Bethel Park

Bethel Park is a borough in Allegheny County and part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan area. It is southwest of the city. The area was first settled around 1800 and named Bethel Township in 1886. It wasn’t incorporated into a borough until 1949 and became a municipality in the late ’70s. The name “Bethel Park” came from a meeting house, or a place where religious or public meetings take place.

Show your friends how much you know… Bethel Park was the scene of the first armored car robbery in the U.S. On March 11, 1927 a Brinks truck, heading towards the Coverdale Mine about a mile away was attacked. Paul Jaworski and his “Flatheads” gang destroyed the road with dynamite to steal a mining payroll!

A portion of the underlying area in Bethel Park contains the coal mine known as the Coverdale Mine, opened in 1920.  This mine is now closed, but was pivotal in producing coal throughout the early 20th Century.

Bethel Park is also the site of cultural icon and pop artist Andy Warhol’s grave, in St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery. The site has a 24 hour web cam!

The 2010 census named 32,315 people in over 13,000 households.