Marker Celebrates the Creation of Czechoslovak Republic

The University of Pittsburgh co-sponsored a ceremony on Thursday at 625 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, commemorating the 1918 meeting between Thomas G. Masaryk, founder and first president of the Czechoslovak Republic, and Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States. The bronze plaque bearing the leaders’ portraits has been designated a Pennsylvania Historic Landmark.

On May 31, 1918, Masaryk, then a professor of philosophy at Prague University, gave a speech to 20,000 people that inspired Czechs and Slovaks to create an independent Czechoslovak state. Czech and Slovak representatives signed the Pittsburgh Agreement the next day in the Loyal Order of Moose Building (now razed).

The University of Pittsburgh Czechoslovak Classroom Committee, the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Science, Western Pennsylvania Slovak Cultural Association, Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in Harrisburg are the sponsoring organizations.

Representatives of the Czech and Slovak embassies, state and local officials, as well as members of local Czech and Slovak organizations attended Thursday’s ceremony.

—Patricia Lomando White