Incorporated: As a borough in 1972

Location: South-central Westmoreland County, about 35 miles southeast of Downtown Pittsburgh; the borough covers 4.0 square miles and is accessed primarily by the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 70 and Route 119

Population: 1,906 (2000 census)

Government: Mayor-council

Mayor: Joseph Kazan

Median price of a home: $186,900 after the first quarter of 2009, down from $189,000 a year earlier

Municipal phone, Web site: 724-925-9700, http://www.newstanton.org

School district: Hempfield Area, 724-834-2590, http://www.hempfieldarea.k12.pa.us

History: All roads lead to New Stanton -- or so it seems, as the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 70 and Route 119 converge in and run through the municipality. Thousands of cars and trucks zip through daily.

Enough people stopped long enough to settle in the area, which evolved from a section of Hempfield Township into New Stanton Borough in 1972. Homes started going up about that time, and the town continues to grow. Residents have easy access to just about any place by car.

Farms once proliferated in and around New Stanton, as did stretches of open land. Home sales got a boost starting in 1978, when Volkswagen began assembling automobiles in nearby East Huntingdon. That plant had been built for Chrysler in the 1960s but was not finished or used until VW came in. Volkswagen shut down operations in 1988 and sold the property to the state.

After sitting idle for a few years, the plant reopened as a Sony TV manufacturing site in the early 1990s. It was announced in December that Sony eventually would close its operations.