Photos Of Pittsburgh's Air Pollution: 1940s Vs. Today

    Coal fumes in the 1940s blotted out the sun. Gas lamps sometimes had to be lit during the day.

    Kevin Tang
    by Kevin Tang

    BuzzFeed Staff

    digital.library.pitt.edu / Via Kevin Tang

    600 Liberty Avenue

    images.library.pitt.edu
    maps.google.com

    Monongahela Wharf

    images.library.pitt.edu
    riverlifepgh.org

    Corner of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street

    images.library.pitt.edu
    maps.google.com

    Pittsburgh Train Station

    images.library.pitt.edu
    Flickr: 10077757@N00

    Corner of Liberty and Fifth Avenues 8:38 AM

    images.library.pitt.edu
    maps.google.com

    Corner of Liberty and Fifth Avenues

    images.library.pitt.edu
    maps.google.com

    Allegheny Courthouse

    images.library.pitt.edu
    maps.google.com

    Workers washing the smog-blackened exterior of Allegheny Courthouse

    images.library.pitt.edu

    Downtown

    images.library.pitt.edu

    This photo was taken at 12:10 PM

    images.library.pitt.edu

    Unidentified street in Pittsburgh

    images.library.pitt.edu

    Corner of Liberty and Fifth Avenues

    images.library.pitt.edu

    Wabash Bridge (now demolished) and unidentified Downtown church during midday

    images.library.pitt.edu
    images.library.pitt.edu

    Around the same time, St. Louis was also fighting to reduce air pollution

    images.library.pitt.edu

    Federal Building in St. Louis

    images.library.pitt.edu

    For more about pollution in that era, read about the Donora Smog, which killed 22 people and sickened more than 5,000 in 1948.