Fort Pitt Museum Fort Pitt Museum is an indoor / outdoor museum that is administered by the Senator John Heinz History Center in downtown Pittsburgh , Allegheny County , Pennsylvania in the United States . It is at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers , where the Ohio River is formed . Fort Pitt Museum is surrounded by Point State Park , a Pennsylvania state park named for the geographically and historically significant point that is between the rivers . This piece of land was key to controlling the upper reaches of the Ohio River Valley and western Pennsylvania , before , during and after the French and Indian War as well as the American Revolution . The museum is in a recreated bastion of Fort Pitt , which was originally built in 1758 by the British . An outline of Fort Duquesne is nearby . The historical focus of the museum is the role that Fort Pitt played during the French and Indian War . The museum also features detailed information on Fort Pitt ' s role during the American Revolution , the Whiskey Rebellion and the founding of Pittsburgh . The museum was established and operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission until its closure in August 2009 from state budget cuts . The Heinz Center took over operation of the museum and reopened it in April 2010 . History . Fort Pitt was a fort in what is now the city of Pittsburgh , Allegheny County , Pennsylvania . The fort was built in 1758 during the French and Indian War , next to the site of Fort Duquesne . The French built Fort Duquesne at the beginning of that war , and it became a focal point due to its strategic river location . The Braddock expedition , a 1755 attempt to take Fort Duquesne , met with a bloody repulse at the Monongahela River . The French garrison viciously mauled an attacking British regiment in September 1758 , but abandoned and destroyed the fort at the approach of General John Forbes ' s expedition in November . The Forbes expedition was successful where the Braddock expedition had failed because of the Treaty of Easton , in which area American Indians agreed to abandon their alliance with the French . American Indians — primarily Delawares and Shawnees — made this agreement with the understanding that the British military would leave the area after the war . The Indians wanted a trading post on the spot , but they did not want a British army garrison . The British , however , built a new fort on the site and named it Fort Pitt , after William Pitt the Elder . As a result , in 1763 local Delawares and Shawnees took part in Pontiac ' s Rebellion , an effort to drive the British out of the region . The Indians ' siege of Fort Pitt began on June 22 , 1763 , but the fort was too strong to be taken by force . In negotiations during the siege , the commander of Fort Pitt gave two Delaware emissaries blankets that had been exposed to smallpox , in hopes of infecting the surrounding Indians and ending the siege . The attempt was probably unsuccessful , and on August 1 , 1763 , most of the Indians broke off the siege in order to intercept an approaching force under Colonel Henry Bouquet , resulting in the Battle of Bushy Run . Bouquet fought off the attack and relieved Fort Pitt on August 20 . After Pontiac ' s War , Fort Pitt was no longer necessary to the British Crown , and was abandoned to the locals in 1772 . At that time , the Pittsburgh area was claimed by both Virginia and Pennsylvania , and a power struggle for the region commenced . Virginians took control of Fort Pitt , and for a brief while in the 1770s it was called Fort Dunmore , in honour of Virginia ' s Governor Lord Dunmore . The fort served as a staging ground in Dunmore ' s War of 1774 . During the American Revolutionary War , Fort Pitt served as a headquarters for the western theatre of the war . Fort Pitt fell into disrepair once again in the years following the Revolution . It was abandoned in 1792 when Fort Fayette was built to replace it . Residents of the growing Pittsburgh used the remnants of the fort to build permanent housing for themselves . A small brick building called the Blockhouse — actually a type of outbuilding known as a redoubt — remains in Point State Park , the only intact remnant of Fort Pitt . It was erected in 1764 , and is believed to be the oldest building , not only in Pittsburgh , but in western Pennsylvania . Used for many years as a home , the blockhouse was purchased and has been preserved for many years by the Daughters of the American Revolution , who make it open to the public . Part of the foundations of Fort Pitt have been excavated and some of the fort has been rebuilt , though , giving visitors to Point State Park a sense of the size of the fort . In this rebuilt section the Monongahela Bastion houses the Fort Pitt Museum . Fort Pitt Foundry was an important armament s manufacturing center for the Federal government during the Civil War , under the charge of William Metcalf . Museum . Michael DeBerardinis , Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources , announced a $ 25 million plan to renovate Point State Park and parts of the Fort Pitt Museum on October 11 , 2006 . The plans call for improving the green spaces within the park , expanding recreational opportunities , preserving historical installations and updating outdated amenities . The project was originally scheduled to be complete within four years , with the majority of the work to be completed in time for Pittsburgh ' s 250th anniversary celebration in 2008 . Sections of the park have fallen into disuse since it was established in 1974 . The homeless have used the trenches surrounding the foundations of the remains of Fort Pitt as a temporary shelter for years . Graffiti on the structures of the park has become a major problem . Sections of the park are littered with fence posts , cut logs , plastic drums , and rolled up snow drift fencing . The walkways have become cracked and are beginning to fall apart . The goal of the restoration project is to re - establish the park as a recreational destination . Plans for improving the park are well under way . They include , installing new pumps and pipes in the fountain , establishing a seating area around the fountain and a wading area for children , restoring the river walk with steps that lead into the river , building kiosks for information and concessions , renovating the rest rooms , renovating the water taxi landings and surrounding docks , and installing wireless internet access hubs . Currently ( April 2011 ) the waterfront area is closed to pedestrians as the stone walkways and wharf area are being resurfaced . They are to be reopened during the summer , 2011 . These plans were not put into place without some controversy . On January 25 , 2007 , thirteen members of two different local labor unions were arrested for blocking access by contractors to the work sites at the remnants of Fort Pitt . The labor union protested the use of four non labor workers by the contractor responsible for completing the work at Point State Park . On August 14 , 2009 , the state closed the museum and three other PHMC museums indefinitely due to a lack of funding as part of an ongoing budget crisis . Management of the museum is supposed to be taken over by the Senator John Heinz Regional History Center once the state budget is passed . The Senator John Heinz History Center re - opened the Fort Pitt Museum on Saturday , April 17 , 2010 . The History Center ’ s museum system also includes a Smithsonian - affiliated , seven - story museum in Pittsburgh ’ s Strip District ; Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village , the oldest site of human habitation in North America located in Avella , Pa . ; and the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum , a two - floor museum - within - a - museum at the History Center . Currently , the Fort Pitt Museum is open to visitation seven days a week from 10am - 5pm . The museum is closed only on major holidays ( Christmas , New Years , Thanksgiving and Easter )