Saturday, February 9, 2019

Disappearing cities and boroughs of the Keystone State: Sharon, Pennsylvania


The Shenango Valley owes much of its historical growth to the rise of the iron and steel industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Companies like Sharon Steel and Westinghouse Electric attracted tens of thousands of immigrants, transforming the sleepy Valley into an industrial colossus. This growth led to the incorporation of the City of Sharon in 1918 and the City of Farrell in 1932. Before suburbanization, early efforts at consolidation focused on these two cities. In 1935, over a thousand individuals signed a consolidation petition that would have combined the two cities into a community of 50,000 people. However, like other efforts in later years, nothing came of it. Nor did it seem necessary to many after the Depression years when Sharon and Farrell, the latter dubbed the “Magic City,” still boomed. 
Starting in the 1950s, more people began moving away from the mills of Sharon Steel toward places like Hickory Township.

Source:  Wikipedia

Sharon's population peaked at 26,454 in 1950.  Its 2016 estimated population is 13,405 -- a drop of 13,049 (49%).


The City of Sharon is located in Mercer County, 17 miles northeast of Youngstown, Ohio, and 70 miles north-northwest of Pittsburgh.  


Other disappearing cities and boroughs of the Keystone State
Aliquippa.  (1/12/2019)
Ambridge.  (1/17/2019)
Arnold.  (1/18/2019)
Braddock.  (1/19/2019)
Bradford, (1/20/2019)
Carbondale.  (1/21/2019)
Charleroi.  (1/22/2019)
Chester.  (1/23/2019)
Clairton.  (1/24/2019)
Coraopolis.  (1/25/2019)
Dickson City.  (1/26/2019)
Donora.  (1/27/2019)
Duquesne.  (1/28/2019)
Farrell.  (1/29/2019)
Homestead.  (1/30/2019)
Johnstown.  (1/6/2019)
McKees Rocks.  (1/31/2019)
McKeesport.  (2/1/2019)
Monessen.  (2/2/2019)
Nanticoke.  (2/3/2019)
New Castle.  (2/4/2019)
New Kensington.  (2/5/2019)
Oil City.  (2/6/2019)
Pittsburgh.  (1/13/2019)
Pittston. (2/7/2019)
Scranton.  (1/14/2019)
Shamokin.  (2/8/2019)

Other U.S. disappearing cities:
Baltimore, Maryland.  (12/31/2018)
Benton Harbor, Michigan.  (1/15/2019)
Buffalo, New York, (1/8/2019)
Cairo, Illinois.   (1/5/2019)
Cleveland, Ohio (1/2/2019)
Detroit, Michigan.  (1/1/2019)
East St. Louis, Illinois.  (1/11/2019)
Flint, Michigan.  (1/7/2019)
Gary, Indiana.  (1/4/2019)
St. Louis, Missouri.  (1/2/2019)
Wheeling, West Virginia.  (1/16/2019)
Youngstown, Ohio.  (1/9/2019)

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