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McKees Rocks, also known as "The Rocks", is a
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...
in Allegheny County in
Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the Unite ...
, United States, along the south bank of the
Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
. Part of the
Pittsburgh metropolitan area Greater Pittsburgh is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania, United States. The region includes Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh's urban core county and economic hub, and s ...
, its population was 5,920 at the time of the 2020 census. The borough is within the Sto-Rox School District, which serves McKees Rocks and neighboring Stowe Township. The local high school is
Sto-Rox High School Sto-Rox High School is a high school located in the West Park, Stowe Township, West Park neighborhood of Stowe Township, Pennsylvania. It is the only high school of the Sto-Rox School District, which educates the children of Stowe Township, Penns ...
. The Pittsburgh, Allegheny and McKees Rocks Railroad was, and the Pittsburgh and Ohio Central Railroad is, located in an area along the river known as the "Bottoms". The McKees Rocks Bridge, which carries traffic between McKees Rocks and
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, is the longest bridge in Allegheny County, at . McKees Rocks had one of the largest Indian mounds in the state, built by the Adena and Hopewell peoples a thousand years before Europeans entered the area. In the past, the city was known for its extensive
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
and
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
interests. There were large
railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
machine shops and manufacturers of
locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...
s and
freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...
and passenger cars. Other factories produced springs, enamel ware,
lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...
, wall materials,
plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
, nuts and bolts, malleable
casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...
s,
chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...
s and
forging Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...
s,
tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...
ware,
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...
, and
cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...
s. McKees Rocks is also known as the birthplace of former Ohio Governor
John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and a Republican candidate for the pre ...
and late television salesperson Billy Mays.


History

For thousands of years, Native Americans inhabited the region. The
Adena culture The Adena culture was a pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, in a time known as the Early Woodland period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharin ...
built a large earthwork
mound A mound is a wikt:heaped, heaped pile of soil, earth, gravel, sand, rock (geology), rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded ...
here, which was a burial site. It was augmented in later years by members of the
Hopewell culture The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from ...
. This was the largest such mound in the state. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History excavated half the mound in 1896. Its archaeologists traced the construction history and unearthed the remains of 33 people. The mound crowned a high bluff that overlooks Chartiers Creek and the Ohio River. The bluff under the mound was quarried for municipal paving some time after the archaeological dig, eliminating what remained of the Indian burial site. This site was considered by
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
as a possible location for Fort Pitt, which he eventually ordered built on the site of the destroyed French
Fort Duquesne Fort Duquesne ( , ; originally called ''Fort Du Quesne'') was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was later taken over by the British, and later the Americans, and developed ...
in what is now Pittsburgh's
Point State Park Point State Park (locally known as The Point) is a Pennsylvania state park which is located on in Downtown Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, US, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, forming the Ohio River. B ...
. Around 1749, the French-Canadian explorer Pierre Joseph Celoron de Blainville visited the area and discovered a "written rock" inscribed with markings he believed were made by Native Americans. Celeron named the place after the rock, and it eventually became known as McKees Rocks. Writing in 1918, historian John Boucher stated that the inscriptions had "long since faded away, if indeed they were anything other than marks made by English fur traders." The borough derives its name from trader Alexander McKee, who also served as an Indian agent. He was given a tract of land in 1764 for his services during the French and Indian War. The name also related to a rocky projection into the river at this site. In 1769, the name McKees Rocks was placed on an official deed, and that year is considered to be its founding date. In 1892, it was incorporated as a
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...
. In 1900, 6,353 people resided in the borough; in 1910, 14,702; in 1920, 16,713; and in 1940, 17,021 people inhabited McKees Rocks. After industrial restructuring caused a loss of jobs in the city, the population declined, to 6,104 at the 2010 census. Mann's Hotel, which was possibly one of the oldest buildings in the Pittsburgh area,Torsten Ove,
Historic Mann's Hotel will become history
, ''
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...
'', Saturday, August 08, 2009.
was located at 23 Singer Avenue in McKees Rocks. It was believed to have been built around 1803, although some sources put the construction in the 18th century. It is rumored that George Washington stayed there when he was surveying the Indian mound. In 1979, the building avoided demolition. When the county wanted to build a new Windgap Bridge beside the old one, it needed the space occupied by Mann's Hotel. However, when a Public Utility Commission judge ruled the county had to pay to relocate the building, the county opted to build the new bridge in the place of the old instead. On October 12, 2009, Mann's Hotel was condemned due to neglect and had to be demolished because of its deteriorating condition. The "Bottoms" neighborhood is the site of the 16-foot-high and 85-foot-diameter McKees Rocks Indian Mound, designated as a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
. In 1896, archeologists of the Carnegie Museum, established the year prior, partially excavated the McKees Rocks mound, unearthing over 30 graves. Artifacts preserved from this excavation are the only parts of the mound that are intact today. A 1946 initiative to turn the mound into a national park petered out. By the 1950s, a large portion of the mound had fallen into the Ohio river. In 2001, an initiative to erect a historic marker was started, and on May 18, 2002 a Pennsylvania Historical Marker was dedicated at the base of the bluff. In the late 2000s, a disagreement over the remains moved from the mound was reported in local news. Industrial development, including a quarry and a cement plant have reduced the remainder and there is no public access today. McKees Rocks was the site of one of the pivotal labor conflicts of the early 20th century, the 1909 McKees Rocks Strike. In the summer and early fall of 1909, some 5,000 workers of the Pressed Steel Car Company's plant at McKees Rocks went on strike, joined by 3,000 others who worked for the
Standard Steel Car Company The Standard Steel Car Company (SSC) was a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock in the United States that existed between 1902 and 1934. Established in 1902 in Butler, Pennsylvania by John M. Hansen and "Diamond Jim" Brady, the company quic ...
of
Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...
and others in New Castle. The strike, led by organizers of the
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
(IWW), was repressed by armed security guards and the state militia, resulting in at least a dozen deaths. The conflict involved participants on both sides. In 1940, three decapitated bodies were found in boxcars in McKees Rocks during a routine train inspection. The train cars had apparently come from
Youngstown Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...
. In fact, throughout the 1920s, various dismembered and decapitated bodies were recovered in or around the nearby swamp areas of New Castle and McKees Rocks. Despite similarities to a series of murders that had occurred in
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
during the same time period, the murders were never solved or officially connected to the killings in
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. The multimillion-dollar, Father Ryan Cultural Arts Center opened in 2008, at 420 Chartiers Avenue, adjacent to the F.O.R. Sto-Rox Library (at 500 Chartiers Avenue). It offers many creative and performing arts courses to the public.


