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Proclamation congratulating the Borough of Wilmerding upon the occasion of its 125th anniversary.
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WHEREAS, the Borough of Wilmerding is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year; in honor of this exciting milestone, a Founder’s Day Luncheon will be held on March 8, 2015, exactly 125 years to the date of the Borough’s incorporation; and
WHEREAS, the Borough was named after Joanna Wilmerding Negley, wife of prominent landowner and attorney, William B. Negley, also a nephew of Mellon Bank founder Thomas Mellon; and
WHEREAS, in 1869, George Westinghouse founded the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO) which produced a new air brake that made for improved performance and increased speed on the nation’s railways; and
WHEREAS, in 1887 and 1888, George Westinghouse purchased land in the Turtle Creek valley as a site for WABCO; Mr. Westinghouse then sold the land to the East Pittsburgh Improvement Company to develop the site, and it began the sale of lots in June 1889. Dissatisfied with the towns that sprang up around the Mon Valley’s steel mills, Mr. Westinghouse decided that the settlement next to WABCO would be special. As a result, Wilmerding became one of the world’s first “planned communities,” carefully allocating space for parks, schools and recreation centers. Houses erected by WABCO were sold to workers at near-cost, and the company instituted some of the most progressive working conditions in the country; and
WHEREAS, Wilmerding’s most notable historic structure is the “Westinghouse Castle” or Westinghouse Air Brake Company General Office Building (1889-1890, rebuilt 1896), designed by Frederick J. Osterling and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Allegheny County Council hereby congratulates the Borough of Wilmerding upon the momentous occasion of its 125th Anniversary as an incorporated Borough in Pennsylvania, and we join in celebration with the residents of the Borough of Wil...
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