On Monday, 10 prominent local figures will be inducted in the brand-new Pittsburgh Walk of Fame. The group includes Nellie Bly, a groundbreaking journalist who traveled around the world; Jonas Salk, a pioneering scientist who discovered the polio vaccine; and Fred Rogers, a household treasure who helped generations of children learn and feel safe.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony will occur at 10:30 a.m. at The Terminal in the Strip District, and feature actor Michael Keaton, a Pittsburgh native and fellow inductee.
Other inductees include jazz musician and Hill District native George Benson, industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, environmental activist Rachel Carson, Pittsburgh Pirate and humanitarian Roberto Clemente, artist Andy Warhol and playwright August Wilson.
According to the organizing group’s website, the goal of the Walk of Fame is to celebrate the “many diverse people from the Pittsburgh region whose talents, skills, and genius have contributed significantly” to the city and the country. Similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the inductees will have their own stars embedded in the sidewalk at the Terminal.
The city does have other statues and memorials to many of the 2025 inductees, including a Fred Rogers statue on the North Shore, the August Wilson African American Center Downtown, and bridges named for Rachel Carson, Roberto Clemente and Andy Warhol. But there hasn’t yet been a space dedicated to multiple local figures in this way.
The ceremony is open to the public and begins at 10:30 a.m.
The next round of nominations for the Pittsburgh Walk of Fame will open in January; nominees must have been born in or “spent their formative or creative years” in the Pittsburgh region and had a national impact.