Editing New Castle, Pennsylvania (section)

===19th century===
In 1825, New Castle became a [[borough (Pennsylvania)|borough]], having a population of about 300. The city later became a part of [[Mercer County, Pennsylvania|Mercer County]]. On April 5, 1849, the governor of Pennsylvania signed an act creating Lawrence County, named in honor of U.S. Navy Captain [[James Lawrence]]. New Castle became a city in 1869 and was headed by its first mayor, Thomas B. Morgan. At that time, the population had increased to about 6,000.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

In 1849, a group of [[Amish|Old Order Amish]] families from [[Mifflin County, Pennsylvania]], settled just north of New Castle in [[New Wilmington, Pennsylvania|New Wilmington]]. Later migrations from [[Holmes County, Ohio]], would make this Amish community one of the largest in Pennsylvania. Approximately 2,000 Amish live and work presently in the townships north of New Castle.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

Business in New Castle began to flourish in the early 19th century with the construction of the [[Beaver and Erie Canal]] system, which made its way through the city. Numerous manufacturing plants became located in New Castle because of the availability of transportation facilities and ready access to raw material markets. The canal system was later supplemented and then replaced by railroads which offered greater speed and capacity for freight, as well as year-round service.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

In the 1870s, the city became a major hub of the [[Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad]]. New Castle's population swelled from 11,600 in 1890 to 28,339 in 1900, and to 38,280 in 1910, as immigrants, particularly from [[Italy]], flocked to the city to work in the mills and nearby [[limestone]] quarries.<ref name="WAT">Watkins, John, ''The Big Stunts of Great Detectives: The Scrapbook'', Vol. 4, No. 6, New York: Frank A. Munsey (December 1907), p. 1098.</ref> Italian laborers of the era were frequent victims of the [[Black Hand (extortion)|Black Hand]] society, which employed blackmail and extortion to rob the workers of their pay. In 1907 the headquarters of the Black Hand for the entire region was discovered in the village of [[Hillsville, Pennsylvania|Hillsville]] a few miles west of New Castle.<ref name="WAT"/> By this time New Castle was one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, and with the construction of the largest [[tin plate]] mill in America, the city became the tin plate capital of the world. The tin plate industry marked a new increase in the city's prosperity.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage=[[File:Stairs at the Lawrence County Courthouse.jpg|210px]] | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E7aKK_QmR8 Portrait of an American City: 200 Years of New Castle History], Lawrence County Historical Society (2:56)
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