PITTSBURG

city, Crawford county, southeastern Kansas, U.S., near the Missouri border. Laid out in 1876, it developed as a coal-mining town and railroad centre and was named after Pittsburgh, Pa. Besides strip coal-mining operations, it has large plants producing coal preparation equipment and ammonium nitrate. Pittsburg State University was founded in 1903. The city is also the site of the Personal Census Service Branch of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Inc. 1880. Pop. (1990) 17,775.