Бетел-Парк: История, География и Подземные Сокровища.

The area that is now Bethel Park was originally settled around 1800 and was established as Bethel Township in 1886. It was named after Bethel Presbyterian Church, which in turn was named after the ancient Israelite sanctuary of Bethel. Bethel Park was incorporated as a borough on March 17, 1949, and became a home rule municipality in 1978. The first armored car robbery in the U. S. occurred in Bethel Park on March 11, 1927, when a Brinks truck, heading towards the Coverdale Mine about a mile away was attacked. Paul Jaworski and Flatheads gang destroyed the road with dynamite to steal a mining payroll.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 11.7 square miles (30 km2), all land. Its average elevation is 1197 feet (365 m) above sea level. Bethel Park lies at the margin between the Pittsburgh Low Plateau and Waynesburg Hills Sections of the Allegheny Plateau physiographic province. The area is characterized as a maturely dissected region where the ephemeral minor tributaries converge into the tributaries of principal streams. The highest point in Bethel Park is Rocky Ridge, in the southwestern portion of the borough, 1370 feet (418 m), and the lowest point is at the intersection of the Piney Fork and Alsip Run creeks, 980 feet (299 m), in the southeast corner.

Bethel Park has seven borders, including Castle Shannon to the north, Whitehall to the north northeast, Baldwin to the northeast, South Park to the east and southeast, Peters Township in Washington County to the south, Upper St. Clair to the west, and Mt. Lebanon to the north northwest.

The exposed rocks in Bethel Park are mostly composed of sandstone, limestone, shale, and a few coal layers (Redstone, Waynesburg, Washington, etc.). The ages of the exposed rocks bracket the late Pennsylvanian epoch (Gzhelian age; approximately 303 million years ago) near the lowest elevations, and Early Permian period (Asselian age; approximately 297 million years ago) near the highest parts of the southern part of Bethel Park (e. g. Rocky Ridge). These sedimentary rocks were deposited as the sea level rose and fell along an ancient coastline (with the region alternating between delta, shallow lake, and shallow sea), and finally being uplifted with the formation of the Appalachian Mountains. Bethel Park is underlain by the Pennsylvania age Monongahela Formation. The Monongahela Formation consists of the Uniontown member and the underlying Pittsburgh member, and the base is the Pittsburgh coal seam. Much of southern Allegheny County is undermined, and the PADEP indicates that all of Bethel Park was undermined. A portion of the area is underlain by the Pittsburgh Terminal No. 8 Mine (Cortis and others, 1975), which was commonly known as the "H" Mine and the Coverdale Mine. The mine opened around 1920. The historic operations of the Coverdale Mine are apparent on a Bridgeville 7.5 minute topographic map. A "Mine Dump" is shown adjacent to the Montour Railroad tracks and South Park Road. Coal was mined through vertical shafts accessing inclined slopes following the dip of the Pittsburgh coal seam. Mine voids in the inclined slope resulted from the practice of room and pillar mining during the early 20th century. The Coverdale Mine is closed and largely unflooded.

At the 2020 census there were 33,556 people, 13,362 households, and 9,540 families living in the Municipality. The population density was There were 13,871 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the borough was 97.10% White, 1.02% African American, 0.03% Native American, 1.11% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.13% from other races, and 0.58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.49%. Park and ride lots at South Hills Village, West Library, Lytle, and Washington Junction provide local commuters with an easy trip to Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania Route 88 and U. S. Route 19 run through Bethel Park, with much of the area's busy commercial developments along the two corridors. The Yellow and Orange Belts of the Allegheny County belt system serve the borough, with the Orange Belt terminating in the southeast corner near the border with South Park. Interstate 79 and the Mon Fayette Expressway do not enter Bethel Park but are both within a 15 minute drive from the borough. The cancelled South Hills Expressway was planned to be constructed along the Route 88 corridor. In addition to light rail service, Port Authority's 36 Banksville and Mid Mon Valley Transit Authority's Commuter A routes provide bus service through the commercial areas of the borough.