Incorporated: As a township in 1773

Location: South-central Westmoreland County, bordering Fayette County, 40 miles southeast of Downtown Pittsburgh; the township covers 55.9 square miles and is accessed primarily by Routes 819 and 981

Population: 10,850 (estimated June 2008, U.S. Census)

Government: Supervisors (Jack Rutkowski, Duane Hutter, Frank Puskar)

Secretary/treasurer: Caprice Mills

Median price of a home: $84,000 after the second quarter of 2009, down from $92,466 a year earlier

Municipal phone, Web site: 724-423-5653, Web site is under construction

School district: Mount Pleasant Area, 724-547-4100, mtpasd.schoolwires.com

History: Mount Pleasant Borough may be more recognizable than its near namesake -- it does have a downtown business district. But Mount Pleasant Township is 55 times larger and has more than twice as many residents.

This Second Class Township, settled in 1770, is home to the Westmoreland Fairgrounds, Mammoth Park and the village of Kecksburg, site of four decades of media scrutiny. On the evening of Dec. 9, 1965, some local residents said they saw a UFO flash across the sky and land nearby; others denied seeing a flash. The lack of evidence is perceived by "witnesses" as a government cover-up.

Another village, Norvelt, was a product of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies. It was formed in 1934 as one of the country's first "subsistence homesteads," an area where unemployed workers were given land, a home and the equipment they needed to start over. Norvelt was named for First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Mining was once prevalent in the township, whose communities also include Calumet, Hecla, Mammoth, Trauger and United.

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