Norvelt
Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Originally called "Westmoreland Homesteads," Norvelt was established April 13, 1934, by the federal government as part of a New Deal homestead project. With 250 homes, Norvelt provided housing, work, and a community environment to unemployed workers and their families during the Great Depression. It was renamed "Norvelt" in 1937 in honor of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her interest in the project.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the depths of the Great Depression, the federal government carved a planned community out of the Westmoreland County countryside, laying out 250 homes in April 1934 for unemployed workers and their families. Originally "Westmoreland Homesteads," this New Deal experiment offered not just housing but work and a fresh sense of community when the industrial economy had collapsed. In 1937 residents renamed it "Norvelt" — stitching together the last syllables of Eleanor Roosevelt's name in gratitude for the First Lady's personal interest in the project.
Why it matters
Norvelt stands as a living monument to the New Deal's most ambitious idea — that government could rebuild not just paychecks but whole communities — and to Eleanor Roosevelt's hands-on role in that vision.
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Related people
- · Eleanor Roosevelt
Related events
- · New Deal Subsistence Homestead Program
Themes & tags
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