When municipal officials asked an Allegheny County judge to change the name of their small community to Glen Osborne, they brought along evidence showing common use of that appellation dating back to the 1890s.

"We had a pile of paperwork three-quarters of an inch thick," Mayor William Boswell said.

On May 21, President Judge Joseph M. James granted the request to change the borough's official name from Osborne to Glen Osborne.

"Most people refer to it as Glen Osborne," Mr. Boswell said. That was the name for the long-gone train station that served the small community just east of Sewickley.

"A glen is a wooded valley, generally between a river and a hill, and that is pretty much what we are," he said. "We're bounded by the Ohio River on one side and Sewickley Heights on the other."

Glen Osborne has a population of about 600 in a community covering a little more than one-half square mile. While residents know where they live, many visitors don't realize they have left Sewickley when they cross Boundary Street. That's why the borough has a welcome sign erected there and at two other locations on the edges of the community.

Those signs, and the community's Web site, www.osborneborough.org, eventually will be changed to reflect the new name, the mayor said. The borough also will use up its existing stationery before buying paper and envelopes with the "Glen Osborne" letterhead.

The name change was made just in time for the community to celebrate its 125th anniversary.

Glen Osborne was originally part of the Depreciation Lands given to Continental Army soldiers for their service in the American Revolution. When Nathaniel Breading first surveyed the region, he called it Aleppo.

By the 1820s, the area that became the borough was home to steamboat captains and pilots who built homes facing the Ohio River, according to the community's Web site. Rail service began in 1851.

The community seceded from Aleppo in 1883 and incorporated as Osborne, a variation on the name of local landowner Frank Osburn. The spelling was changed to avoid confusion with the name of another railroad stop, Mr. Boswell said. A later train station was called Glen Osborne.

"Residents like their independence, but we believe in cost controls," he said. The community contracts with Sewickley for police, fire and secretary service with its neighbor. "We believe shared services are the way to go," he said.

The mayor and all members of council serve without pay, he said. "People volunteer here, because it is the civilized thing to do."