Vandergrift is a borough in Westmoreland County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, approximately 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Pittsburgh.

[4] In the 1890s the Apollo Iron and Steel Company was in a dramatic round of industrial restructuring and labor tension, ending a bitterly contested labor dispute at its Apollo, Pennsylvania, steelworks by hiring replacement workers from the surrounding countryside.

To avoid future unrest, the company sought tighter control over its workers, not only at the factory, but also in their homes.

Drawing upon a philosophy of reform movements in Europe and the United States, the company's leader, George McMurtry, adopted what was later known as welfare capitalism, with the company going beyond paychecks to provide for the social needs of the workers, and providing a benign physical environment and good housing, to make for happier and more productive workers.

Wanting a loyal workforce, McMurtry developed a town agenda that drew upon environmentalism as well as popular attitudes toward capital's treatment of labor.

In 1895, Apollo Iron and Steel built a new, integrated, non-unionized steelworks and hired the nation's preeminent landscape architectural firm, Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot, to design the model industrial town, to be named Vandergrift (for Capt.

The Olmsted firm translated this agenda into an urban design that included a novel combination of social reform, comprehensive infrastructure planning, and private homeownership principles.

In 1901 he used Vandergrift's worker-residents to break the first major strike against the United States Steel Corporation.

[11] May June July August September October November 64.19% of Vandergrift residents are affiliated with a religious congregation.

The formal announcement and dedication of the Cardinal Maida Academy took place with a special Mass November 27, 2005, at St. Gertrude Parish, and Cardinal Adam J. Maida, whose episcopal motto is “To Make All Things New,” returned to his roots in the Diocese of Greensburg to help a small Catholic school celebrate a new beginning.

Vandergrift is served locally in part by radio station WJFA, licensed to Apollo, Pennsylvania.

Vandergrift lies within the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area and is served by KDKA-TV (CBS), WTAE-TV (ABC), WPGH-TV (FOX), and WPXI (NBC).

The Westmoreland County Transit Authority provides service to Vandergrift directly via the Route 15 bus.

Visit the WCTA website[permanent dead link‍] for details on schedules, fares, and service alerts.