Culture and canal construction were hot topics during the late summer of 1833 in the pages of what recently had become the Daily Pittsburgh Gazette.

When the Pittsburgh Theater opened on Sept. 2, actor-producer Francis C. Wemyss promised performances by "a Dramatic Company not surpassed by any in the Union," according to his Aug. 30 advertisement in the Gazette.

"In addition to the exertions of the Regular Company, most of whom are advantageously known in the Eastern Theatres, the Manager has great pride and pleasure in informing the inhabitants of Pittsburgh and its vicinity, that he has engaged, at great expense, the celebrated American Tragedian MR. E. FORREST."

Edwin Forrest, born in Philadelphia in 1806, had by his late 20s become a star both in his native city and in New York. His roles at Pittsburgh's new theater included top billing as "Rolla," a heroic but doomed Inca warrior in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1799 tragedy "Pizarro."

That first week's productions at the theater also included "Hamlet," with a "Mr. A. Adams" in the title role and with Wemyss himself playing the courtier Ostric.

Prefer music to drama?

Trustees of the Associate Reformed Church, located in "Allegheny town," across the river from Pittsburgh, offered the use of their building to the Allegheny Musical Society for an annual evening performance of sacred music. It was scheduled for Sept. 3, the day after the new theater's opening.

"A Collection will be taken up to defray the expenses," according to the Aug. 30 newspaper report announcing the concert. "The object of this Society is for the purpose of practicing those compositions that rank above plain Psalmody."

Works performed included solos, duets and choruses based on the hymns "Before Jehovah's Awful Throne," "Awake Up My Glory" and "O Be Joyful in the Lord." William Knapp's "Funeral Anthem" and a choral work by Handel referred to as "Cherubim" rounded out the program.

Those among Pittsburgh's 13,000 residents interested in quieter pursuits could become subscribers, or members, of bookseller John I. McKay and Co.'s Literary Reading Room. Access to the room and its book collection cost "five dollars per annum, three dollars for six months, and two dollars for three months -- payable in advance."

McKay and Co. also offered copies of "MISS AUSTEN'S NEW NOVEL." "Emma" which had been published in England in 1815, shortly before Jane Austen's death, now was available at "44 Market Street, opposite Bank of Pittsburgh." "Likewise on hand, and for sale, by the same Author -- Sense & Sensibility; Persuasion; Mansfield Park; Northanger Abbey and Elizabeth Bennett."

"Elizabeth Bennett" most likely is another name for "Pride & Prejudice," the Austen novel in which she is the heroine.

One reason southwestern Pennsylvanians could enjoy luxuries like theater, music and books was because the city's manufacturers and shop keepers continued to expand their markets. For 30 years Pittsburgh had benefited from being able to ship its goods throughout the Midwest via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The soon-to-be-completed Pennsylvania Canal, providing a mostly water link between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, opened the way for similar trade with the Eastern Seaboard.

"Two intelligent friends, who traveled along the whole western division of the canal, and along the line of the rail road over the mountains, are returned here, highly gratified with their jaunt and with the appearance of the whole line," the Gazette reported on Sept. 2, 1833.

The "rail road" the Gazette referred to was a 19th century technological marvel: a series of 10 inclined planes running on metal rails -- industrial versions of Pittsburgh's Duquesne and Mon inclines -- that would carry canal boats up and down the Allegheny Mountains.

"They state that the work along the rail road is exceedingly well done, with every promise of strength and durability ..."

When the Allegheny Portage Railroad was completed in 1834, it allowed freight and passengers to be transported inexpensively across Pennsylvania in days rather than weeks.

For 20 years it was an element in the most efficient system to move goods over the Alleghenies, until it was overtaken in 1854 by a new technology: steam locomotives.