McKees Rocks, PA

McKees Rocks lies on the south bank of the Ohio River where Chartiers Creek meets the valley, a few miles west of downtown Pittsburgh. The 2020 census counted 5,920 residents. The borough grew quickly around railroads, iron, steel, and large machine shops, and the riverfront still carries that industrial geography. Its oldest layer reaches much farther back: the McKees Rocks Indian Mound on the bluff above Chartiers Creek was built by Indigenous peoples thousands of years ago and was excavated by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 1896. Today's map is a set of distinct neighborhoods rather than one uniform grid.

West Park and Meyers Ridge sit above the river flats, while the Bottoms occupies the low ground near the Ohio and Chartiers Creek. The McKees Rocks Bridge connects the borough to Neville Island and the north side of the river, and the Ohio River bike trail follows the working waterfront. Rail access, riverfront industrial redevelopment, and the Chartiers Avenue business corridor keep the borough tied to Pittsburgh's regional economy. McKees Rocks is an old river-and-rail town with a very close-in Pittsburgh address.