Editing Monaca, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==

===Early settlements===
[[File:CountdeLeonHouseMonacaPA.jpg|thumb|[[Bernhard Müller]] house in Monaca]]
Monaca has a history dating to the 18th century. The land on which it stands was granted by the [[Pennsylvania|Commonwealth of Pennsylvania]] by patent, bearing the date September 5, 1787, to [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] [[Ephraim Blaine]] (1741–1804), who served in the [[Continental Army]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], was [[commissariat|commissary-general]] of the Northern Department from 1778 to 1782,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.onlinebiographies.info/me/rmm/blaine-jg.htm|title="Bio of James Gillespie Blaine As found in "Representative Men of Maine" (1893), A Collection of Biographical Sketches."}}</ref> and was [[James G. Blaine]]'s great-grandfather. In the patent, this tract was called "Appetite". On August 1, 1813, the land was bought by Francis Helvidi (or Helveti, Helvedi, Helvety), described as a [[Polish people|Polish]] [[Nobility|nobleman]] exiled from his native country who immigrated to America. Helvidi, who may have been the first white settler in Monaca, bought the large "Appetite" tract and raised [[sheep]] on it, but his venture was unsuccessful. [[Harmony Society]] leader [[George Rapp]], one of Helveti's [[creditor]]s, complained in 1815 "about the risk Helvety is taking with the sheep," and in 1821, the property was sold at [[Public auction|Sheriff's sale]] to Rapp.

In 1822, the beginnings of a town appeared when Stephen Phillips and John Graham purchased the property and established their "extensive boat yards" on the Ohio River there. It was first named for Phillips, and was long known as Phillipsburg.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3o0CAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA609|title=History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania: And Its Centennial Celebration|first=Joseph Henderson|last=Bausman|date=March 19, 1904|publisher=Knickerbocker Press|via=Google Books}}</ref> Phillips and Graham built numerous [[steamboat]]s, including the ''William Penn'', which carried the [[Harmony Society|Harmonites]] from their second settlement in [[New Harmony, Indiana]], to [[Beaver County, Pennsylvania|Beaver County]] and their third and final home at [[Old Economy Village|Economy]]. In 1832, Phillips and Graham sold the entire tract of land to seceders from the Harmony Society at Economy, and moved their boatyards to what is now [[Freedom, Pennsylvania|Freedom]]. The seceders from the Harmony Society were led by [[Bernhard Müller]], known as Count de Leon. The group consisted of [[Germans|German]] immigrants who formed a [[Intentional community|communal]] religious society. In 1832, after leaving Economy with about 250 former Harmony Society members, Müller and his followers started a new community in Phillipsburg (now Monaca) with the money they obtained in the settlement with the Harmony Society. There they established the New Philadelphian Congregation, or [[New Philadelphia Society]], constructing a church, a hotel, and other buildings. They soon renamed this community "Löwenburg" (Lion City). Perhaps because of ongoing litigation and other financial problems, Müller's group sold its communal land in Pennsylvania in 1833. Some community members stayed in Monaca, while others followed Müller and his family down the Ohio River on a [[flatboat]]. A number of those who followed Müller and his family ended up at the [[Germantown Colony and Museum|Germantown Colony]] near [[Minden, Louisiana]]. But many stayed in Monaca, and not long after Müller and his followers left, a new religious speaker, [[William Keil]], showed up in the area in the early 1840s. Keil was able to attract some followers who were former Harmony Society/New Philadelphia Society members, and his group eventually moved away and settled the communal town of [[Bethel, Missouri]], in 1844, and [[Aurora, Oregon]], in 1856. But a number of former Harmony Society/New Philadelphia Society members stayed in Monaca. In 1840, the area was incorporated as the "Borough of Phillipsburg" from the [[Moon Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania|Moon Township]] site. The first burgess was Frederick Charles Speyerer, and the first council Edward Acker, Jacob Schaffer, Henry Jung, George Forstner, and Adam Schule.

===Mid- to late 1800s===
[[File:NewPhiladelphiaSocietyMonacaPA.jpg|thumb|right|[[New Philadelphia Society]] Church, erected 1832.]]
Edward Acker established a "Watercure Sanatorium" in Phillipsburg in 1848, and in 1856 when the borough's first post office was established, it took the name "[[Water cure (therapy)|Water Cure]]". In 1865, Reverend William G. Taylor bought the Sanatorium buildings for his Soldiers' Orphans Home. The Home, according to one of the students, consisted of a "dormitory, dining room, schoolhouse, bathhouse, woodshed, carpenter shop and a two-acre playground." It burned in 1876. There is a historical marker near the point where Fourth Street meets [[Pennsylvania Route 18|Route 18]] that reads: "Water Cure Sanatorium founded 1848 by Dr. Edward Acker. Used [[hydropathy]] or water to heal. First hospital in [[Beaver County, Pennsylvania|Beaver County]]. Town's first post office, 1856. Phillipsburg Soldiers Orphans School founded 1866 by Rev. William Taylor. Destroyed by fire 1876. Beaver County Historical Research & Landmarks Foundation".

