HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONROEVILLE!
BY SCOTT PHILPOT
2026 marks the 75th anniversary of Monroeville’ s creation as a borough. But what led to the leaders of Patton Township, as the area was known at the time, to want to incorporate into a borough? Patton Township was formed in 1849 when Plum Township was divided in half, with the southern portion becoming Patton Township.
Part of Patton was a little hamlet along the Northern Turnpike where Joel Monroe had his general store and was a stagecoach stop. The stagecoach drivers dubbed the hamlet“ Monroeville.”
Patton Township, being a second-class township, was vulnerable to annexation by surrounding communities. In 1892 the Borough of Turtle Creek was formed by taking part of Patton and Wilkins townships. Two years later, Pitcairn Borough was formed from the southern edge of Patton Township. During the early 20th century there were several other annexations by Turtle Creek of more land of Patton Township.
In 1950 the Turnpike Commission announced that the expansion of the roadway from Irwin to the Ohio line would include an exit along U. S. Route 22 in Patton Township. Several neighboring boroughs— Turtle Creek, Pitcairn, Wilmerding, Trafford, Penn Hills and Plum— saw the potential economic benefit this would create and began circulating petitions to annex parts of Patton Township to expand their boroughs.
The civic leaders of Patton had no choice but to consider incorporating as a borough if they wanted to maintain their independence. On a cold, rainy night in November of 1950, 15 residents met to choose the name for the new borough. The name Monroeville was chosen from several proposed names, probably because maps already in existence contained the name since it had been used colloquially.
In 1951, a nonpartisan civic league was established to go door-todoor to obtain 1,800 signatures, which represented 51 percent of the property owners, needed to seek incorporation as a borough. Their efforts were successful, and the petition was taken to the courts for approval. On January 25, 1951, Judge Henry Ellenbogen signed the court order creating the Borough of Monroeville.
Elections were held in 1951, and the first Monroeville Council met on January 7, 1952, at the Rosecrest School to start the process of building a community. The first council consisted of Ward 1: William Vastadore, Ward 2: E. M. Whitfield, Ward 3: Jacob Shafley, Ward 4: William Caughey who was elected council president, Ward 5: Carl Taylor, Ward 6: William Philpot, and Ward 7: Ted Giles, plus Edyth
Amalong who was appointed Borough Secretary and Sam Jenkins who was the Burgess.
At the first meeting, the new council set up the first Monroeville Police Department, with George Gregowich appointed the chief of police. Also, three full-time officers— Charels Gardner, Andrew Schwartzmiller and Andrew Rusbarsky— and three part-time officers were hired.
The council also created a new street and road department with nine employees. Together these men were tasked with laying the building blocks for a community that was on the cusp of a great expansion. I wonder if any of them envisioned that within 20 years the borough of 8,000 people would explode to close to 30,000 folks and become a commercial epicenter for the eastern part of Allegheny County.
Yes, Councilman Philpot is in fact my great uncle. I knew him as Uncle Slug, and he was quite a character. We at the Historical Society would be interested in hearing from any relatives of these people who laid the foundation of our community. While dates and facts tell a story, they don’ t really let us know the people behind the story.
So, if you are a relation of any of these founders of Monroeville, please contact us through the MHS Facebook page or email philpot. scott @ yahoo. com. We would love to hear more about these folks.
For more information, visit monroevillehistorical. org or follow MHS on Facebook @ MonroevilleHistoricalSociety. Or join us the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p. m. at the Monroeville Library for our regular meeting.
MONROEVILLE ❘ FALL 2026 31