Place:Swissvale, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States

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NameSwissvale
TypeBorough
Coordinates40.422°N 79.886°W
Located inAllegheny, Pennsylvania, United States
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, east of downtown Pittsburgh. Named for a farmstead owned by James Swisshelm, during the industrial age it was the site of the Union Switch and Signal Company of George Westinghouse. The population was 8,983 at the 2010 census. In 1940, 15,919 people lived there.

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History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Swissvale is named after the Swisshelm family. John Swisshelm (1752–1838), who owned a farm where the town is located. John Swisshelm served under General George Washington in the Revolutionary War, and camped at Valley Forge. Swisshelm married Mary Elizabeth Miller, and they had many children. Their son, James Swisshelm, married Jane Grey Cannon, noted abolitionist and political activist, Jane Swisshelm named the town Swissvale as the town overlooked the Monongahela River Valley. The Pittsburgh neighborhood of Swisshelm Park, adjacent to Swissvale, is named after John Swisshelm.

Since 1874, the Allegheny Car & Transportation Shops had provided well-paying jobs to local citizens and were later purchased by George Westinghouse, the President of Westinghouse Air Brake Company, who formed the Union Switch & Signal company and maintained that facility in Swissvale.

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