Significant Houses Part 5:  The Municipality

As Monroeville grew, companies and corporations were increasingly attracted to the geographically important suburb.  US Steel consolidated its research labs here in1953. Westinghouse built its nuclear research facilities here in 1965 and 1971; Koppers Company opened a research center in 1961; Bituminous Coal in 1962, and later, PPG Industries, followed by a host of others.

The area grew in importance as a shipping hub with the construction of the Conrail Inter-modal terminal at the old Pitcairn Railway Yards for the trans-shipment of cargo in containers hauled by trucks and trains.  At the same time, Monroeville’s considerable reputation as a regional shopping center was given additional stature with the opening of the Monroeville Mall in 1969.

Today Monroeville is a Municipality of some 30,000, whose citizens reside in a full range of single-family houses, planned communities, town houses, apartments, and trailer homes. Houses built in the last thirty years of the 20^th century reflected the increasing affluence of suburban home owners who had come a long way from the modest simplicity of the early farm community.