Youngstown Map
Youngstown is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Youngstown was incorporated on 2 April 1831. The population was 400 at the 2000 census.
The town was named after Alexander Young, whose first lot was recorded November 25, 1815, in the Recorder's office of Westmoreland County. There was a dispute to the name of the town over if it should be called Martinsburg or Youngstown. The name Youngstown was settled upon after it was found that a town of Martinsburg already existed in the Commonwealth. James Keenan's recorded plan of land on April 3, 1816 recorded the town as Youngstown Borough. As the community grew, and more people settled in the area, the citizens formed a political government. The residents petitioned the legislature in Harrisburg to form Youngstown Borough out of their lands. Governor George Wolf approved act No. 168 of 1830, on April 2, 1831. This act erected Youngstown, in the County of Westmoreland, into a Borough. Act No. 168 laid out the borough lines, and provided for elections of the burgess and other town officials, and stated the duties of the officials. As the town progressed, the residents felt themselves restricted by the Act of 1830 and petitioned Westmoreland County Court of Quarter Sessions to become subject to the Act of April 3, 1851. The Act of 1851 provided for more modern borough government than that permitted by the previous special act of legislature. The residents of the borough and their officers did not act quickly, since the petition to become subject to the Act of 1851 was not approved by Borough Council until July 25, 1905.
The opening of the Pennsylvania Government Land Office in the area in 1769, and the contract of the Pennsylvania Proprietaries with the Indians opened up the Loyalhannah Valley for settlement for pioneers, many of whom were of German and Scotch-Irish descent. Christopher Saxman in 1764, and Frederick Pershing in 1769 were the first recorded settlers in the area of present-day Youngstown. As a community and village grew, it was often called Martinsburg, after Martin West, another nearby land owner. Located along the Forbes road, a military road built under the command of Brigadier General John Forbes in 1758, the town became an important rest stop along the east-west route that eventually stretched from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. In 1794, Federal troops passed through and quartered at the town's Barrett Hotel on the way to quell the Whiskey Insurrection.
Nearby cities include Donegal, Youngwood, Blairsville, Grapeville, New Stanton.