Ambridge, PA- originally an early 19th century Harmony Society Settlement, transformed into a Pittsburgh rivertown in the early 20th century

The Harmony Society first settled the area in the early 19th century, founding the village of “Ökonomie” or Economy in 1824. Although initially successful, accumulating significant landholdings, the sect went into decline. By the end of the 19th century, only a few Harmonists remained. Today, the site is a historic district under the “Preserve American Community” status and seventeen buildings have been carefully restored structures to what they would look like between 1824 and 1830. Plenty of other historic buildings from the Harmony Society build in the mid-late 19th century still stand as well.  The Harmony Society sold its vast real estate holdings in the late 19th century mostly to the American Bridge Company, who subsequently enlarged the town and incorporated it as Ambridge in 1905. Naturally being within the Pittsburgh orbit steel mills were built along the river and Ambridge witnessed a population boom fueled by  eastern and southern European immigrants. Ambridge became known for bridge building, metal molding, and the manufacture of tubes. Yet like most rivertowns around Pittsburgh, Ambridge has lost a significant amount of its peak population of 20K in 1930. Surprisingly Ambridge began seeing large population drops even before the 1960s as it lost almost all of its population by 1970. In recent decades population declines have slowed and Ambridge now hosts just below 7K. Somehow with a 65% population loss  Ambridge still retains most of its buildings and urban fabric. Most recently the Borough has seen an influx of Hispanic residents taking advantage of the community’s low housing costs.

Ambridge really has three separate business: Lower Merchant, which was developed around the turn of the 20th century, upper Merchant which contains many early to mid 19th century buildings that were part of Old Economy Village and a couple blocks of Duss Avenue in the Northeast quadrant of the Borough. Upper Merchant is the most stable of the 3 businesses district thanks to the tourism from Economy Village but Lower Merchant still hosts a good number of business given its sheer size. Duss Avenue has several restaurants, bars, and a couple dessert joints. There are really not any abandonded residential parts of Ambridge. Its either stable or gritty depending on the block. Hopefully Ambridge continues to attract Hispanic immigrants as that will go a long way to filling the many vacant store fronts along Lower Merchant. The Borough could also use more parks, better tree canopy, and a couple bike lanes. This is an urban community with good bones that could be a great river town with the right investment and population attraction.

Click here to view my Ambridge, PA album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Large and mostly intact business district along Merchant St, although a decent amount of vacancy here.
* Recent streetscaping improvements that includes making all intersection ADA compliant. About 50% of intersections on residential streets are ADA compliant.
* Solid connectivity and grid throughout most of the Borough.
* More of a working class town but decent economic diversity.
* Good # of 1, 2, & 3 beds. Very affordable rents.
* For sale housing is also very affordable with some 1-beds selling btwn 50K-120K, 2-beds btwn 50K-185K, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 50K-200K.
* Decent cultural amenities including lots of restaurants, bars, & cafes. Also several breweries, a local theater company, and all the Old Economy Village Historic sites.
* Old Economy Village is extensive and preserve some really not early and mid 19th century building. The rest of Ambridge is pretty plain turn of the 19th  century architecture.
* Decent retail amenities including several small groceries, a couple drug stores and dollar stores, a hardware store, several bank branches, a book store, several boutiques and antique shops (mostly by Old Economy Village), a flower shop, several dessert joints, a couple gyms, a historic post office & library, a bike shops, tons of churches, and a handful of medical offices.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Dwtn is a 40 min drive and public transit is 45 minutes, not bad considering Ambridge is 20 miles away.
• Decent but not great density. Some with transit access.
• Bike infrastructure is non-existent.
• Largely White population but decent Black population and the Hispanic community is growing.
• Only the high school is located within Ambridge. Good size and decent ratings. Others schools one most drive to in surrounding communities.
• Really no higher end housing options here. Everything is quite affordable.
• Walter Panek and Ambridge Park are pretty large and multi-faceted but located on the northeast corner of the Borough and not walkable to most residents. The only other park space are the basketball courts at the high school.
• Some safety concerns here and grittiness but not much abandonment except along the business districts of Merchant St and Duss Ave).
• Modern in-fill is largely non-existent other than a handful of auto centric buildings.
• Tree canopy is so so.”