This place is pleasantly situated at a great bend of the Monongahela river, in the northwestern part of Mifflin township, seven miles from Pittsburgh. The site of the town is a triangular alluvial deposit, rising in terraces from the water’s edge, but comparatively level. The first settler here, and probably in the township, was Sebastian Frederick. He was a squatter. A tract of several hundred acres embracing the town was secured by John McClure, from whom it was inherited by his son, Abdiel McClure, recently deceased. A part of the tract was purchased by the "Homestead Bank and Insurance Company," under whose auspices the town plot was surveyed in August, 1871. The first sale of lots occurred in the following month, and was conducted in the manner customary at that time, music and junketing adding to the pleasures of the occasion. The Pittsburgh, Virginia & Charleston railway was opened in the following year, and several hundred houses were built before the panic of 1873 dissipated the prospects by which investments had been induced. The population in 1880 was about five hundred; it is now estimated at seven thousand.

This remarkable expansion is the result of the manufacturing interests established in the intervening period. The Homestead Glass-works, Bryce, Higbee & Co., were placed in operation in September, 1889, with one eleven-pot furnace and ninety operatives. An eight-pot furnace was added in 1884. The constituent members of the firm are John Bryce, John B. Higbee and C. K. Bryce. This was the first industry of the town.

The Homestead Steel-works, Carnegie, Phipp & Co., limited, proprietors, were built in 1881, by the Pittsburgh Bessemer company, for the manufacture of steel rails, and comprised a converting-mill 115 feet long and 72 feet wide; railmill, 600 feet long and 84 feet wide, with wings attached; blooming-mill, 180 feet long and 72 feet wide. The manufacture of rails was discontinued in 1887, in favor of structural or angle steel for buildings, bridges, etc. The platemill department, 1,000 feet long and 150 feet wide, was built in 1887. The mill is 119 inches wide, and the plant comprises a full complement of other requisite machinery, the shears being of unusual size and capacity. A slabbing-mill is in course of erection.

The Windsor Glass-works, comprising a thirteen-pot furnace with other appliances requisite in making pressed goods, and employing 160 men, were built in 1886, burned in 1887, rebuilt and placed in operation September 2, of the same year. The Massillon Firebrick works, several brickyards and planing-mills, and the great building activity now in progress also employ a large number of men.

The borough was incorporated September 18, 1880, and organized with the election of C. C. Will as burgess; John Lowry, John Bryson, Fairchild, E. J. Atwood, A. Ackard, Thomas Lloyd, councilmen. D. R. Jones is the present burgess.

The first local newspaper, the Herald, was issued June 18, 1880, by Fred. H. Penney, and, after experiencing a succession of reverses, suspended August 18, 1882. The Mirror was published from October, 1881, to August, 1882, by Frank M. Gessner, and appeared monthly. The People’s Weekly, published by T. H. Galvin, was started August 15, 1885, by J. S. Hillman. The latest defunct journal, the Valley Echo, was first published October 25, 1885, by J. S. Hillman, but was discontinued within a few months. The Local News was established by M. P. Schooley July 23, 1881, and has survived the majority of its less fortunate contemporaries. It was originally a four-column folio, bat it has been enlarged to double that size. M. P. and J. R. Schooley are the present proprietors.

The First National bank was organized November 25, 1887, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars; W. H. Watt, president; George Gladden, vice president; Louis Rott, cashier; J. B. Neel, teller.

There are six church edifices. The Presbyterian Church was organized in 1874, with Rev. Joseph G. Lyle as its first pastor. The Methodist church, Rev. A. J. Ashe, pastor, was burned and rebuilt in 1887. The Baptist Church, Rev. F. R. Scully, pastor, was organized in 1884, and the church built in 1887. Rev. J. J. Bullion is the Catholic pastor. The Lutheran and the African Methodist Episcopal churches complete the number. There are also United Presbyterian, Welsh Baptist, English Lutheran and other missions.

The secret and benevolent societies number more than a score. The I. O. O. F., K. of P., O. U. A. M., K. G. E., A. O. U. W., K. of L. and A. A. I. & S. W. are among the orders represented.