A Brief History of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
The city of Aliquippa began as a small farming village named Woodlawn, and two other villages named Logstown and Aliquippa located along the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad (P & LERR) created a station stop in the 1880's along its route between Pittsburgh and Youngstown, Ohio and designated it Aliquippa Park. The park featured a carousel, flower gardens, a wooden roller coaster, and a dance pavilion.
At the time, Aliquippa was a small town, north of Woodlawn, named for Queen Aliquippa by the president of P & LERR, whom had a fondness for Native American names. Aliquippa was incorporated as a borough in 1894 while Woodland remained largely rural.
In 1906 Aliquippa Park was bought and torn down by Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation (J & L). J & L started building what was to become a fully integrated steel mill. J & L retained the dance pavilion and turned it into the J & L main office, which served as the headquarters of Aliquippa Works until the 1980's. In 1907 J & L constructed the first blast furnace at the Aliquippa Works and began planning a community.
The Woodlawn Land Company began the construction of number plans, known as Plans 1-12, and built some of the most progressive worker homes of the time that included electricity and indoor plumbing.
As the once rural farming village Woodlawn prospered in the light of the American Industrial Age, it annexed the nearby community of New Sheffield in 1926 and it merged with Aliquippa, which is now known as West Aliquippa. On January 31, 1928 Woodlawn officially became the city of Aliquippa.
The collapse of the American steel industry has changed the face of this area. Most of the Aliquippa Works has now been torn down and the Aliquippa area, like many other American rust-belt towns and cities, continues to struggle for a new identity. Yet, there remains a great sense of pride and historical interest by the area residents. It is my pleasure to have been able to construct the site and to present a glimpse into
-contibuted by Cindy Murphy