[[Thiel College]] was founded in Monaca in 1866, and moved to [[Greenville, Pennsylvania|Greenville]] five years later. A historical marker on Fourth Street reads: "Site of Thiel College endowed by A. Louis Thiel and founded in 1866 as Thiel Hall by Rev. [[William Passavant]]. Chartered in 1870 as Thiel College of The [[Evangelical Lutheran]] Church with Rev. Henry W. Roth as first president. Moved to [[Greenville, Pennsylvania]], 1871. Beaver County Historical Research & Landmarks Foundation".

In 1892, the borough's name was changed from Phillipsburg to Monaca in honor of the [[Native American Indian]] Monacatootha<ref name="bchistory.org"/> (also known as [[Scarouady]]). Monacatootha ("Great Arrow") was an [[Oneida people|Oneida]] warrior chief and a representative of the [[Iroquois|Iroquois Confederacy]] with the authority to supervise affairs among the [[Lenape|Delawares]] and [[Shawnee]]s in that area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/NativeAmerican/IndianNamesinBCMA97.html |title=Indian Names in Beaver County |access-date=April 28, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508130045/http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/NativeAmerican/IndianNamesinBCMA97.html |archive-date=May 8, 2015 }}</ref> He had met with future U.S. President [[George Washington]] in [[Logstown]]. He was a strong friend of the [[English people|English]] and campaigned against the [[French people|French]].

===Modern era===
[[File:BTP-8G6 flight 20241207 (6).jpg|Aerial view of Monaca|thumb|left]]
In the borough's history, manufacturers made tons of enameled porcelain ware, glass, tile, tubing, drawn steel and wire. Today, [[Stölzle Glass]] USA (former Phoenix Glass/[[Anchor Hocking]] Plant #44) is in Monaca.

In 2003, Monaca was the epicenter of one of the most widespread [[2003 Chi-Chi's hepatitis A outbreak|hepatitis A outbreaks]] in the United States, which afflicted at least 640 people and killed four in northeastern [[Ohio]] and southwestern [[Pennsylvania]]. The outbreak was blamed on tainted [[scallion|green onion]]s at a [[Chi-Chi's]] restaurant in the town.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5247a5.htm |title=Hepatitis A Outbreak Associated with Green Onions at a Restaurant – Monaca, Pennsylvania, 2003 |access-date=October 8, 2011 |date=November 28, 2003 |quote=The Pennsylvania Department of Health and CDC are investigating an outbreak of hepatitis A outbreak among patrons of a restaurant (Restaurant A) at the [[Beaver Valley Mall]] in the [[Pittsburgh]] suburb of Monaca, Pennsylvania. As of November 20, approximately 555 persons with hepatitis A have been identified, including at least 13 Restaurant A food service workers and 75 residents of six other states who dined at Restaurant A. Three persons have died. Preliminary sequence analysis of a 340 nucleotide region of viral RNA obtained from three patrons who had hepatitis A indicated that all three virus sequences were identical. Preliminary analysis of a case-control study implicated green onions as the source of the outbreak. |journal=[[Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report]] |publisher=[[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] |volume=52 |issue=47 |pages=1155–1157 |pmid=14647018 |author1=Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) }}</ref>

In March 2012, [[Royal Dutch Shell]] announced its intention to study and build a multi-billion-dollar [[ethane]] [[cracking (chemistry)|cracker]] complex near Monaca to produce [[ethylene]] from abundant [[Marcellus Formation|Marcellus shale]] natural gas in the area.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shell picks PA for ethane cracker |url=http://www.statejournal.com/story/17167105/shell-looks-to-pennsylvania-for-ethane-cracker |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808085217/http://www.statejournal.com/story/17167105/shell-looks-to-pennsylvania-for-ethane-cracker |archive-date=August 8, 2016 |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=statejournal}}</ref> It would be the first such unit built in the northeastern U.S. utilizing natural gas obtained from [[hydraulic fracturing]] as feedstock. In June 2016, Shell Chemical Appalachia committed to build the [[Shell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex]] at the former [[Horsehead Corporation]] zinc site near Monaca in [[Potter Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania|Potter Township]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wtae.com/news/shell-commits-to-beaver-county-ethane-cracker-plant/39935906|title = Shell commits to new Beaver County plant that will create thousands of jobs|date = June 7, 2016}}</ref>