Westmoreland County is the second largest county in Pennsylvania. Eighty percent of the landscape is forest and farmland spread over rolling hills. Interestingly, Westmoreland County is located within 500 miles of 70% of the country’s total population.
The county was formed by an Act of Assembly on February 26, 1773. The Act also designated that the courts should be held at the house of Robert Hanna, in Hannastown, until a courthouse could be built. The town was burned by Indians on July 13, 1782, but the temporary courthouse was not destroyed. In 1787, despite Hanna’s good fortune, the county seat was moved to Greensburg.
The county is home to nationally recognized companies such as Kennametal and Siemens. When Volkswagen took over an unfinished Chrysler plant in 1978, it became the first foreign auto company to build cars in the US since Rolls-Royce manufactured cars here from 1921 to 1931. At its peak in 1981, and before the doors were shuttered in 1987, the Westmoreland assembly produced 200,000 cars.
Perhaps the most famous resident of Westmoreland County is the Mellon family, of Mellon Bank fame. Their country home, the Rolling Rock Club, evolved from a riding and fishing retreat into an establishment that at one time boasted trout streams, duck ponds, game birds, shooting ranges and a pack of English fox hounds. The Rolling Rock horse races were run as a charity event from 1934 through 1986.
The Latrobe Brewing Company named its signature beer ‘Rolling Rock.’ The number ‘33’ appears on every bottle of Rolling Rock produced, a practoce maintained even after production moved to New Jersey in 2006. For decades, fans of the beer have speculated about the meaning of the number. It is now generally agreed that the “33” signifies the 33 words in the beer’s original pledge of quality, which is still printed on every bottle:
‘Rolling Rock – From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you.’