Homer City, Pennsylvania

The two treaties of Fort Stanwix (of 1768 and, after American independence, of 1784) secured the westward expansion of Pennsylvania into the region where the Borough of Homer City is now located, on land inhabited by the six Indian nations. With white settlement these new territories were initially organized as part of existing counties in eastern and central Pennsylvania. White settlers were few in the eighteenth century and encountering Indians still very much a part of daily life. Any degree of stability and safety came only after the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794). Indiana County was carved out of Westmoreland and Lycoming counties in 1803 and divided into three townships: Wheatfield, Armstrong, and Mahoning. The confluence of Two Lick and Yellow creeks (present-day Homer City) was a contender for the seat of government for the new county, but instead the "extraordinary overtures" of George Clymer, a local landowners and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, saw the county seat situated instead in what would become the Borough of Indiana. Center Township - the unincorporated area surrounding present-day Homer City - was created from a portion of Armstrong Township in 1807, its landscape dotted with larger and smaller family homesteads (farms) and an increasing number of mills and trading posts.

Parts of Center Township were settled early on by Scots-Irish Presbyterians as in other parts of Indiana County, but Methodist families of English and Welsh descent came to dominate the Homer City area, and they remained prominent in its civic and commercial life well into the twentieth century. William Wilson laid out the village of Homer in 1854 naming it after the Classical Greek poet. For several years, however, its post office was designated Phillips Mill (or Mills on some maps), a name derived from that of early settler Armour Phillips Sr. When the village became a borough in 1872 - with the consolidation and annexation of neighboring parcels - more and more it was referred to as Homer City.

With a post office and a stop (later station) on the Pennsylvania Railroad line, the Borough of Homer City developed along the lines of many small towns in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It traditionally offered goods and services including merchants, a bank, medical professionals, craftsmen, and schools not only to borough residents, but also to inhabitants of surrounding, rural Center Township. The township's development took a different path. Enduring settlements beyond family homesteads awaited the establishment of villages (company towns) by coal companies in the early twentieth century. More often than not they bore the names of the companies, their owners, families and company executives (e.g., Waterman, Graceton, Luciusboro) as in other parts of Indiana County.

The general prosperity of the post-World War II era saw the greater affluence of Homer City and Center Township residents, better (wider, paved) roads and increased automobile ownership leading to the expansion of residential areas at the edges of Homer City and into the once rural farmland of Center Township - in the form of sub-developments and individually owned homesteads (non-agricultural lots). These trends have continued with newer developments such as Red Maple Drive and Mystic Rock on Route 56 in Center Township and the housing developments outside the village of Lucerne (Mines).[4]

The Homer-Center School District has boundaries coterminous with the Borough of Homer City and surrounding Center Township. This fact, combined with the use of "Homer City" as a mailing address and telephone exchange, has often blurred the boundaries of the Borough and Center Township even though they remain distinct political entities. Residences and businesses beyond the confines of the Borough (and even beyond those of Center Township) can possess "Homer City" mailing addresses and telephone numbers. Examples include the Homer City Generating Station and Non-Lethal Technologies, both of which are referenced in this article.

A novella called The Roving Red Rangers or Laura Lamar of the Susquehanna by Charles Asbury Robinson, was set in the Homer City area. It was published by the author in 1902. It has often been erroneously understood as a work of non-fiction and given rise to mistaken notions about local history, especially when the name "Laura Lamar" derived from a character in this novella was suggested and adopted as the name of the local school district in the 1952.

View of a church on Main Street, 2014

Businesses within the borough that provide goods and services to residents include a bank, a grocery store, a dollar store, restaurants, hair salons, physicians' offices, a distillery and other service-oriented businesses. The community is served by the Borough of Homer City Police and the Homer City Volunteer Fire Department. Among the oldest existing structures in Homer City are its churches including Homer City United Methodist Church, Homer City United Presbyterian Church, Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church, Holy Protection (a.k.a. St. Mary's) Byzantine Catholic Church and Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church.

The Homer City Generating Station, located in Center Township, has the tallest chimney in the United States and the third tallest in the world.

The borough's local radio station is 1160 WCCS "The Voice of Indiana County".

Homer City gained national and international prominence in the early twentieth century as the location of the Prairie State Incubator Company - particularly after its products appeared on display at various exhibitions and trade shows across the country. After its production facilities were twice destroyed by fire, the company built a new state-of-the-art "fire-proof" facility but ceased production shortly thereafter. In 1920 the same building became the new home of industrial toolmaker, the Syntron Company. (Its name derived from an early product known as the SYNchronous elecTRONic hammer). It was, for many years, the single largest employer within the boundaries of the Borough of Homer City. It continued to operate, after a merger, as a division of Chicago-based FMC Corporation until June 2007.[5] Over the last several decades Homer City Generating Station, located in Center Township, has also made national news many times. Non-Lethal Technologies, Inc. has a Homer City address, even though its physical location is near Aultman and Jacksonville. The company manufactures CS Gas that has been used to suppress protests in Bahrain,[6][7] Turkey[8] and Greece.[9] Each CS canister produced by the company shows the address of its manufacturer

• ZIP code: 15748
• Area Code: 724
• Local Phone Exchanges: 479 915

The borough is a part of the Homer-Center School District, with the schools being located just south of the borough line.

• Steve Demeter (born 1935) - professional baseball player for Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians from 1959 to 1960.
• Ralph McConnaughey (1889–1966) - professional baseball player in 1914.
• Patricia (Hilliard) Robertson (1963–2001) - NASA Astronaut class of 1998.
• Dave Reed (born 1978) - Former Pennsylvania State Representative for the 62nd District and Former Majority Leader
• Ben McAdoo - professional football coach - Former Head Coach of the New York Giants

Homer City is located at 40°32′23″N 79°09′33″W.[11] It is situated 6 miles (10 km) from Indiana, 30 miles (48 km) from Greensburg, 25 miles (40 km) from Johnstown, and 50 miles (80 km) from Pittsburgh.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.6 km²), all land.

As of the census[13] of 2000, there were 1,844 people, 805 households, and 511 families residing in the borough. The population density was 3,298.3 inhabitants per square mile (1,273.5/km²). There were 869 housing units at an average density of 1,554.4 per square mile (600.2/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 99.40% White, 0.22% African American, 0.05% Asian, and 0.33% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.33% of the population.

There were 869 households, out of which 26.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.4% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the borough the population was spread out, with 22.1% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 87.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.1 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $30,815, and the median income for a family was $39,375. Males had a median income of $31,607 versus $21,250 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $16,293. About 8.4% of families and 10.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.8% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.

Major ancestry groups reported by Homer City residents would include: 18% German, 17% Italian, 11% Irish, 9% Polish, 7% Slovak, 7% English, 5% Dutch, 3% Scots-Irish, 3% Scotch, 2% Hungarian, 1% Swedish, 1% Ukrainian, 1% French (except Basque), 1% Pennsylvania German, 1% Croatian, 1% Welsh, 1% Russian, 1% Norwegian, 1% Slovene, and 1% Slavic.

Homer City Borough's elected officials consist of a seven-member council and a mayor. The council of Homer City meets the first Tuesday of every month for general business.

Mayor: Arlene Wanatosky

Borough Council members: Matthew Black (President), Elizabeth Brown, Joseph Iezzi Sr., Jennifer Jaworski, Kenneth "Cal" Cecconi, Christine Worcester, and Richard Jones.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Homer City, Pennsylvania.

• Official website