[4] The commercial center of a fertile agricultural region, New Castle is included in the northwestern fringes of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.

[5] In 1798, John Carlysle Stewart, a civil engineer, traveled to western Pennsylvania to resurvey the "donation lands", which had been reserved for veterans of the Revolutionary War.

He discovered that the original survey had neglected to stake out approximately 50 acres (20 ha) at the confluence of the Shenango River and Neshannock Creek, at that time a part of Allegheny County.

[citation needed] In 1849, a group of Old Order Amish families from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, settled just north of New Castle in New Wilmington.

[citation needed] Business in New Castle began to flourish in the early 19th century with the construction of the Beaver and Erie Canal system, which made its way through the city.

Numerous manufacturing plants became located in New Castle because of the availability of transportation facilities and ready access to raw material markets.

The canal system was later supplemented and then replaced by railroads which offered greater speed and capacity for freight, as well as year-round service.

New Castle's population swelled from 11,600 in 1890 to 28,339 in 1900, and to 38,280 in 1910, as immigrants, particularly from Italy, flocked to the city to work in the mills and nearby limestone quarries.

[7] Italian laborers of the era were frequent victims of the Black Hand society, which employed blackmail and extortion to rob the workers of their pay.

In 1907 the headquarters of the Black Hand for the entire region was discovered in the village of Hillsville a few miles west of New Castle.

Steel and paper mills, foundries, a bronze bushing factory, and car-construction plants contributed to the region's economy.

The landscape of the city was transformed with the building of many beautiful structures, some of which still stand, such as the Scottish Rite Cathedral, St. Mary's Church, and the Castleton Hotel.

Its chili dogs are the product of Greek immigrants who came to New Castle in the early 20th century and established restaurants along with their homes.

Fazzoni came to New Castle from Italy in 1886 and worked in the tin mills to earn enough money to start his own business.

Of the people who worked with the Fazzoni family, many founded their own businesses, such as Paul Rozzi, Jacob Conti, Constantino Vitale, and Joseph Zambelli.

During this time, the federal government established the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

Many of the stone walls built by the WPA and the CCC still stand as a reminder of the historic demise of the economy.

[9] New Castle is located in the center of Lawrence County at 40°58′50″N 80°20′40″W / 40.98056°N 80.34444°W / 40.98056; -80.34444 (40.997325, −80.344556),[10] along the Shenango River at the mouth of Neshannock Creek.

InfoCision, a telemarketing services company, restored the former New Castle Dry Goods Co. building, into which it relocated its offices from their former location inside Cascade Galleria.

FirstMerit also had its regional headquarters in New Castle prior to their acquisition by Huntington, and that building is expected to be town down in 2020.

The Cascade Center currently features two restaurants and a local stage theater, and plans are in progress to turn the complex into New Castle's version of Station Square in Pittsburgh.

Large numbers of Lebanese and Syrian immigrants were attracted by the city's prosperity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Their culture is especially visible in the local cuisine, which makes popular use of items such as stuffed grape leaves, lamb on the rod, kibbe, and garlic sauce.

The district consists of 91 blocks between Falls Street near downtown New Castle to Fairmont Avenue near Neshannock Township.

[25] These include cities in Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia (country), Germany, Indiana, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Montenegro, Slovakia, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

[28] New Castle Christian Academy on Albert Street between Sumner Avenue and Clen-Moore Boulevard serves students from Pre-K to 9th grade.

New Castle is primarily served by five post-secondary education facilities: the New Castle Beauty School for cosmetology students in downtown, the New Castle School of Trades for technical trades in Pulaski Township, the Jameson School of Nursing (owned and operated by UPMC Jameson) within the city, and the Lawrence County branch of Butler County Community College, which opened in 2008 in Union Township and serves as a primary community college to Lawrence County.

Despite being considerably closer to Youngstown, New Castle is part of the Pittsburgh designated market area by Nielsen Media Research.

WEPA-CD, a low-power television station (channel 16, virtual 59) licensed to serve, which held the call sign WBGN-LP, WBGN-LD, or WBGN-CD from 1998 to 2014.

NCRadio450 operates as an internet radio station from NCTV45.com, focused on playing music highlighting the original songs of local/regional bands.