Thornburg, PA

Thornburg is an Allegheny County borough that started as a planned neighborhood rather than an old crossroads. Cousins Frank and David Thornburg formed a company in 1899 to develop 250 acres, and the borough incorporated from Robinson Township in 1909. A local school served the community until 1971, when Thornburg joined the Montour School District. The green space at the foot of town began as a golf course laid out in 1898, later became borough-owned parkland, and still gives the compact place a clear center. Thornburg is Pittsburgh-area suburbia in miniature: planned, municipal, and shaped by a small piece of Allegheny County history.