Aerial view of downtown Pittsburgh in 1930, showing some of the new "skyscrapers" dotting the Golden Triangle, like the Gulf Building on Grant Street. The bridges have changed considerably, with the addition of the new Point Bridge, the three Sister Bridges over the Allegheny and the Liberty Bridge over the Monongahela. The Point area, however, is still a dreary hodgepodge of railroad yards and aging warehouses. The nation is entering the Great Depression and for many, the outlook seemed bleak. Within a decade this outlook would change considerably.

Over the next twenty-five years the city would undergo an enormous transformation. Nearly 100 acres would be razed, including entire city blocks, to make way for Pittsburgh's post-World War II construction boom. The entire point area, from Fourth Street down would be cleared. The entire lower hill district, just beyond the taller buildings in the uptown area, was flattened.

New and more majestic skyscrapers would rise, and new bridges would span the rivers near the Point. The first Renaissance will soon be upon the Steel City, fed by just that, steel. America's insatiable appetite for steel in the post-depression and post-war years will spur Pittsburgh's growth, and help transform it's appearance.