(Published as part of a special business section.)

Tom Castello was among the first to notice the new complexion of his hometown of Scott.

After decades of post-World War II suburban homogeneity, suddenly there were young Indian families praying at the Sts. Simon & Jude Church, tossing around a volleyball at Scott Park and using the new library along Greentree Road. Some immigrants moved to Mr. Castello's immediate neighborhood, tucked behind the Denny's and the Benihana, and sent their kids to the same local high school, the same soccer and baseball teams. They shopped at the new Indian grocers and dined at the new Indian restaurants.

But for the 53-year-old Mr. Castello, the most dramatic evidence of Scott's transformation from sleepy suburb to international outpost is a sprawling apartment complex he passes each morning along Greentree Road. Outside, at a bus stop, dozens and dozens of young Indian workers wait single-file for their ride into the city.

"If I said there were 50 people up there at a time, I'm probably being conservative," said Mr. Castello, president of the Scott commissioners. And "it's grown over time."

Just seven miles southwest of Pittsburgh, little Scott (population 17,288) has quietly and quickly become one of the most international communities in all of southwestern Pennsylvania. The 1,543 foreign-born residents in this hilly suburb now comprise 8.9 percent of the population, a higher percentage than any other town or municipality in the metropolitan area, and the 891 Asian Indians here are by far the dominant group, accounting for 5.2 percent of the town, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Foreign-born residents in the city of Pittsburgh, by comparison, comprise just 5.6 percent of its total population.

Scott's explosion occurred in the last half of the 1990s -- 919 immigrants moved there between 1995 and March of 2000, vs. 113 between 1990-1994 and 27 between 1985 and 1989.

There are several reasons for this sudden influx.

One is the draw of a Greentree Road apartment complex, called Carriage Park, that for decades has served as an unofficial launching point for local Indians, the property nicknamed "Little India" or Indiatown" by people who live there.

Second is the high-tech boom that hit Pittsburgh during the last decade and the rise of an Indian-owned company, iGate, that put its headquarters in Scott, on Greentree Road. Third is the underrated ability of the region's top universities and medical centers to attract doctors, engineers and other well-educated workers not only from India, but also China, South America and elsewhere. As it turns out, the immigrants who do arrive in southwestern Pennsylvania are extremely well educated, with 58 percent having a bachelor's degree or higher -- the highest proportion of any major metro area in the country.

Not that Scott has done anything to encourage this trend. In fact, the town leaders are a little surprised by all this international attention.

"I don't know of anything we have done differently," said Eileen Meyers, vice president of the Scott Township Commissioners.

But the Indians who chose Scott tout its convenience, quick transportation into the city, safety and friendliness. "I felt very welcome," said Murali Mudaliar, 43, who moved to the Carriage Park apartments in 1999 and now lives in Bridgeville. "There were no anxious moments of feeling that I was an outsider." His uncle, Subramaniam Palanisamy, moved to Carriage Park in 1972 and stayed for two years while training to become a heart surgeon.

"We felt very secure and very safe," said Dr. Palanisamy, now 64, retired and living in Allison Park. He and his wife "both felt this was one of the nicest places to live."

Scott's unexpected status as immigrant beachhead does provide hope that metropolitan Pittsburgh can shed its label as one of the least international big cities in America. Its drop from melting pot status began after 1940, when the foreign-born population peaked at more than 12 percent and then continuously fell, hitt a low of 2.4 percent in 1990 before inching up to 2.6 percent by 2000, the first increase in at least 50 years. It rose some more, to 3 percent, by 2004, but that increase was still the lowest among the nation's top 25 metro areas, trailing such places as Denver, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Cincinnati.

The reason Pittsburgh's immigration rate is so alarming to followers of the local economy is what it portends: slow growth. As Pittsburgh's work force grows older and in need of replacement and as the region continues to lose population, economic development experts predict that an area unattractive to immigrants will have a hard time filling positions if the economy grows at even a marginal rate the next 10 to 20 years.

Author Gregg Zachary, who studied Pittsburgh's immigration challenges and last year reported on diversity in American cities, concluded Pittsburgh's pro-immigrant groups "are languishing, if not defeated." Civic leaders "have done little to tackle the widespread sense among foreigners that Pittsburgh is not an attractive destination."

But again, that view does not square with the scene in Scott, especially on the most recent July 4. Amid the crack of kettle corn, sizzle of burgers and light-hearted hum of people enjoying a national holiday, eight Indian men quietly bat around a volleyball in a corner of Scott Park while an Indian woman in a canary-yellow sari gently pushes two children on playground swings. Within her view is a giant American flag, its stripes waving in the breeze.

A few blocks away, young Indian families splash around the pool at the center of the sprawling Carriage Park complex and wave to each other from balconies overlooking the water. A 23-year-old woman and her 53-year-old mother-in-law, wearing pink and orange saris, stroll past the tennis courts where residents gather in the evenings to socialize. The 23-year-old, who declines to give her name, moved to Pittsburgh six months ago with her husband, who works for a local software company. Their last American stop was in Plano, Texas, a "dry place" without many tall buildings or bridges. Here in Pittsburgh, "I feel like in heaven," she said.

After the 9/11 attacks, there were reports of smashed car windows and verbal taunts at Carriage Park, concering some residents. "I think it was very isolated and short lived," said Ms. Meyers, the vice president of the Scott board of commissioners. "I doubt very much they feel threatened here at all."

The worst that Mahesh Nanda experienced were a few taunts from passing cars. But "this could happen anywhere," said the 29-year-old, a software developer for Highmark. Someone tossed a snowball at Sanjeev Singh, 34, who moved to Carriage Park in 2001 and works as materials manager for Latrobe toolmaker Kennametal. But it was "just one incident," he said, questioning if it was even because he's an Indian.

There are still people in Scott who remember the racially-motived shooting spree of Richard Baumhammers in 2000. He stopped in Scott during the rampage to shoot two Indians at a grocery in Scott Towne Center called India Grocers. One, Sandip Patel, survived until this past February. The grocery is still there, but under new ownership and a new name, India Mart. Next door is the Indian restaurant, Taramind Savoring India, owned by Bayer Corp. consultant Prasad Potluiri, who says Indians account for 60 percent of customers.

The town continues to do its best to make its Indian residents comfortable. Consider what happened last winter, when a fire at Carriage Park on Super Bowl Sunday ousted several Indian families, according to the township board president. Scott opened up its community center for the affected families and arranged for bus service to and from the center until more permanent housing could be arranged.

The Indians in Carriage Park are not "treated differently than any other resident," said Mr. Castello, the township president.