Birth of a City.

In 1798 a man by the name of John Carlysle Stewart began to survey an area of land near the Shenango River. This was an area of land donated to veterans of the Revolutionary War by the United States Government.  After a little research he determined that no one had staked a claim for a small chunk of land in between two other properties. He would take the 50 acres of land for himself and establish Newcastle, naming it in honor of Newcastle, England. The spelling would be change years later. The newly formed city was originally part of Alleghany County. It would later be assimilated into Mercer County. Its final resting place was in the newly created Lawrence County in 1849. It would officially become a city twenty years later with 6000 people.

By the 1830’s the western Pennsylvanian canal system was introduced. This would give a jump start to the city and the growing number of jobs would lead to an incredible increase in population. Numerous mills were established during this time due to the overabundance of raw materials. Things like coal and the basic materials for steel were in abundance here, this lead to an explosion of new buildings and communities being built around the city. This would later be turned in areas like Shenango and Union. While these are now there town townships this land was originally part of New Castle. Living was as nice as can be in a town filled with the remnants of pollution from the mills. This was an acceptable cost because jobs were in abundance, and the economy around this area was good.