Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh History Center

"Fun with the Family"

In 2004 the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center opened its new five-story Smithsonian wing, making it Pennsylvania’s largest museum dedicated to history and one of the nation’s finest historical and educational facilities. This History Center is now one of just a few history museums in the country to be affiliates of the Smithsonian Institution.
 
The first floor of the new wing serves as the Smithsonian’s “home in Pennsylvania, ”hosting world-class traveling exhibitions from the Smithsonian. The second and third floors house the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. The Sports Museum contains over 300 artifacts, seventy hands-on interactive exhibits and twenty audio-visual programs. Here you can see Satchel Paige’s baseball glove, Billy Conn’s gloves and light-heavyweight championship belt, Arnold Palmer’s golf bag and trademark sweater, and the shoes Franco Harris was wearing when he caught the “Immaculate Reception.” The fourth floor showcases special collections, including a nethnic heritage exhibit and  Made in Pennsylvania.  The fifth floor houses an educational center and theater.  
The center also features permanent exhibits spotlighting life in western Pennsylvania from 1750 to the present. In the Great Hall children immediately notice a 1949 restored trolley, a Conestoga wagon, and the Pittsburgh city fire bell, cast after the great fire of 1845. The Children’s Discovery Place tells the story of eight real children  from the region whose lives exemplify different aspects of history.
 
The building is wheelchair accessible, and there are baby-care facilities on the first and third floors. There is also a cafe and a museum shop.