Arnold

History

Present-day Westmoreland County was part of the hunting reserves of the Iroquois Haudenosaunee. European colonists began to penetrate the area in the 1750s, and circa 1781 Robert McCrea purchased the land on which Arnold is situated. William Jack acquired the property and later passed it on to Wilson Jack. The area around Arnold was first settled in 1852 by Major Andrew Arnold, who grew up in nearby Kittanning. With the creation of Westmoreland County in 1773, the area that became Arnold was originally part of Burrell, and later Lower Burrell, townships. Arnold was then part of the newly created city of New Kensington from 1891 until it was separately incorporated as a borough in January 1896, and as a third-class city in 1939. Arnold is governed under Pennsylvania's third-class city code, with a mayor, treasurer, controller, and four council members elected at-large. Past mayors of Arnold have been M. Frank Horne (1939-1960), Alfred Colaianni (1960-1963), Willie DeMao (1963-2004), John Campbell (2004–2012), and Larry Milito (2012-2016). Karen Peconi-Biriccochi, a Democrat, took office in 2016. In 2018, during protests over the shooting of an unarmed African American teen by a white police officer in East Pittsburgh, Peconi authored a social media post that urged law enforcement to "bring the hoses" against the protesters. Calls for her resignation resulted in city council formally requesting the state legislature to remove her from office. On May 21, 2019 Peconi-Biriccochi was defeated by Councilman Joseph Bia II in the Democratic primary, effectively ending her bid for re-election in the heavily Democratic city. Bia was subsequently elected to a full term as mayor in November 2019 and took office in 2020. Bia was defeated in the 2023 primary by former police chief…

Geography

Arnold is located on the eastern shore of the Allegheny River, northeast of Pittsburgh. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (6.41%) is water. Arnold's only land border is with New Kensington to the north, east and south. Across the Allegheny River, Arnold runs adjacent with East Deer Township in Allegheny County

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Kiski Area HS
  High · Vandergrift · 1,126 students · 21.7:1 ratio
• Valley JSHS
  High · New Kensington · 869 students · 15:1 ratio
• Roy A. Hunt El Sch
  Elementary · Arnold · 607 students · 12.4:1 ratio
• Burrell HS
  High · Lower Burrell · 579 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Kiski Area IHS
  Middle · Vandergrift · 543 students · 19.4:1 ratio
• Bon Air El Sch
  Elementary · Lower Burrell · 497 students · 16:1 ratio
• Kiski Area North Primary Sch
  Elementary · Leechburg · 493 students · 15.9:1 ratio
• Kiski Area Upper El Sch
  Middle · Apollo · 493 students · 14.1:1 ratio