Irwin: Coal, Railroad, and a Founder's Name
Near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Irwin, Pennsylvania grew up around a railroad stop and a coal seam. The area remained sparse until the railroad came through. In eighteen fifty-three, John Irwin laid out the first lots and gave the settlement his name, calling it Irwin Station. Residents voted to incorporate as the Borough of Irwin on November fourteenth, eighteen sixty-four.
What drove the growth was the area's rich bituminous coal, which drew mining companies throughout the late eighteen hundreds. The Westmoreland Coal Company was among the earliest. The coal was prized for its gas content, useful for heating and early industrial processes. Irwin became a working-class borough tied to coal and the railroad corridor connecting Pittsburgh to the east, a character it largely kept through the twentieth century.
