An early Shawnee Indian village stood at the site of present Tarentum. It was named for Pierre (Peter) Chartier, who had a trading post here from 1734 to 1743. He was the son of Martin Chartier, a French explorer. Several heavily traveled Indian paths intersected nearby. In 1829, Henry Brackenridge laid out lots for a town along the Pennsylvania Canal and named it Tarentum for an ancient Greek city in present-day Italy.