Sue Barkley, of the Slippery Rock Heritage Association, said the association and Slippery Rock in Bloom partnered in 2016 to place historical placards on some of the older buildings in the borough.

Slippery Rock is the county's largest borough north of Butler, home of a venerated university, and arguably the most comically named town in the tri-state area.

Sue Barkley of the Slippery Rock Heritage Association said the borough's history stretches back to 1790, when brothers Zebulon and Nathaniel Cooper arrived in what is now the bustling borough from Washington County.

The brothers only stayed a few years, but returned permanently in 1800 with their uncle, Stephen Cooper, and Zebulon's wife.

“Stephen took out a claim on a parcel of land that later became part of Slippery Rock,” Barkley said.

At one point, the family noticed a squatter building a cabin on the land.

“That night, Stephen, Nathaniel, Zebulon and his wife worked all night to build a house so he could keep that claim,” Barkley said.

The family later built a larger log house, which was the first permanent home in the new borough of Centreville.

Barkley said the story goes that the hamlet was so named because it was halfway between Butler and Mercer, and halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie.

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