Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Monongahela River 7 miles (11 km) southeast of downtown Pittsburgh.

One hundred years later, much of the existing farmland on the flats and hillsides by the river was purchased, laid out in lots and sold by local banks and land owners to create the town of Homestead.

The building of a railroad, glass factory, and in 1881 the first iron mill began a period of rapid growth and prosperity.

Carnegie had recently acquired a controlling interest in Henry Clay Frick's coke works on the Monongahela, setting the stage for the dramatic labor clash in Homestead.

When Henry Clay Frick, manager for Andrew Carnegie, owner of the local Homestead Steel Works, announced in the spring of 1892 that skilled workers would receive a reduction in wages, the advisory committee of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers refused to sign a new contract.

To break the strike and secure the mill from the disgruntled workers, industrialist Henry Clay Frick hired hundreds of armed toughs from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

When barges carrying the Pinkertons arrived at the mill on the morning of July 6, workers and townspeople met them at the riverbanks.

Though eyewitness accounts differed on which side first fired a shot, a day-long armed battle ensued which resulted in eleven deaths and dozens of injuries.

The governor of Pennsylvania eventually called out the National Guard to restore order to the town and take control of the mill.

The "Battle of Homestead," as the event came to be known, represented a stunning setback for unionization in the highly mechanized steel industry.

During the early 1940s half the population was displaced as the United States government added to the steel mills to have the capacity for armor plating for ships and tanks (preparing for World War II).

[12] Of note is the Bost Building, a restored brick structure that served as headquarters for the strikers during the 1892 strike by workers at Carnegie Steel.

The Great Allegheny Passage, part of a shared-use path connecting Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., runs through the borough parallel to the river.

For public transit, the Port Authority of Allegheny County has several bus routes running through Homestead that go to downtown Pittsburgh and to McKeesport.