A map of property owners in Rostraver Township where Monessen would eventually stand.
• The road near the river is approximately where Schoonmaker Avenue is today.
• The adjoining Manown properties are split by what is now State Road.
• The Luce farm is about where the Monessen Elementary Center, formerly the Vocational School, and the Monessen Stadium now stand.
 

This map is adapted from S. N. and D. G. Beers' Atlas of Westmoreland County Pennsylvania, 1867.

 
 
                                     1873

•    The area that was to become Monessen was owned by Hugh McMahon of Fallowfield Township.
•    McMahon gave 100 acres to his son Alexander McMahon.

•    McMahon gave his son, Thomas 111 acres:
• 4000 foot of river frontage from current 1st Street to just before 12th street
• West (up the hill) to current McMahon Avenue.
• This land was to become the heart of the new community.

•  Margaret Nelson took a $5,000 mortgage on part of the McMahon land.

•  The Wayman A.M.E. Church was organized in the orchard of Edward Odey on  what became Highland Avenue and is now Highland Manor.

• The McKinley Tariff Act which protected the manufacturing of tin plate in the US was enacted.
• Opened way for the establishment of tin mills in the United States.
• Played a significant role in the  establishment of Monessen.

•  The McMahon land which was subject to Nelson mortgage was transferred to the Hamilton Company.
• Future evens lead us to believe the Hamilton Company knew nothing of the mortgage.

• Only 8 farmhouses, 2 barns, 1 schoolhouse, and a country road existed on the future Monessen site.
• The Hamilton Co created Part #1, Plan of Fordham, after Lock Four and its Dam.
• This plan is recorded on pp 88-89 of The Westmoreland County Plan Book.
• Once the Hamilton Company secured the land, no payments were paid on the existing mortgage and the land eventually went into foreclosure.
• (A  little bit of hanky pank is probably involved in this transaction.)
• It  was foreclosed by Charles Orr, who bought 211 acres on Nov. 18 for $26,000.

• Charles Orr transferred his deed to the East Side Land Co on Dec. 8.
• Capitalists who invested in Monessen:
• Colonel James M. Schoonmaker, VP and GM of P&LE Railroad
• P. C. Knox, Attorney General of the United States, Secretary of State, and Senator
• Judge James H. Reed, law partner of Knox
• H. Sellers McKee
• George O. Morgan
• George B. Motheral

• Construction of Tin Mill, under supervision of owner William H. Donner, begun in May. (Daily Oct. 20, 1935)
• Construction of Monessen Box Company on Donner Avenue
• supplied boxes to ship tin plate
• at peak made 4,000 boxes a day and employed 35 men.
• In 1923, it became the Langeland Manufacturing Company
• On July 27, East Side Land Co held the first of many land sales.
• "Monessen as a community can be said to have been born on this day, July 27, 1897."                                     H. Dallas McCabe, City Manager

• The Monessen Lumber Company, the first in the city, was opened by William Jones and his son Samuel.
• Located at Ninth and Donner.
• It was subsequently sold to Westmoreland Lumber Co in 1912. 
• First house, where Fifth Street meets Schoonmaker Avenue, was occupied August 17. (see photo)
• first brick building in Monessen was the Louttit Hall at Eighth and Donner
• became home of the Monessen News Call
• Meeting rooms used by most civic groups
• First police force started. D.W.G. Cooper, Chief of Police.
• First water company begun September 14.
• Donner builds home at 435 McKee Avenue.

• First plate was rolled at the Tin Mill in Feb. of 1898, before the city was founded.
• The Evangelical United Brethren were organized May 8, 1898.
• Monessen Foundry and Machine Company, owned by W. S. Bumbaugh, broke ground on June 21.
• Location was at 13th Street and Morgan at Donner.
• The blooming mill of Pittsburgh Steel eventually stood on this site.
• Sold to Rockwell International in 1945
• Steel Hoop Co began in September.
• Application for borough status filed July 30th.
• The City of Monessen was founded as a borough on September 4.
• Court granted borough status on September 3
• Incorporation took place on September 4.
• The First Methodist Church was organized by Rev Jacob T. Pender of Belle Vernon on Sept. 25, 1898.
• The Trinity Episcopal Church was also established this year.
• The First Presbyterian Church held its first service on October 8, 1898, in Louttit's Hall (News-Call Building).
• On Dec. 15, the tin mill became the American Tin Plate Company. (Daily, Oct. 20, 1936)
• Received the first telephone in Monessen

• The Monessen schools had 4 teachers and 244 pupils.
• The first school building constructed was the McKinley Building on Reed Avenue which opened this year.
• It was torn down in 1947.
• St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized on September 10, 1899 in Allenport.
• The first newspaper in Monessen, the Monessen News began operating on June 30, 1899.
• It was a single 14x20 sheet , published weekly by Charles E. Federman.
• It was later called the News-Call
• It went out of business in the 40s.
• First fire in Monessen destroyed six houses on Tin Mill Row on Dec 23.

