Wheatland is an former borough within the city of Hermitage in
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, along the
Shenango River
The Shenango River is a principal tributary of the Beaver River (Pennsylvania), Beaver River, approximately 100 mi (160 km) long, The borough merged with Hermitage in 2024 after residents of both communities voted to approve the merger in November 2022.
History
Prior to the construction of the first iron furnace in the area, the land that would become Wheatland was primarily rural, and split between two family farms, the Shilling family, who arrived first, founded by
pioneer
Pioneer commonly refers to a person who is among the first at something that is new to a community.
A pioneer as a settler is among the first settling at a place that is new to the settler community. A historic example are American pioneers, perso ...
George Shilling, and the Canon family, who arrived later in 1797 and where founded by Squire Canon, and joined by a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
Reverend
The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...
James Satterfield. Additionally, Dr. John Mitcheltree, the pioneer
physician
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
of the entire Shenango Valley during its early settling, also resided in what would become Wheatland.
Wheatland would be
platted
In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...
in 1865 and would be incorporated on February 12, 1872. Wheatland was designed as a
company town
A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...
for the Wheatland Iron Co. and the Wheatland
Bessemer Steel Co. and would remain a manufacturing hub throughout much of its early history, diversifying with the opening of a Sawhill Manufacturing Co. lumbermill in 1940.
On November 10, 1908, South Sharon Borough attempted to annex a portion of Wheatland, from Kedron street in the south to Bond street in the north, and from Beechwood avenue in the east to Hamilton avenue in the west. However, the
Court of Common Pleas
A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...
of Mercer County overruled the attempt on May 7, 1912. On December 18, 1918, Wheatland borough annexed a 30.85
acre
The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...
portion of Hickory Township via borough ordinance that was approved by the
Court of Quarter Sessions
The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Scotland establ ...
of the Peace of Mercer County in January 1919. On June 7, 1952, Wheatland borough annexed another parcel from Hickory Township approved by the Court in September 1952, bringing the borough to its final borders prior to absorption.
Wheatland suffered catastrophic damage on May 31, 1985, when an F5
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...
struck the area. In Wheatland, over 100 buildings were leveled and six people were killed.
From 2002 to 2007 Wheatland attempted to form an independent
school district
A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...
, instead of being serviced by the Farrell Area School District. This effort would see serious backlash from local residents, many of whom had moved to Wheatland for the sole purpose of being serviced by the Farrell School District, and a lawsuit ensued to instead have Wheatland be serviced by the
West Middlesex Area School District
The West Middlesex Area School District is a small, rural public school district serving the southwestern portion of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It encompasses the communities of West Middlesex, Shenango Township, and Lackawannock Townshi ...
.
The suit eventually reached the
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania is one of Pennsylvania's two intermediate appellate courts. The Commonwealth Court's headquarters is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with jurisdiction over administrative and civil public law. The Superior ...
Doris Smith-Ribner
Doris A. Smith-Ribner (born 1945) is a former judge of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.
Formative years and family
Born in 1945, Doris Smith attended the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where she earne ...
, and James Gardner Colins struck down the secession, keeping Wheaton in the Farrell district, on account that the petition to do so, which reported 50.4% of taxpayers in favor, misrepresented what a "taxpayer" entailed in 2006.
From 1990 to 2009 Wheatland's mayor was Thomas R. Stanton who led efforts to preserve the borough's independence, personally negotiating for state resources to help residents and improve infrastructure with his governance dominating the politics of the borough in its final decades. During is departure Stanton campaigned in the borough council for support of his incoming replacement, Brian P. Estock, and ran for a single term on the borough council to help ease his transition.
In 2004 local politicians proposed the creation of Shenango Valley City, consisting of Wheatland, as well as Hermitage,
Sharon
Sharon ( 'plain'), also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as a Hebrew name.
In Anglosphere, English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name, but historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In Israel, ...
, Farrell, and Sharpsville with the issue being put on the ballot in the form of a referendum. Then
Governor of Pennsylvania
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
,
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American politician, author, and former prosecutor who served as the 45th governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011. He previously served as chair of the national Democratic Party from 1999 to 2 ...
voiced support for the measure and would be joined by Kathleen McGinty, Secretary of the
Department of Environmental Protection
This article lists subnational environmental agencies in the United States, by state. Agencies that are responsible for state-level regulating, monitoring, managing, and protecting environmental and public health concerns. The exact duties of ...
, and
Dennis Yablonsky
Dennis Yablonsky was the CEO of the Allegheny Conference from 2008 to 2017, when he retired. He previously served as a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's cabinet as Secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Develop ...
, Secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development with the trio touring the region to urge for voters to pass the motion. The city would largely be an expansion of Hermitage, whose city government would be retained including the office of mayor and its nine-member city council. The merger would have kept the various independent school districts intact. The effort would ultimately be defeated, and via the ordinance the issue of merger could not be brought up again until 2009.
In 2018, Wheatland formed a commission on the possibility of continuing its independence in a 137–73 vote. On November 8, 2022, a referendum was held over annexation into Hermitage which passed, stipulating automatic annexation on January 1, 2024. On top of the lack of feasibility to continue to financially support the borough, one of the leading causes for annexation was Hermitage's more pro-business outlook. Wheatland Borough Council would have its last ever meeting on December 12, 2023, lasting just 10 minutes, councilors and six-year mayor Ronald Viglio reflected on their service to their community, and where joined with officials from Hermitage thanking them for "friendship and kindness" in the annexation process. The borough was merged into Hermitage on January 1, 2024. The former borough council hall will be preserved as a museum on the history of Wheatland.
Geography
Wheatland was located at (41.200389, -80.495709).
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 had a total area of , all land.
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 2000, there were 748 people, 349 households, and 202 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 379 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 85.96%
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 ...
, 12.03%
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 ...
, 0.13% Asian, 0.13% from other races, and 1.74% 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 1.07% of the population.
There were 349 households, out of which 17.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were non-families. 38.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.85.
In the borough the population was spread out, with 18.3% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 27.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females there were 85.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.9 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $27,596, and the median income for a family was $34,250. Males had a median income of $30,521 versus $18,409 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the borough was $15,365. About 8.3% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 21.4% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over.