Editing McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
For thousands of years, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] inhabited the region. The [[Adena culture]] built a large earthwork [[Mound builder (people)|mound]] here, which was a burial site. It was augmented in later years by members of the [[Hopewell tradition|Hopewell culture]]. This was the largest such mound in the state.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Agreen |first1=Bernadette Sulzer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ryRrN81LEJYC&q=McKees+Rocks,+Pennsylvania |title=McKees Rocks and Stowe Township |last2=Society |first2=McKees Rocks Historical |date=2009 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-6471-5 |language=en}}</ref> 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]] as a possible location for [[Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)|Fort Pitt]], which he eventually ordered built on the site of the destroyed French [[Fort Duquesne]] in what is now Pittsburgh's [[Point State Park]].<ref>[http://www.mckeesrocks.com/history.jsp?pageId=0690200091781178761440401 Part I<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Around 1749, the French-Canadian explorer [[Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville|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."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boucher |first1=John N. |title=Old and New Westmoreland, Volume 1 |date=1918 |publisher=The American Historical Society, Inc. |page=9 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org }}</ref>

The borough derives its name from trader [[Alexander McKee]], who also served as an Indian agent. He was given a {{convert|1300|acre|adj=on}} 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,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mckeesrocks.com/qa.jsp |title=Q & A |website=mckeesrocks.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810195209/http://www.mckeesrocks.com/qa.jsp |archive-date=2007-08-10}}</ref> and that year is considered to be its founding date.<ref name="Trib">{{Cite web|url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_78303.html|title = Welcome}}</ref> In 1892, it was incorporated as a [[Borough (Pennsylvania)|borough]].<ref name="Trib"/> 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,<ref name="Torsten">Torsten Ove, "[http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09220/989492-57.stm Historic Mann's Hotel will become history]", ''[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]'', Saturday, August 08, 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.post-gazette.com/local/west/2009/08/08/Historic-Mann-s-Hotel-will-become-history/stories/200908080106 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222212237/https://www.post-gazette.com/local/west/2009/08/08/Historic-Mann-s-Hotel-will-become-history/stories/200908080106 | archive-date=December 22, 2015 | title=Historic Mann's Hotel will become history }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Torsten"/> It is rumored that George Washington stayed there<ref name="Torsten"/> when he was surveying the Indian mound. In 1979, the building avoided demolition. When the county wanted to build a new [[Windgap Bridge (Pittsburgh)|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.<ref>Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, "[https://phlf.org/historic-manns-hotel-demolished/ Historic Mann's Hotel Demolished]", PHLF News, October 12, 2009.</ref><ref name="Torsten"/>

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]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=McKees Rocks Mound Historical Marker |url=https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-205 |access-date=2020-07-30|website=explorepahistory.com}}</ref> In 1896, archeologists of the [[Carnegie Museum of Natural History|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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=40899 | title=McKees Rocks Mound Historical Marker }}</ref> In the late 2000s, a disagreement over the remains moved from the mound was reported in local news.<ref>[http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_564671.html pittsburghlive.com, Apr 28, 2008]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArAmHRncEP4 Team 4: Remains Moved From Old McKees Rocks Indian Mound, WTAE-TV Pittsburgh]</ref> Industrial development, including a quarry and a cement plant have reduced the remainder and there is no public access today.<ref>[http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20010513mound4.asp The Post-Gazette Sunday, May 13, 2001]</ref><ref>[https://www.timesonline.com/story/lifestyle/around-town/2019/10/29/bridges-bombs-bones/2423261007/ Beaver County Times, Oct 29, 2019]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://pahistoricpreservation.com/spotlight-series-mckees-rocks-mound/ | title=Spotlight Series: McKees Rocks Mound - Pennsylvania Historic Preservation | date=April 15, 2015 }}</ref><ref>"McKees Rocks and Stowe Township", Sulzer Agreen, McKees Rocks Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing, 2009</ref>

McKees Rocks was the site of one of the pivotal labor conflicts of the early 20th century, the [[Pressed Steel Car Strike of 1909|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]] of [[Butler, Pennsylvania|Butler]] and others in [[New Castle, Pennsylvania|New Castle]].<ref>Louis Duchez, "The Strikes in Pennsylvania," ''The International Socialist Review,'' vol. 10, no. 3 (September 1909), pp. 194-195.</ref> The strike, led by organizers of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (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.<ref>Marylynne Pitz, "Pressed Steel Car strike in McKees Rocks reaches centennial anniversary," ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', August 16, 2009, p. E1.</ref>

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]]. In fact, throughout the 1920s, various dismembered and decapitated bodies were recovered in or around the nearby swamp areas of [[New Castle, Pennsylvania|New Castle]] and McKees Rocks.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shadow-boxing/201307/they-called-it-the-murder-swamp | title=They Called it the Murder Swamp &#124; Psychology Today }}</ref> Despite similarities to a [[Cleveland Torso Murderer|series of murders]] that had occurred in [[Cleveland]] during the same time period, the murders were never solved or officially connected to the killings in [[Ohio]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=Dirk Cameron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnnZo5NBBTwC&dq=McKees+Rocks,+Pennsylvania&pg=PA53 |title=Clues from Killers: Serial Murder and Crime Scene Messages |date=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-275-98360-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-10-28 |title=Myths, legends and hauntings of McKees Rocks |url=https://www.gazette20.com/post/myths-legends-and-hauntings-of-mckees-rocks |access-date=2022-04-18 |website=Gazette 2.0 |language=en}}</ref>

The multimillion-dollar, {{convert|40000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} 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.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}