Мт. Лебанон, Пенсильвания: История и современность пригорода Питтсбурга

Mt. Lebanon (locally /'//l//ɛ//b//.//ə//.//n//ə//n/) is a Home rule municipality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 34,075 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of Pittsburgh. Established in 1912 as Mount Lebanon, the township was a farming community. With the arrival of the first streetcar lines and the development of the first real estate subdivision, both in 1901, it became a streetcar suburb, offering residents the ability to commute to Downtown Pittsburgh. Furthermore, the opening of the Liberty Tunnel in 1924 allowed easy automobile access to Pittsburgh. In 1975, the renamed Mt. Lebanon adopted one of the first home rule charters in Pennsylvania.

The first European settlers arrived in 1773–1774, having purchased the land from the descendants of William Penn; other pioneers soon bought land from the state government. In 1912, Mount Lebanon Township was incorporated as a "First Class Township" under Pennsylvania state law. It had formerly been a part of Scott Township, which in turn traces its origins to the long defunct St. Clair Township. Mount Lebanon was not named for two Cedar of Lebanon trees that were planted in 1850 on Washington Road near the top of Bower Hill Road, but was named after the area from which they came, Mount Lebanon, due to the similarities between the two landscapes. Prior to the incorporation of the township, the "Mount Lebanon" name was used for the area of Upper St. Clair Township near the cedar trees. In the 1880s, a post office located near the transplanted cedar trees was named "Mount Lebanon". Incorporators of neighboring Dormont Borough initially tried to use the "Mount Lebanon" name in 1909, but were opposed by residents of the future Mount Lebanon Township. In 1928, Mount Lebanon became the first First Class township in Pennsylvania to adopt the council–manager form of government and has had an appointed manager serving as the chief administrative officer since that time. Mount Lebanon was a farming community until the arrival of streetcar lines, the first line to Pittsburgh opening on July 1, 1901 of 2000, there were 33,017 people living in Mt. Lebanon. In 1971, Muhammad Ali attempted to purchase a home in Virginia Manor, but racial discrimination prevented him from doing so. However, some residents have claimed that the rejection was due to the anticipated publicity and crowds which would result from the sale of the property to Ali. On May 21, 1974, the electorate approved a home rule charter, which took effect on January 1, 1975; According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 6.06 square miles (16 km2), all land.

Mt. Lebanon is a highly affluent suburb of Pittsburgh 7 mile (11 km) south of the city's downtown. There are two small borders with Pittsburgh neighborhoods to the northeast (Brookline) and north (Banksville). The remainder of the northeast border is with the borough of Dormont. The entire western border is with Scott Township. To the south are the two towns which, due to their comparable size and affluence, are most often compared with Mt. Lebanon: Upper St. Clair to the southwest and Bethel Park to the southeast. To the east is Castle Shannon, and finally, to the east northeast is Baldwin Township (not to be confused with the Borough of Baldwin).

Uptown Mt. Lebanon is the central business district and has Washington Rd. (U. S. Rt. 19 Truck) as its main thoroughfare. (U. S. Rt. 19 Truck continues into Pittsburgh and back out into the city's northern suburbs and beyond.) Uptown Mt. Lebanon is one of the more built up central business districts outside of Pittsburgh, featuring numerous coffee shops, small galleries, pizzerias, and clothing boutiques. The neighborhood is organized as The Uptown Mt. Lebanon Business and Professional Association. There are sizable business districts along the borders with Upper St. Clair and Castle Shannon, as well.

Neighborhoods within Mt. Lebanon include: Beverly Heights, Cedarhurst Manor, Hoodridge Hilands, Mission Hills, Sunset Hills, Virginia Manor, Twin Hills, and Woodridge. Virginia Manor is an affluent subdivision, with streets designed to follow the natural contours of the land. Future Governor James H. Duff helped found Virginia Manor in 1929.

As of the census). Males had a median income of $56,183 versus $37,008 for females. The per capita income for the township was $33,652. About 2.2% of families and 3.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.9% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.

A large portion of Mt. Lebanon is listed as the Mt. Lebanon Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The district contains 3,341 contributing buildings and 21 contributing sites. Most of the buildings (89%) are residential, though two commercial areas are included. The district is a significant example of the transition from a rural agricultural area to a suburb made possible first by the trolley/streetcar, c. 1901, and later by the automobile in the 1920s and 1930s with the opening of the Liberty Tubes in 1924. The boundaries of the district include those areas that were developed between 1874 and c. 1945. Mt. Lebanon School District's sports teams are a big part of the community. The mascot is currently the Blue Devil, which has occasionally stirred controversy.

The district has seven elementary schools: Foster Elementary School, Hoover Elementary School, Howe Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, Markham Elementary School, and Washington Elementary School. The two middle schools are Jefferson Middle School and Andrew W. Mellon Middle School. There is one high school: Mt. Lebanon High School. The district has won multiple National Blue Ribbon School awards. The high school was rated as one of the Top 500 high schools in the United States by Newsweek in 2000 and 1st in Western Pennsylvania by the Pittsburgh Business Times in 2005. Keystone Oaks High School is physically located in Mt. Lebanon but serving the adjacent communities of Greentree, Dormont and Castle Shannon. Seton La Salle Catholic High School, and the St. Bernard school, both Diocese of Pittsburgh schools, are also in Mt. Lebanon. The Mt. Lebanon Public Library, founded in 1932, is funded almost entirely by the municipality and county. Its home is a $4.2 million building, with shelves for 140,000 books, seats for 165 persons, and more than 50 public computers. When the building opened in 1997, it won an architectural design award and was featured in the architectural issue of Library Journal.