In June 1902, three men were killed instantly, two were fatally hurt and five others were injured, including one man who later died, following an explosion at the Cambria powder plant's coining mill in Seward.

[3][4] According to news coverage, "The explosion occurred as the men were loading a pot of powder on a wagon driven by" one of the victims, thirty-eight-year-old John Rhoads, who reportedly left a large family.

[5] A second, similar explosion then occurred in Seward at the Conemaugh Powder Works on December 7, 1903, killing worker Alfred Beatty and seriously injuring four other men.

[6] On January 4, 1908, Seward resident Patrick Kerwin, who was reportedly the oldest person alive in Pennsylvania at that time, died at the age of one hundred and eleven.

Seward is entirely surrounded by St. Clair Township The community was impacted by the Johnstown flood of 1977; seven people died as a result of the disaster.