West Middlesex is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

along the Shenango River in southwestern

Mercer County, Pennsylvania Mercer County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 110,652. Its county seat is Mercer, Pennsylvania, Mercer, and ...

, United States. The population was 815 at the 2020 Census. It is part of the Hermitage micropolitan area.

Geography

West Middlesex is located at (41.173630, -80.456874). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the borough has a total area of . The Shenango River runs through West Middlesex, making it part of the Shenango Valley.

History

West Middlesex is one of the oldest localities in Mercer County. Samuel Byers, Andrew Wylie, William Bell, Richard Vanfleet and several others arrived in the vicinity in the late 18th century. In 1787, James Gibson received a plot of land west of the Shenango River for military services. Shortly thereafter, ownership of that land passed to Jacob Edeburn. In 1818, Jacob's son William Edeburn built a log grist mill on part of the land. It was purchased by James McConnell in 1821, who built a log house nearby. In 1830, Edeburn built a sawmill, and McConnell built a flour mill. James Gilkey, cultivator of the "Neshannock potatoes," surveyed the site and platted the town in 1836 on McConnell's land. A store and a tavern were opened about the time the town was platted, and in 1840 the post office was established, with Robert Young as the first postmaster. In 1864 West Middlesex was incorporated as a borough. The first burgess was D. Edeburn, and the first members of the council were C.W. Watson, Hiram Veach and G.R. Tuttle. West Middlesex was one of the first places in the Shenango Valley to become a center of the iron business. The old Middlesex furnace, erected in 1845, was a charcoal-burning plant. Additional coke and ore furnaces followed, including the Fannie (1873, remodeled in 1885) and the Ella (1882).

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 863 people, 368 households, and 244 families residing in the borough. The racial makeup of the borough was 96.9%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.2%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.3% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.3% of the population. There were 391 housing units and 368 households, out of which 26.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.5% were married couples living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families. 30.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 people, and the average family size was 2.88 people. The age distribution was 20.2% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 30.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.3 years old. According to the 2015 American Community Survey, the median income for a household in the borough was $46,103, and the median income for a family was $53,750. Among full-time, year-round workers, males had a median income of $45,526 versus $33,675 for females. About 13.6% of families and 16.6% of the population had annual incomes below the poverty line.

Political affiliation

West Middlesex has supported Republican politicians by comfortable margins in recent years. The town is presently represented by Republican Mike Kelly in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

, and voted for GOP incumbent

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in the 2020 presidential election by a 30 percentage point margin as opposed to Democratic challenger

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

Education

The West Middlesex Area School District serves the borough of West Middlesex and its two neighboring townships, Shenango Township and Lackawannock Township. The school district serves students in grades K-12, and it also offers Head Start preschool. Historically, West Middlesex has served students since shortly after the town was platted. A small frame house was built in 1837 for school sessions and church services, and in 1855, it was replaced by a two-story building: the first story for education, and the second story for worship. A three-story brick union schoolhouse was built in 1868.

Transportation

West Middlesex is the location of the northwestern terminus of

Interstate 376 Interstate 376 (I-376) is a major auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System in the US state of Pennsylvania, located within the Allegheny Plateau. It runs from I-80 near Sharon south and east to a junction with the Pennsylvania Tu ...

, which gives West Middlesex a direct highway connection to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

as well as its primary airport. West Middlesex also lies directly on the path of

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

, itself running cross-country between the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

and

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, and is accessible to downtown West Middlesex via I-376. The junction of I-80 and I-376 is also the southern terminus of Pennsylvania Route 760, which continues north into Mercer County. West Middlesex's downtown area is centered at the intersection of Pennsylvania State Routes 18 and 318. No public transportation nor rail lines exist within West Middlesex; the closest bus stops to West Middlesex are in New Wilmington. West Middlesex is the home of an eponymous airport, though it exclusively serves general aviation and has no regularly scheduled commercial flights. The closest airports with regularly scheduled commercial service are Youngstown–Warren Regional Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport.

Notable people

* Alfred M. Landon, former

Governor of Kansas A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

and Republican presidential candidate. * R. J. Bowers, former professional football player.

References

External links

West Middlesex Area School District
{{authority control Populated places established in 1836 Boroughs in Mercer County, Pennsylvania 1836 establishments in Pennsylvania