Editing Unity Township, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
Unity Township was incorporated on September 23, 1789. Initial records show settlement going back to 1760. Residents of [[Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania|Mount Pleasant Township]] petitioned the court to establish a new township around the area next to the [[Loyalhanna creek]], based on the inconveniently large size of the existing township, which made it necessary to travel long distances to conduct township affairs. One of the oldest communities in the township was [[Youngstown, Pennsylvania|Youngstown]], an important stop in the wagon and [[stagecoach]] era, ca. 1818–1852, which became a separate [[borough (Pennsylvania)|borough]] in 1831.<ref>[http://www.pa-roots.com/~westmoreland/historyproject/vol1/chap41.html History of Westmoreland County Volume 1, Chapter 41]</ref>

The township is home to Unity Cemetery, which was established in 1774.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bell |first1=Joseph |title=Unity Cemetery, Chapel mark monumental anniversaries |url=https://www.latrobebulletinnews.com/news/local/unity-cemetery-chapel-mark-monumental-anniversaries/article_5fd509b0-08cf-5a75-954d-d23174b1e71a.html |website=Latrobe Bulletin News}}</ref> Some 15,000 people are believed to buried in the cemetery,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Himler |first1=Jeff |title=Yearlong Celebrations: Latrobe Presbyterians mark 250th anniversary of Unity Cemetery |publisher=Tribune Review, Pittsburgh PA |date=March 3, 2024}}</ref> including Colonel John Proctor,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Burke |first1=Mike |title=Don't Tread on Me: The Flag of Colonel John Proctor's 1st Battalion of Westmoreland County, Pa. |url=https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/blog/fort-pitt-museum/dont-tread-on-me |website=Heinz History Center |date=June 14, 2018 |access-date=February 13, 2022}}</ref> 31 other Revolutionary War veterans, U.S. Congressman [[William Findley]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wertz |first1=Marjorie |title=Unity Cemetery a lesson in military history |url=https://archive.triblive.com/news/unity-cemetery-a-lesson-in-military-history/ |website=TribLive |publisher=Tribune-Review |access-date=February 13, 2022}}</ref> and television host [[Fred Rogers]].

In 1847 the [[Sisters of Mercy]], an Irish Catholic order, established St. Xavier's Academy for Girls in Unity.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zufelt |first1=Jerry |title=History of the Diocese |url=https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=695444&article_id=3921744&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5 |website=The Catholic Accent |access-date=February 13, 2022}}</ref> In time, it expanded to include a convent. The buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1972, but the sisters' cemetery on the former school grounds in Unity remains.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Scott |first1=Rebekah |title=Sisters of Mercy continue to serve Pittsburghers in need |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/life/lifestyle/2004/12/05/Sisters-of-Mercy-continue-to-serve-Pittsburghers-in-need/stories/200412050172 |publisher=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=February 13, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=St. Xavier Academy relocated |url=https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=TPC19720324-01.1.3 |website=Catholic News Archive |access-date=February 13, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=St. Xavier's historical marker |url=https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-373 |website=Explore PA History}}</ref>

For a time the coal industry "dwarfed all others" in the township, according to historian John Boucher, writing in 1906.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boucher |first1=John Newton |title=The History of Westmoreland County |date=1906 |page=554 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quEKAAAAYAAJ |access-date=February 13, 2022}}</ref> Mines which once operated in Unity Township included those named Carney, Humphries, Dorothy, [[Marguerite, Pennsylvania|Marguerite]], Mutual, Puritan (in [[Baggaley, Pennsylvania|Baggaley]]), [[Whitney, Pennsylvania|Whitney]], Jamison No. 20 (in [[Pleasant Unity, Pennsylvania|Pleasant Unity]]), [[Hostetter, Pennsylvania|Hostetter]], Beatty and [https://www.academia.edu/41551933/ST_VINCENT_S_Saint_Vincent_s_Shaft_Mine_St_Vincent_Shaft_Mine_Village_of_St_Vincent_Shaft_Unity_Township_Westmoreland_Co_Pennsylvania_U_S_A St. Vincent's Shaft]. Many of them were constructed in the period 1880 to 1900. All have long since closed. Extensive land remediation has taken place and few traces of the mines remain, but their names survive in township neighborhoods and streets.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Muller, Edward and Carlisle, Ronald |title=Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites |date=1994 |publisher=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior |pages=53–124 |url=https://gis.penndot.gov/CRGISAttachments/Survey/1994-H001-129.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Monastery Run Improvement Project History |url=http://www.wpnr.org/monastery-run.html |website=Winnie Palmer Nature Preserve |access-date=March 1, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Federoff |first1=Stacey |title=Treatment ponds for mine drainage planned for Unity |url=https://archive.triblive.com/local/westmoreland/treatment-ponds-for-mine-drainage-planned-for-unity/ |website=TribLive |publisher=Tribune-Review |access-date=February 17, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Himler |first1=Jeff |title=Ligonier coal company honored for mining reclamation |url=https://archive.triblive.com/news/ligonier-coal-company-honored-for-mining-reclamation/ |website=TribLive |publisher=Tribune-Review |access-date=February 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WPCAMR means hope for Western Pennsylvania's Streams |url=http://www.wpcamr.org/ |website=Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation |access-date=February 13, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Washlaski |first1=Raymond A. |title=Saint Vincent's Shaft Mine |url=https://www.academia.edu/41551933/ST_VINCENT_S_Saint_Vincent_s_Shaft_Mine_St_Vincent_Shaft_Mine_Village_of_St_Vincent_Shaft_Unity_Township_Westmoreland_Co_Pennsylvania_U_S_A |website=Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Pennsylvania |publisher=academia.edu |access-date=March 3, 2024}}</ref>

[[Carr's Tunnel]], an abandoned railroad tunnel, is located in Unity Township. Locally known as Witches' Tunnel, it is on a now-dismantled spur of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] which serviced coal mines in the area, including the Carney mine.<ref>{{cite web |title=Carr's Tunnel and Carney Mine |url=http://coalandcoke.blogspot.com/2017/11/carrs-tunnel-and-carney-mine.html |website=Old Industry of Southwestern Pennsylvania |access-date=March 3, 2024}}</ref>

The [[Kingston House (Pennsylvania)|Kingston House]] and [[St. Vincent Archabbey Gristmill]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>