Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Pittsburg, KS

Pittsburg is the most populous city in Crawford County and in all of southeast Kansas, with a population of 20,646 in the 2020 census.

Pittsburg sprang up in the fall of 1876 as a coal mining camp on a new railroad line and was named after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — early maps labeled the town 'New Pittsburgh' — with George Hobson and Franklin Playter credited as its founders.

The first dwelling in Pittsburg was built by J. T. Roach in July 1876, the first post office opened that August, and the city was incorporated in 1880.

Commercial coal mining began near Broadway Street in 1879, and the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company, founded in 1885, became one of the oldest continuously operating coal companies in the United States.

At the height of the coal boom in 1904, some 55 coal companies around Pittsburg employed 11,835 men, and 44 new coal mines were opened that year alone.

Pittsburg is home to Pittsburg State University, founded in 1903 as the Auxiliary Manual Training Normal School — a branch of the Emporia normal school — which became a full four-year institution in 1913 and took its current name on April 21, 1977.

Pittsburg State's 223-acre campus holds the Kansas Technology Center, a $30 million facility housed in what has been called the largest academic building in Kansas.

The Pittsburg State Gorillas play football at Carnie Smith Stadium, a Classical Revival stadium opened in 1924 that also serves as the university's outdoor track facility.

Census QuickFacts counts about 8,287 households in Pittsburg for 2020–2024, and only about 46.3% of its housing is owner-occupied — a low rate reflecting the large student renter population.

Pittsburg sits in the Ozark Highlands region of southeast Kansas, a mix of prairie and forest near the Missouri state border, covering about 12.9 square miles.