In 1805, Indiana Township became the fourth township formed in Allegheny County. The earliest settlers, Jacob Huddle (Hodil) and Henry Strohm, arrived from Germany in 1798. The township was mainly rural when it was first settled, but as time progressed, the inevitable coal culture began. Coal mining was ideal for three main reasons: the rich coal deposits found within the landscape, the vast array of rail systems, and proximity to the Allegheny River. Important areas in the community include the Singing Winds site of the Council of the Three Rivers American Indian Center, the Mary Flinn Lawrence Estate (commonly referred to as Hartwood Acres), the Harmarville Rehabilitation Center, Consulate Healthcare, and Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve (currently in Fox Chapel Borough but formerly in Indiana Township), which is currently home to the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. The famous stage actress Faye Templeton made Indiana Township her home for a time at Wunnahunny Farm, now called Humess Farm.

The contemporary method of township government arrived in Illinois in the middle of the nineteenth century. Replacing the commission method of county government, which Illinois had employed since statehood in 1818, the township innovation spread south and westward across Illinois, almost completely ousting the county commissioners. Today, the commission format survives only in seventeen peripheral and largely rural Illinois counties. This book asserts that townships have persisted partly because they offer vital services at a reasonable cost to taxpayers, but also because of a vigorous defense of the method made by township officials with political connections in the Illinois general assembly. Discussing the successes and failures of attempts by abolition-minded citizens to eliminate all or individual townships in various counties, Township focuses on the spatial diffusion, periodic threats to, and determined persistence of the township system.

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