About

A Brief History of Thornburg

The Borough of Thornburg is located in southwestern Pennsylvania in Allegheny County as part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. According to the 2020 Census data, Thornburg is home to 466 residents living in 182 households. Thornburg is in the Montour School District. Surrounding communities include Crafton, Ingram, Rosslyn Farms, and Robinson Township.

Borough history began in 1899 when cousins Frank and David Thornburg started a real estate venture to develop the family farmland. It was advertised as a beautiful suburb, next to nature, and near to the city of Pittsburgh. Houses were to be constructed of brick or stone for at least the first story and cost no less than $2,500. Thornburg experienced significant growth in its first decade with many unique homes, train and trolley service from downtown Pittsburgh, macadam streets, a small school for grades 1–8, and a Country Club with golf links, tennis courts, and trap shooting. In 1909 it was incorporated as a borough, and has maintained its own governing Council, budget, ordinances, zoning, and maintenance, with police and fire protection provided by neighboring Crafton Borough.

The beautiful green space with walking trails at the foot of town is the Thornburg Conservation Park, with its history beginning in 2005 with the acquisition of a portion of the Crafton Golf Course, which was the former Thornburg Country Club. At the other end of town and across the road from upper Thornburg is the Chartiers Country Club and golf course, chartered in 1924 by many early Thornburg residents, and it shares in the Borough’s history as the place for holiday dinner dances for many decades.

From the beginning, Thornburg has had a wide range of architectural home designs. Lower Thornburg became a historic district in 1982 with Craftsman and other styles of homes built in the early 1900s. Upper Thornburg was known as Thornburg Manor, with many midcentury modern homes built in the 1950s and 1960s after Harvard Road was extended. Kenyon Road, in the middle of the Borough, has larger contemporary homes built in the 1990s.

Thornburg has always been a friendly and family-oriented town that actively promotes neighborhood activities. The Thornburg School operated from 1910 until 1971 and is now the Community Center for the Borough and home of the Crafton Children’s Corner offering child-care programs. The Thornburg Community Club began in 1930 and remains busy year-round with activities for children and adults, and holiday, social, and civic events. The Thornburg Village Players were formed in 1938 and keep community theater alive with comedic, dramatic, and musical productions staged by residents in the Community Center. As testimony to the lure of Thornburg, throughout our history many residents lived in multiple homes or were raised here, then departed and returned.

More Thornburg History

The 1966 book Here’s to Thornburg written by Alice Crist Christner is in the libraries in Thornburg, Crafton, and Carnegie, with reprints available through the Thornburg Community Club.

Archive binders that cover 1900 – current year are in the Thornburg Library.

Click the link below for the companion Thornburg History website with more information, photographs, and videos about the Thornburg family, historic district, house histories, Community Club, Village Players, things not here anymore, and other interesting topics.

Thornburg Demographic Profile