Latrobe

Latrobe was the original Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

This little, bustling city 40 miles west of Pittsburgh is the birthplace and childhood home of American television star Fred Rogers, and of golf legend Arnold Palmer. This is where Rogers spent his childhood playing with puppets and imagining his own make-believe worlds, and where Palmer first learned to golf at the local country club.

But Latrobe has a lot more going for it than its celebrity natives. It has a strong school district where every school is highly rated, a restaurant inside of an refurbished train station, and Saint Vincent College, the summer practice training camp for the Pittsburgh Steelers. There’s also a well-loved ice cream parlor, where you know they know what they’re doing, because Latrobe is also the birthplace of the banana split. This town is not to be underestimated.

“It’s in the Laurel Mountains, so it’s very picturesque,” says Melissa Brooks, Realtor with Howard Hanna Real Estate in Latrobe. “It’s exactly what small town America looks like. There’s a main street with some smaller side streets. If you blink, you’re out of town.”

Houses in Latrobe were, for the most part, built throughout the 20th century. There are two-story brick houses for $145,000, houses with walk-up brick staircases for $235,000, ranch-style homes for $228,000, 1,600-square-foot 1910s bungalows for $194,000 and two-story houses with porches for $164,000.

The Steelers aren’t the only ones making the most of Latrobe in the summertime. When it gets warm outside, kids spend time at the 52-acre Legion Keener Park, which has tons of sports fields and courts, playgrounds, barbecue areas, a three-mile fitness trail for running and rollerblading, a swimming pool and a band shell. Neighbors can go canoeing or kayaking on the Loyalhanna Creek and surrounding tributaries, or spend the day at Idlewild & SoakZone, an amusement park that’s about 10 miles away.

There are several places downtown to eat, drink and explore. DiSalvo’s Station Restaurant operates out of a restored 1903 train station and hosts events like cigar nights, gourmet wine dinners and even weddings. There are pizzerias, breweries and other low-key restaurants, Brooks says, and the community really loves 512 Coffee and Ice Cream, which was restored under new management less than a decade ago. This is where you can get an artistically-designed latte, a charcuterie board, some tea and – of course – a banana split.

And speaking of banana splits, let’s face it. When your town is known for creating something like the banana split, you have to honor that. And Latrobe does, every year, at the Great American Banana Split Celebration. Every year, in August, the community holds its banana split festival over the course of several days. It consists of games, live performances, face painting, climbing walls, a car show, a cornhole tournament and, of course, plenty of ice cream. It’s not to be missed.

Kids in Latrobe attend school through the Greater Latrobe School District, which has an A from Niche. The district has three elementary schools, one junior high school and one senior high school. When kids enter high school, they choose from one of five state-determined career pathways. The idea is that once kids are on track to do what they want to do, they’ll be ready to help meet the state’s workforce needs upon graduation. The closest elementary school to downtown is Latrobe Elementary School, which has an A- from Niche.

Between the banana split festival, Steelers training camp and Mister Roger’s actual childhood neighborhood, there’s a lot to love about Latrobe. Come here and make it your home.

Photography Contributed By

Alan Battles