• Census:  2,197.
• Pages Woven Wire Fence Company was founded by J Wallace Page of Adrian, Michigan.
• Page was the father of woven wire fence industry.
• The Monessen facility was on 22 acres from Manown Farm between Donner Ave and river at the foot of 1st Street.
• The plant employed 500 men
• It produced 3,000 tons of fence a month.
• It had its own blooming mill, open hearth, rod mill, and wire mill.
• Pittsburgh Horseshoe Co in Glassport became Pittsburgh Steel Hoops Co.
•      It produce barrel hoops, bands, and  cotton ties. No facilities were located in Monessen at this time.
• First paved street in "Mud"essen.
• most streets paved with Belgian block and vitrified brick
• First Christian Church of Monessen met in the Monessen Borough Building.
• Louhi Band organized in January.
• Volunteer fire department organized in April after fire destroyed a meat market.
• P&LE passenger station at Donner and Sixth street erected
• first RR station here called Fordham, then McMahon, then Donner, before becoming Monessen
• at peak, 7 round trip trains a day served Monessen
• tracks were on what is now Donner Avenue, Mr. Schoonmaker had them moved to contour the river and not run through the heart of the town.
• freight station at Donner and 4th erected 1901
• Monessen central telephone exchange began operating on September 5
• located above Peoples National Bank
• 32 subscribers
• 1910, 378 subscribers
• 1920, 1,443 subscribers
•  1930, 2,032
•  1940, after the depression, 1,841

• The Tin Mill became the American Tin Plate Company of USS Corp. on April 1. (Daily Oct. 20, 1936)
• First Presbyterian Church dedicated a new frame church on Park Way near Sixth St. on June 20, 1901.
• Pittsburgh Steel Hoop Co purchased 96 acres from the East Side Land Co on July 1.
• The land was originally a swamp owned by David Owens.
• This was beginning of Pittsburgh Steel.
• On July 2, 1901, a large number of "foreign" men and their families arrived at Webster to begin work at the new mill.  (Keystone Magazine, Vol. 3, no 5, 56)
• Additional early employees of Pittsburgh Steel were Nick Wanzilak, Samuel Turner, Oscar Hawkinson, F. P Dastolfo, Dominic Coccari, Esaia D'Alfonso, Vasil Dacko, Joseph Shaffer, Mike Roman, and Joseph Kuseck. All still employed at Pittsburgh Steel in 56 (Keystone Vol. 3, no 5, 56)
• Knights of Pythias instituted August 19, 1901.
• Pittsburgh Steel Hoop Co and Pittsburgh Steel Co merged on Nov. 11, 1901. Mr. Rowe became the President.
• Pittsburgh Steel began construction of rolling mills.
• First high school in Monessen opens.
• St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church organized.
• Most Holy Name of Jesus Church organized.

