Page "Whitehall, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania" Paragraph 2

In 1946, residents of Baldwin Township's fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh wards began the process of secession.

A petition was filed on October 14, 1946, in the Quarterly Sessions of Allegheny County, with 1320 signatures out of the 1627 freeholders in the proposed borough.

In response to this, Baldwin Township officials called an emergency meeting to file a petition to have Baldwin Township incorporated into a borough, as it is much more difficult to secede from a borough than from a township.

On January 5, 1948, Whitehall separated from Baldwin Township to become an independent municipality.

According to former mayor Edwin F. Brennan, residents of Whitehall wanted better services and zoning than they received under the jurisdiction of the township.