Brownsville, Pennsylvania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA, 35 miles (56 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. In 1940, 8,015 people lived here. The population was 2,804 at the 2000 census.
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[edit] Geography
Brownsville is located at (40.020026, -79.889536)[1].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.9 km²), of which, 1.0 square miles (2.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (9.91%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 2,804 people, 1,238 households, and 716 families residing in the borough. The population density was 2,796.6 people per square mile (1,082.6/km²). There were 1,550 housing units at an average density of 1,545.9/sq mi (598.5/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 85.95% White, 11.41% African American, 0.11% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 0.21% from other races, and 2.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population.
There were 1,238 households out of which 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.2% were married couples living together, 17.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were non-families. 38.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the borough the population was spread out with 23.2% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 21.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 83.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.7 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $18,559, and the median income for a family was $32,662. Males had a median income of $31,591 versus $21,830 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $13,404. About 28.8% of families and 34.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 51.2% of those under age 18 and 17.9% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Features
Dunlap's Creek Bridge (1839), carrying old U.S. 40 over Dunlap Creek, in Brownsville may be the nation's oldest dateable cast iron bridge. (Capt. Richard Delafield, engineer; John Snowden and John Herbertson, foundrymen) Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) [1]. Brownsville is also home to Bowman's castle (Nemacolin Castle), the Philander Knox House, and the Brashear House.
Notable residents of the area include Mother Angela (1824-1887), born Eliza Maria Gillespie, Catholic nun who founded St. Mary's Academy in Indiana and helped found the Catholic magazine Ave Maria"[3]. John Brashear, astronomer and builder of scientific instruments, was born in Brownsville. Brownsville has also contributed to the sport of professional wrestling. Former 3 time WWF tag team champion Ax Demolition (Bill Eadie) was born there.
Interestingly, guitar god Bert Rohaley lives in Brownsville, along with long time friends and acclaimed ball room dancing couple Brian Piktel and Mark Stroup. The trio have played various venues around the Brownsville area under the name of "The whirling Dervishes". In addition to his music abilities, Bert is a Navy Seal, he developed an exercise program to acheive ripped abdominals by doing breathing exercises. Berts current project however, is working at Wal Mart in Uniontown, and he is sure he will own the company in a year or two.
[edit] History
Brownsville, Pennsylvania began as Redstone Old Fort or Redstone Fort or Fort Burd. These were the names of a wooden fort built in about 1759 by English explorers on a mound overlooking the eastern shore of the Monongahela River in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The settlement around the fort was also called Redstone, but eventually became known as Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Redstone was a frequent point of embarkation for travelers who were heading west via the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers.
Redstone Old Fort is mentioned in C. M. Ewing's The Causes of that so called Whiskey Insurrection of 1794 (1930) as being the site of a July 27, 1791, meeting in "Opposition to the Whiskey Excise Tax," during the Whiskey Rebellion, the first illegal meeting of that insurrection.[2]
[edit] Education
The Brownsville Area School District serves Brownsville as well as several nearby communities. Schools within the district are:
- Brownsville Area High School (9-12)
- Brownsville Area Middle School (6-8)
- Cardale Elementary School (K-5)
- Central Elementary School (K-5)
- Cox-Donahey Elementary School (K-5)
[edit] Businesses
Brownsville is the ultimate depiction of how the decline of industry and the rise of suburbanization has destroyed the small American downtown. Once thriving, nearly all of Brownsville's many downtown buildings are vacant. Gone are the many mom and pop stores and restaurants of old, excepting Fiddle's Confectionery, which has been in continuous successful operation since the turn of the century. The only notable employer still located within the borough was the Brownsville General Hospital, which recently closed. This hospital which is now known as the Brownsville Tri-county Hospital reopened again in May of 2008. However, on another positive note: Brownsville Marine Products has been in operation for over a year and occupies the property off of Water Street where Hillman Barge used to be. Currently employing over 200 people, BMP has grown by leaps and bounds over their first year of operation and will continue to grow as they expand from Barge Manufacturing to Marine Repair. This gives hope for a reversal of fortune and the revitalization of Historic Brownsville.
One oasis in the bleak downtown is the historic Flatiron Building, 69 Market Street. An award winning restoration, the historic Flatiron Building houses a history Heritage Center and the Frank L. Melega Art Museum. Frank L. Melega (1905-1997) a Brownsville resident, is considered one of the greatest artists to depict the Coal and Coke Era. The museum features a collection of the artwork of Mr. Melega and changing exhibitons by visiting artists. The museum's website is melegaartmuseum.org
Much of the downtown area is now owned by Ernest Liggett. Mr. Liggett has attempted to attract riverboat gambling to the area, however these attempts were blocked by the Army Corps of Engineers due to problems with river currents. At this time, early 2008, many of the downtown building have deteriorated to a great degree, with may of them suffering failure to their internal structures. As of June, 2008, no action has been taken by Ernest Liggett to rectify these problems. If there are any plans for revitalizing the downtown, they will have to consider that many of the buildings will have to be gutted or demolished.
On an interesting note, a group of college students had their own plan to attract tourism to Brownsville. They planned on creating a false legend of a sea serpent in the Monongahela River. They planned on calling the imaginary creature "Brownie." Fortunately, they thought better of their plans.
[edit] References
- ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ (1963) Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who.
[edit] External links
- Brownsville, Pennsylvania is at coordinates Coordinates:
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