The town of Apollo was originally named Warren, or Warren’s Sleeping Place, after Edward Warren, an early trader who established a trading post in the vicinity. The town was the first settlement of any size situated along the Kiskiminetas River in Armstrong County. The original town was laid out in 1816. The village did not grow rapidly until the building of the Pennsylvania Mainline Canal through the Kiski Valley. The town became somewhat of a boomtown as a boat yard and businesses related to the canal opened. The canal, which ran from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, operated from 1827 through 1850. The town was renamed Apollo because of confusion with another Pennsylvanian town named Warren. The town’s first burgess, Doctor Robert McKisson, an avid reader of Greek mythology, came up with the name Apollo, after the Greek god. Apollo was officially incorporated in 1848. The first steel mill in the Kiski Valley was established in Apollo in 1856. It was named the Kiskiminetas Iron Company, and it manufactured nails. Steel making would remain big business in Apollo until 1952, when the last mill shut down. The steel industry still remains in the neighboring towns of Vandergrift and Leechburg. Apollo is a town rich in history. The Drake Log Cabin and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union Building, which is being restored as a museum, are both owned and operated by the Apollo Historical Society. Remains of the Pennsylvania Mainline Canal can be viewed along the Roaring Run Trail, which is located one mile upriver from Apollo. Apollo is located 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, on the banks of the Kiskiminetas River. The river forms the boundary between southern Armstrong and northern Westmoreland Counties. Within easy driving distance of a major city, Apollo is a great place to live and work. It’s what a small town should be.