Geography

McKees Rocks is located at (40.470218, −80.063674). According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the borough has a total area of , of which is land and , or 6.31%, is water.


Surrounding and adjacent neighborhoods

McKees Rocks is made up of several neighborhoods, such as West Park, Meyers Ridge, and "The Bottoms". McKees Rocks has two borders by land: Kennedy Township to the west and Stowe Township to the north. Chartiers Creek separates McKees Rocks from two Pittsburgh neighborhoods and have connectors to both: * Windgap to the southwest via Windgap Bridge. However, this is not a direct connection as a very small border of Kennedy Township separates the two communities in the middle of the bridge. * Esplen to the south and southeast via Linden Ave. Bridge Across the Ohio River, McKees Rocks runs adjacent to two other Pittsburgh neighborhoods: * Brighton Heights to the northeast via McKees Rocks Bridge. As with Windgap, this is not a direct connection as Stowe Township separates the two neighborhoods in the middle of the bridge. * Marshall-Shadeland to the southeast and under the east end of the bridge


Demographics

As of the 2000 census, there were 6,622 people, 2,905 households, and 1,652 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 3,402 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 82.71% White, 14.06% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.68% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.41% from other races, and 1.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.09% of the population. The 2010 census revealed there were 6,104 residents. The population density was 6003.25 people per square mile. The racial makeup was 62.17% White, 35.26% African American, 0.57% Asian, and 0.34% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.65% of the population. There were 2,905 households, out of which 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.4% were married couples living together, 21.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.1% were non-families. 37.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.2% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.96. The population included 24.1% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 19.0% who were 65 or older. The median age was 38. For every 100 females, there were 89.1 males; for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.2 males. The median income for a household in the borough was $22,278, and the median income for a family was $29,063. Males had a median income of $25,872 versus $23,402 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the borough was $13,858. About 20.5% of families and 25.3% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 38.8% of those under age 18 and 17.0% of those age 65 or over


Politics


Notable people

* Myron Brown, Slippery Rock University basketball star and NBA player *
Tom Clements Thomas Albert Clements (born June 18, 1953) is an American former professional football quarterback and coach. He served as an assistant coach for the Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saint ...
, Canadian Football League Quarterback (1975-1987), quarterbacks coach of the
Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...
* Merle Fainsod (1907-1972),
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
political scientist * Chuck Fusina, Penn State, USFL, and NFL football player * Damar Hamlin, NFL player for the
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
*
John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and a Republican candidate for the pre ...
, 69th
Governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
from 2011 to 2019, former Congressman, and presidential candidate in
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
and
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
* Catherine Baker Knoll, 30th
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania The lieutenant governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is elected for a four-year term in the same year as the governor of Pennsylvania, governor. Each party picks a candidate for lieutena ...
(2003–2008) * Carl Kosak, author * Al Kozar, Major League Baseball infielder * Ted Kwalick, Penn State all-America football player and
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...
all-Pro tight end; member of the
College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...
* Bob Ligashesky, special teams coordinator for the
Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East ...
* Billy Mays, television pitchman and Oxi-Clean spokesman, known for his bearded face and distinct voice. * Roman Macek, former American football player and pro wrestler under the ring name Luca Crusifino * Alex Sandusky (1932–2020), professional football player * Jeff Smith, cartoonist, best known as the creator of the self-published comic book series ''
Bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...
'' * Paul Spadafora, former IBF world lightweight boxing champion, known as the "Pittsburgh Kid" * Olive Thomas, silent film actress, and the original
flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women prominent after the First World War and through the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee length was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their ...


In popular culture

McKees Rocks is the fictional setting of the novels '' Duffy's Rocks'' by Edward Fenton, ''
Riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...
'' by
William Trautmann William Ernst Trautmann (July 1, 1869 – November 18, 1940) was an American trade unionist who was the founding List of General Secretary-Treasurers of the Industrial Workers of the World, general-secretary of the Industrial Workers of the World ...
, and more than a dozen novels by the crime writer K. C. Constantine.


Gallery

File:McKeesRocksBridgePA.jpg, The McKees Rocks Bridge from Island Avenue File:McKeesRocksBridge.jpg, Another view of the McKees Rocks Bridge File:MancinisBakery.jpg, Mancini's Bakery (since 1926) File:MckeesRocksMoundSignPA.jpg, McKees Rocks Mound historical marker File:TheRocksofMckeesRocksPA.jpg, "The Rocks" of McKees Rocks File:PittsburghandLakeErieRailroadLocomotiveShops.jpg, Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Locomotive Shops


See also

* Hachmeister-Lind * Jenny Lee Bakery *
List of cities and towns along the Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
* Pressed Steel Car Strike of 1909


References


External links

*
Community Development Corporation

Sto-Rox School District
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mckees Rocks, Pennsylvania 1892 establishments in Pennsylvania Boroughs in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania populated places on the Ohio River Pittsburgh metropolitan area Populated places established in 1764