Roscoe 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 ...

Washington County, Pennsylvania Washington County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 209,349. Its county seat is Washington, Pe ...

, United States. The population was 716 at the 2020 census.

History

Roscoe became the home for many eastern European immigrants who came to the area to work in nearby coal mines. Slovaks, Poles, Serbs, Croatians, Italians, Hungarians, and

Rusyns Rusyns, also known as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, or Rusnaks, are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group from the Carpathian Rus', Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn language, Rusyn, an East Slavic lan ...

are all represented in census records of the area from 1880 onward. The Allenport & Roscoe Street Railway was formed in 1903 and was purchased by

Pittsburgh Railways Pittsburgh Railways was one of the predecessors of Pittsburgh Regional Transit. It had 666 PCC streetcar, PCC cars, the third largest fleet in North America (after Toronto Transit Commission, Toronto (745) and Chicago Surface Lines, Chicago (683) ...

to form part of their

interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...

line to

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 ...

in 1906. The extension to Roscoe was completed on June 20, 1910. The line was closed in 1953. The town was originally named Lucyville as early as 1860; however, the community changed its name to Roscoe in honor of the maiden name of a local resident, Mrs. Joseph Underwood,

Coal Mining

Roscoe and the surrounding area was home to numerous

coal mines Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

Geography

Roscoe is located at (40.078513, -79.865225). 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 (16.67%) is water.

Surrounding neighborhoods

Roscoe has two land borders: with Allenport to the north and east and

Elco Elco or ELCO may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Elco, Illinois * Elco, Pennsylvania Schools * El Camino College * Eastern Lebanon County High School, a school in Myerstown, Pennsylvania * El Camino High School (South San Francisco) Businesses * Elc ...

to the west. Across the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , ), sometimes referred to locally as the Mon (), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in nor ...

to the south, Roscoe runs adjacent with Jefferson Township in Fayette County.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 848 people, 398 households, and 243 families living in the borough. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 426 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 98.35%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.94%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 0.12% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.35% of the population. There were 398 households, out of which 20.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 36.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.77. In the borough the population was spread out, with 17.8% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 25.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 80.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.6 males. The median income for a household in the borough was $31,094, and the median income for a family was $41,250. Males had a median income of $33,167 versus $23,529 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 $17,508. About 4.1% of families and 6.1% 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 8.4% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.

References

{{authority control Boroughs in Washington County, Pennsylvania Populated places established in 1869 Pittsburgh metropolitan area Pennsylvania populated places on the Monongahela River 1869 establishments in Pennsylvania Coal towns in Pennsylvania Rusyn-American culture in Pennsylvania Rusyn-American history