Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Leechburg, PA

Leechburg is a borough in southern Armstrong County, set in a deep bend of the Kiskiminetas River about five miles above its junction with the Allegheny River and roughly 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

The borough is named for civil engineer David Leech, who arrived in 1827 to build a dam and lock for the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal and laid out the town the following year.

The first canal boats passed through Leechburg in 1829, and it grew into a vital canal port west of the Allegheny Mountains, moving commerce between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

David Leech personally funded Leechburg's first school in 1829 and paid its teacher himself.

Leechburg was incorporated on March 22, 1850, with David Leech elected as its first burgess, or mayor.

In 1872 a tin plate mill opened at Leechburg using natural gas in an industrial capacity for the first time, and the borough is remembered as the first place where natural gas was used for industrial purposes.

By the early 20th century Leechburg had extensive steel sheet works, foundries, cement plants, and productive coal mines, and the West Leechburg Steel Company, founded in 1897, operated its plant until 2005.

Bridges over the Kiskiminetas River at Leechburg were repeatedly destroyed by the great floods of 1861, 1875, and 1889.

The 2020 census counted 2,149 people in Leechburg, and the 2000 census recorded 1,109 households in the borough.

The Kiskiminetas River at Leechburg is now part of the Kiski-Conemaugh Water Trail, used by paddlers and anglers.