• 7,000 people living in Monessen.
• The Monessen Lodge No 773 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was chartered March 20, 1902.
• Meetings were held at Kelly's Hall on Donner Ave and later Peoples National Bank rooms.
• Croatian Fraternal Union of America Lodge 191 was founded on May 8. They had 850 members.
• The Motz Lumber Co was organized by J.C.F. Motz and J. B. Coryell in May on  E. Donner Avenue.
• Built a good portion of Monessen
• In 1924 they had 65 employees.
• It became Charleroi Supply Co in Feb. of 1944.
• The First Baptist Church organized June 29, 1902 in Louttit's Hall.
• The first issue of The Daily Independent was published June 28, 1902.
•      It cost 5 cents an issue.
• The Galvanizing Department, the first department of Pittsburgh Steel in operation, opened in July. (Keystone, July 51)
• In August the Fence, Barbed Wire, and Staple departments of Pittsburgh Steel started production. (Keystone, July 51)
• The No 1 Rod Mill of Pittsburgh Steel opened in September housing 24 acres under one roof.
• It employed 3,000 men.
• They made 400 tons of nails every 24hrs.
• The men worked a 13 hr night shift and 11 hr day shift at 10-20 cents an hour.
• Mt Olive Baptist Church organized.
• St. Gajetan Roman Catholic Church organized as a mission of the Mother of Sorrows Church in Charleroi.
• The First Christian Church of Monessen dedicated their new building at  8th and Schoonmaker.
• Schrader and Schell opened a coal mine at edge of town.
• The Murphy’s 5 and 10 Store opened on Saturday, Nov. 8, next to the  Loeb's Real Estate company on Donner Ave.
• George Katsuleris from Chions, Greece arrived in Monessen.
• According to the 50th Anniversary issue of the Keystone Magazine of Pittsburgh Steel, he was the first Greek in Monessen.
• The first known black citizens arrived when 32 wire drawers came from Joleit, Ill to work for $4.00 a day.
• On November 8 the Iowa school was dedicated.
• An Italian brass band of 50 members was formed under Professor Vincenzo Lambiase of New York City (Daily, Nov. 12)
• The third addition to Monessen was added. Lots sold for $250-350.
• No interest on loans
• No taxes assessed.
• Money refunded in case of death.
• If a person was out of work, payments were suspended.
•  YMCA held its first organizational meeting on Nov. 10.
• Foundation of the Opera house caving in.
• Typhoid Fever in Monessen, Smallpox in Charleroi
• The Monessen News was purchased by Mr. C. L.Schuck (Keystone April 47)
• Telephone line to Pittsburgh almost a reality.
• Editorial asks for a public wharf on the river.
• The Chief-of-Police was arrested and found guilty of conduct unbecoming of an officer.

• Pittsburgh Steel acquired Monessen Coal and Coke Co.
• Italian Society of Mutual Aid applied for incorporation on March 5, 1903.
• It erected a one room building at 601 Third St. in 1904.
• Monessen, Belle Vernon, Fayette City Street Railway Company organized May 1st.
• First street car in Monessen made its inaugural run on March 10 in pouring rain.
• Schools had 30 teachers and 1,240 pupils
• 13 students in high school.
• Jewish community organizes and plans to erect a synagogue.
•  St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church held its first service in Kelly's Hall Sun May 10.
• Most Holy Name of Jesus Church cornerstone on Reed Ave blessed on May 22.
•  Newspaper calls for a paid fire department.
• First murder in community occurred June 22.
• The Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol Assembly No 47 organized Oct. 4, 1903.
• River frozen. Spring floods likely.
• Indian Bill and his Rough Riders presented a wild west show.
• Pioneer Dance held at the Fifth Avenue Hotel.
• After houses were given numbers, free mail delivery began

• Pittsburgh Steel in 1904 (Keystone Sept. 46 with photo p15)
• General office was only 2 story.
•  Construction of No 1 Rod Mill Bldg. underway. In 46 this was No 1 Machine Shop.
• Tin mill absorbed by the American Sheet Steel Co.
• They became the American Sheet and Tin Plate Co.
• The Monessen Plant was called the National Works.
• It expanded into 25 separate mills and around 50 tin sets, making it the largest tin plate plant in the nation.
• Monessen Laundry and Cleaning Company now owned by Merritt family
• Located at Donner and 2nd St
• In 1923 employed 62 men and women
• Hungarian Workingmen's Sick Benefit, Social, and Literary Club received its charter.
• First United Presbyterian Church of Monessen organized in February by Rev. J. M Jamison.
• Monessen Opera House opened on Dec. 4
• The play was Captain Barrington
• The tickets were 25, 35, and 75 cents.

• St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church laid its cornerstone on October 29.
• West Side Electric Street Railway Company began operating Nov. 2, 1907, between Monessen and Charleroi.
• It extended to Bentleyville and Ellsworth July, 1914.
•  Monessen American Turn Verein (Turners) was organized at George Juergen's barber shop.

• Tin mill "one of the largest and most thoroughly equipped tin plate plants in the world, (Boucher, History of Westmoreland County).
• During an 8 week period Newcomer and Wolf Real Estate sold over $100,000 worth of property in Monessen.
• First merchant's picnic, forerunner of Kennywood, held Aug. 8 at Lynn's Grove.

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