The first great consolidation was effected March 29, 1872, when the South side was united with Pittsburgh. This brought into the city the boroughs of Birmingham, East Birmingham, Ormsby, Allentown, St. Clair, South Pittsburgh, Monongahela, Mount Washington, Union, West Pittsburgh and Temperanceville.
The population of Pittsburgh according to the census of 1920 was 588,343.
Margaret Junkin Preston, Poetess-Laureate,| Died March 19, 1897
It is a matter of just pride that the most brilliant and beloved poetess of yesteryear was none other than a Pennsylvania girl, Margaret Junkin Preston, who through her writings, both in prose and poetry, attained Nation-wide distinction and won the title “Poetess-Laureate of the South.”
Margaret Junkin was born in Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1820, the eldest child of Rev. George and Julia Rush Miller Junkin.
Her parents were of that stalwart, heroic race, the Covenanters of Scotland.
Dr. Junkin’s life was devoted to religion and education, and at the time of his marriage he was the minister of the Presbyterian Church at Milton.
When Margaret was ten years old her parents moved to Germantown, where her father assumed charge of the Manual Labor Academy of Pennsylvania. After a delightful residence of two years Dr. Junkin was called to the first presidency of Lafayette College, and the family moved to the “Forks of the Delaware.”