William Harrison Pitts

(1815 - 1898) Born in Georgia to Hardy and Drucilla (Neal) Pitts, William Harrison Pitts moved his plantation household to this area by 1854. He purchased 200 acres and built a home near this site. A settlement began to spring up, and a post office was established with the name "Pittsburg." Pitts acquired more land over the next few years, setting aside 50 acres for the town's development. In 1874, his offer of $50 toward a new courthouse was a deciding factor in the election of Pittsburg as the seat of the newly organized Camp County. The town became a junction of two railroad lines in the late 1870s and by 1880 it had a population of 750. The "Pittsburg Gazette" was first published in 1884. William Harrison Pitts was married four times and had two children. A merchant, civic leader, and veteran of the Creek Indian wars, he died in 1898. (2000)