales of Pittsburgh History

Jun 26, 2024 | pittsburghmagazine.com | Virginia Montanez

Sometimes a story just doesn’t take you where you think it will. In the course of my research for this column, I’ve come across dozens of facts and tales about the city that I never would’ve guessed. Take, for instance, the “Spanish” Flu pandemic of 1918. The rampaging virus that killed upward of 675,000 Americans was an especially vicious menace to the Pittsburgh region.
Why Is Pittsburgh Spelled with an H?

Jun 9, 2024 | pittsburghmagazine.com | Virginia Montanez

There’s a narrative we’ve been sold as Pittsburghers. Lore, even. It goes like this:Once upon a time, there was born an American borough given the name Pittsburgh with an H. All of the people loved that H dearly, for it was a point of pride. As time passed and other towns decided to give away their Hs, Pittsburgh held desperately to hers. Her H made her special, after all. You could have her H on the fifth of Never at the strike of nope-o’clock.
I may be breaking all the gambling rules, but in my defense, I'm terrible at it

Jun 7, 2024 | breathingspace.substack.com | Virginia Montanez

Hold on to your butts. Got ‘em? I am 50 years old as of May 30 and normally I wouldn’t tell you the exact date of my birthday, but when I turned 40, former Mayor Peduto presented me with a proclamation naming May 30, 2014 as Virginia Montanez Day in the City of Pittsburgh, and then Google saw this and Google went and added it to my information and just like that, everyone knows my birthday so I can’t even lie about my age if I wanted to. It’s right there. May 30, 1974. 50 years old.
Karen and the Wedding Cookie Table

May 23, 2024 | breathingspace.substack.com | Virginia Montanez

So the birds whose babies I saved tried to kill me. I gave my deck up for a month. Gave them space to nest and feed their babies. Tethered the deck ceiling fan so their unhatched children wouldn’t become some squirrel’s morning protein, assuming squirrels eat robin eggs. I’m not honestly brushed up on what rodentia are dining on these days. I watched as the nestlings hopped out one per day.
Virginia Montanez's Donation Drive for Earth Month 2024!

Apr 4, 2024 | flipcause.com | Virginia Montanez

Supporting: 2024 Earth Month Donation Drive for Allegheny CleanWays $500.00 There is no story. I am tired of the litter and the illegal dumping and the plastic that chokes our riverbeds, and I know you are too. You've seen it; now let's fix it. I joined the development committee of Allegheny Cleanways because it is the best way I can figure to make the biggest impact I can on the problem. I'm also eager to raise $500 for them to put towards their remarkable work.
Dahn Memory Lane: Why a Pittsburgh Heiress Jilted An Italian Count

Jan 29, 2024 | pittsburghmagazine.com | Virginia Montanez

It’s a tale older than the Hallmark Movie Channel — a dashing prince, exasperated with a train of doe-eyed romantic hopefuls from connected families, falls for an American woman and makes her the princess of a fictitious mountainous principality with a name like Eastern Vasaria.
The Ten Best Things That Happened in Pittsburgh in 2023

Dec 19, 2023 | breathingspace.substack.com | Virginia Montanez

This year has been one of those that has gone by as fast as lightning and as slow as tunnel traffic. January was both five minutes ago and a couple millennia ago. 2023 was the year that gave us cool collabs, medical advancements, and surprisingly, no bridge collapses and only a few minor sinkholes too small to swallow a bus. What good is a year that doesn’t give us a new bus catastrophe-themed ornament or a dumpster-floating-down-a-flooded-street meme that can be turned into a vinyl sticker?