Timeline
Trafford – Time Line compiled by Louis A. Chandler, Ph.D.
1769 - John Cavett one of the first settlers in the area, built his home and gristmill by the Turtle Creek.
1797 – Jane Cavett, eldest daughter of John Cavett, married John Stewart and moved to a newly-built home in Trafford. The Stewarts were to become another prominent family in Trafford. Cavitt Avenue, and Stewart Street in Trafford were named after those pioneering families.
1852 - The Pennsylvania Railroad established Stewart’s Station on the line from Turtle Creek to Greensburg, as part of the railroad’s cross-state route from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.
1868 – The United Presbyterian Congregation established the first church in the community at Stewart Station.
1879 – A store at Stewart Station was designated to become the local office for mail distribution, with J.C. Blackburn appointed as postmaster.
1883 – George Westinghouse, seeing the need to exploit the discovered natural gas wells in Murrysville, helped to charter the Turtle Creek Valley Railroad to supply equipment for the gas fields using the tracks through Stewart’s Station. Ten years later the Turtle Creek Valley Railroad would be taken over by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a branch line
1898 -- The Monongahela-Street Railway, owned by the Mellon Family, was chartered to establish trolley lines from East Pittsburgh to Stewart’s Station.
1902 -- George Westinghouse began buying property the Stewarts Station area for an iron foundry and a surrounding town he envisioned. He would name the town “Trafford” after the town in England where Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing already had a plant.
The Trafford foundry was to manufacture all the grey iron castings transporting them by rail to the East Pittsburgh works, The Westinghouse Inter-Works Railway began operations between the manufacturing facilities at Trafford and East Pittsburgh. Over the years many other aspects of Westinghouse’s operations would be transferred to the Trafford Works. The first modern bridge spanning the Turtle Creek into Trafford is built by the East Pittsburgh Improvement Company.
1903 -- The first telephones were installed in Trafford. Pittsburgh Railway Company, which assumed the operations of Monongahela-Street Railway, began expanding trolley operations in Trafford. The Trafford Inn, conveniently located near the new foundry, was built as a major hotel complete with a dining room, dance floor, reading room, meeting rooms, bowling alley and a billiard room.
1904 -- Trafford City was incorporated as a borough, and the first police office was appointed, The George Brinton homestead became a temporary schoolhouse for the Patton Township Schools
1908 -- The borough charter was amended to read the borough of Trafford instead of the borough of Trafford City.
1911 -- The Pennsylvania Railroad built the North Trafford station to service the town and the factory. The Trafford Fire Company, a group of volunteers was organized and bylaws adopted.
1913 – The first electrical service to the community was provided by the Trafford Light Company.
1920 – Westinghouse began building cottages for its workers on Eighth Street in Trafford.
1921 – Ordinances were passed to stop the pasturing of cows within borough limits.
1924 -- Electric street lights were first installed in Trafford by the Duquesne Light Company. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a sidecar was purchased for the police chief; it remained the main mode of police transportation for many years.
1925-- The first borough building was completed. The volunteer fire company was dissolved and a new company -- Trafford Fire Company Number 1, came into being.
1941 – Local bus service in Trafford began with the formation of the Trafford Motor Coach Service by Joseph F. Schneider and Michael R. Breysnyder.
1944 -- Trafford Motor Coach Lines was formed with service from Trafford to downtown Pittsburgh.
1964 – A new replacement bridge into Trafford is built by Frank Irey, Inc.
1975 – The Trafford Emergency Medical Service Company was established to provide ambulance service to the community.
2013 – A new bridge into Trafford is completed and dedicated as the “Trafford Veterans Bridge.”
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Source: Trafford 75th Anniversary Souvenir Book, 1904-1979. Trafford Anniversary Committee, Trafford, Pa.
