Incorporated in 1883, Glen Osborne Borough had a population of 590 in 2020 and occupies 0.6 of a square mile, bordering Sewickley, Aleppo, Haysville and the Ohio River.
Bouquet’s 1500-man expedition in 1764 to complete the subjugation of the Ohio tribes after their defeat at the Battle of Bushy Run, camped in what became Glen Osborne on its second night out of Pittsburgh. Originally part of Aleppo in Breading’s survey district of the Depreciation Lands, most of the area was purchased in 1876 by Henry Pratt.
While early settlers were flatboat and keelboat men, by 1820 there were steamboat captains and pilots, and after the railroad came through in 1851, some railroad barons. Because the first public railroad station was built near his home, the borough was named for Franklin Osburn. The name was later changed to Osborne to distinguish it from another station on the railroad line, and when the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne and Chicago became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the station was called Glen Osborne. The borough name reverted to “Glen Osborne” in 2008.
Glen Osborne is home to Quaker Valley’s Osborne Elementary School and to Mary Roberts Rinehart Park, named for the famous mystery novelist. Rinehart lived in the house built in 1863 for George Washington Cass, president of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad. Originally called Cassella, Rinehart renamed it The Bluff. The house was razed in 1969.
Glen Osborne Reflections, 1883-1983, edited by Sue Maloney, Osborne Borough Centennial
Committee, 1984. (available for reference in the SVHS Collection)
Pictures: Cassella
Park Inn
Panorama of Glen Osborne
This panorama, taken in four frames and expertly joined, was taken from above the McIntosh Homestead, high above Beaver Road at Glen Mitchell in Glen Osborne. The house, facing the Ohio River, commanded a spectacular view of more than 5 miles of the Valley. As seen here, Sewickley is nestled in the background on the right, with the steeples of the Methodist and Catholic churches plainly visible. The mills on the extremity of Coraopolis are in the middle background, and the town of Coraopolis is on the left, through the trees. Heavily wooded now in 1976, the carefully pruned orchard of yesteryear is long gone, and the view is limited. Kenneth McIntosh, a lawyer, was instrumental in forming the borough and was the first Burgess of Glen Osborne. He married Frederica Fleming in 1878. He died in May of 1883 at the age of 36. His young son, Frederick Fleming McIntosh, grew up to become an engineer whose job took him to many parts of the world, but his home was always here. The original house was added to in the rear at various times. At 2:00 a.m. on June 30, 1976, the historic Homestead was completely destroyed by fire. Dedicated firemen were hampered by difficult access up the steep dirt road and by the lack of an adequate water supply to the isolated area. A log barn on the premises burned down in March of 1923. Ironically, the McIntosh place was called "BURNBRAE." Courtesy of Mrs. Frank McCready
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