<P> The city's name is commonly misspelled as Pittsburg because innumerable cities and towns in America make use of the German - burg suffix, while very few make use of the Scottish - burgh suffix . This problem is compounded by the fact that from 1891 to 1911, the spelling of the city's name was federally recognized as Pittsburg . </P> <P> In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names was created to establish uniform place name usage throughout the various departments and agencies of the federal government . To guide its standardization efforts, the Board adopted thirteen general principles, one of which was that place names ending in - burgh should drop the final - h . The Board compiled a report of place name "decisions" in 1891 in which the city's name was rendered Pittsburg . </P> <P> In support of its decision favoring the Pittsburg spelling, the Board referenced the printed copies of the 1816 city charter which featured that same spelling . Based on those copies of the city charter, the Board claimed that the official name of the city had always been Pittsburg . However, the members of the board seem to have been unaware that the original copy of the 1816 charter specified the name of the city to be Pittsburgh, and that only the printed copies of the charter featured the erroneous spelling Pittsburg . The full decision and rationale from the Board follows: </P> <P> Pittsburg . Pennsylvania . The city was chartered in 1816, its name being spelled without the h, and its official form is still Pittsburg . The h appears to have been added by the Post-Office Department, and through that action local usage appears to have become divided . While the majority of local newspapers print it without the h, certain others use the final h . </P>

When did they add the h to pittsburgh