In 1908, Pittsburgh celebrated the 150th anniversary of its naming by throwing parades, replacing gas-lit lamps with electric models and laying the cornerstone of Oakland's Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum & Memorial.
Fifty years later, buoyed by the bright-eyed optimism of a budding nuclear age, Pittsburgh hailed technology, cleared the Golden Triangle for Point State Park and built what now is known as Mellon Arena.
In 2008 -- two centuries after British Gen. John Forbes seized Fort Duquesne from the French and named the land around it Pittsburgh -- the city will celebrate with a theme constant through its history: innovation.
The polio vaccine and Ferris wheel have links to the Pittsburgh area. So do the first public TV and commercial radio stations, the Big Mac, the first movie theater and the Jeep.
Pittsburgh 250 planners and related groups have been working for several years to give Pittsburghers reason to celebrate.