History of Scottdale

The borough was named Scottdale in honor of Colonel Thomas A. Scott, who was assistant secretary of war during the Civil War and later president of the Pennsylvania Railroad when it opened its Scottdale branch in the spring of 1873. Scottdale was incorporated on Feb. 5, 1874. The railroad along with the coal and coke industry played a prominent role in the prosperity and development of the community.

By the early 1900s there were 30,000 coke ovens in the area, while Scottdale was centrally located with hundreds of mining companies surrounding it. The railroad was used to ship coal and coke to various industrial markets throughout the country. Prior to 1874 Scottdale was named Fountain Mills.

Fountain Mills to Scottdale 1809 - 1874
By Muriel Keister

When a person's name changes it does not mean the person changes. That person grows and achieves; the same applied to the community of "Fountain Mills." In 1809, John Snyder Jr. bought ten acres along Jacobs Creek from the 175-acre farm his father bought in 1790.

He worked a mill near an area where there was a well referred to as a fountain. Consequently, the area grew and boomed under the name of "Fountain Mills." There were grist mills for flour, carding mills to make cloth, distilleries (whisky was used as a means of exchange), cooper shops to make barrels, etc. Most of the shipping was done by horse trains.

When the Mount Pleasant branch of the B&O Railroad came through with a station in our neighboring town of Everson in 1871, and branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad came through with a station in Fountain Mills in 1873, the area was able to make use of the surrounding coal mines, coke ovens, and a good grade of iron ore.

Everson Graft and McCrum quickly built the Charlotte Furnace along Jacobs Creek. Here they melted the iron ore brought into the area by a narrow gage railway, and the coke was brought across the creek by a tressel to heat the furnace. From there on things changed rapidly.

Thirty men in the area requested that "Fountain Mills" become organized into a borough and be named after Colonel Scott who was president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Thus on February 5, 1874, "Fountain Mills" became the "Borough of Scottdale."

It truly boomed into the wealthiest town in Westmoreland County. It became a center of the Connellsville Coke Region which extends from Latrobe to beyond Uniontown. It also became a financial center and booming industrial area.

It manufactured the largest pipe in the world in the largest pipe mill anywhere. Many other factories developed in a short period of time. The American Sheet and Template Plant and Old Meadow Plant were added, both of which became subsidiaries of U.S. Steel. Continuing along the industrial area from north to south between Jacobs Creek and Broadway were many other factories. At the end near the Everson bridge a factory was built that made mining machinery and steam engines. It changed hands and was last taken over by Marion Machine.

Across Broadway, Henry Clay Frick had his first office on the 2nd floor of the Peter Campbell Building and as his business increased, early 1900, he built two buildings further along Broadway. Around 1929 when the financial crash hit the whole United States, Scottdale was hit hard with great losses. However, it never died. Some businesses managed to survive and update. Some new factories and businesses opened. There are those that are keeping pace and furthering the growth of modern technology.

In the meantime, many of the beautiful homes built at the turn of the century are still well-kept residences. Let us also say, from the day it started in 1809 as "Fountain Mills" and later "Scottdale," through the good and difficult times, it never gave up.