Ellwood City was the concept of 19th-century entrepreneur Henry W. Hartman. In 1889, he formed the Pittsburgh Company to create a town south of the Connoquenessing Creek near the village of Hazel Dell. Local farm properties were purchased, and the town quickly began to take shape. Along with houses, the first major building was the Hotel Oliver. The Ellwood Short Line and later the Beaver and Ellwood Railroads were built to meet the demands of the growing steel industry. In 1891, the Ellwood Shafting and Tube Company was founded, producing the first seamless steel tubing and establishing Ellwood City as the "birthplace of the seamless tube industry." Mills, financial institutions, stores, schools, churches, civic organizations, and building trades thrived as construction in the new town grew.