subdivisions in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, West View, Fox Chapel: chapels, school, income)

[eschaton]

As an aside, I find it odd that some people here are talking about "towns" in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has only one place which is incorporated as a town, Bloomsberg. Otherwise, we only have townships, cities, and boroughs.

My family is originally from the Philly area, and I live in Pittsburgh, and I've never heard of people from either place refer to "towns" in PA. I grew up in Connecticut though, so it took awhile for me to get used to the whole "no town" thing here. Do they commonly call boroughs towns in NEPA or something?

[PAhippo]

yup, we do, although borough is used also.

[ki0eh]

Here's one more "town" in PA: Town of McCandless *

[toobusytoday]

Originally Posted by eschaton

As an aside, I find it odd that some people here are talking about "towns" in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has only one place which is incorporated as a town, Bloomsberg. Otherwise, we only have townships, cities, and boroughs.

My family is originally from the Philly area, and I live in Pittsburgh, and I've never heard of people from either place refer to "towns" in PA. I grew up in Connecticut though, so it took awhile for me to get used to the whole "no town" thing here. Do they commonly call boroughs towns in NEPA or something?

I probably make the mistake in calling boroughs towns because I am not from PA, but in general, you don't say, "I'm going to the borough of __________________." You just say, "I'm going to __________.", as opposed to mentioning the name of what township that borough is in. I often don't know the borders of the township and where I live is on the border of more than one county so they all blur together. Between my house and a larger shopping area, I'm going to go through two county lines and three townships.

Frankly, what I'm most likely to say is, "I'm going to Target"! BTW, the Lehigh Valley, where I live is not generally considered NEPA, which is why we have a separate forum on city-data.

[Hopes]

A lot of people refer to boroughs as towns, simply because town sounds better.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Hopes

A lot of people refer to boroughs as towns, simply because town sounds better.

This.

[SorryIMovedBack]

Originally Posted by eschaton

As an aside, I find it odd that some people here are talking about "towns" in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has only one place which is incorporated as a town, Bloomsberg. Otherwise, we only have townships, cities, and boroughs.

My family is originally from the Philly area, and I live in Pittsburgh, and I've never heard of people from either place refer to "towns" in PA. I grew up in Connecticut though, so it took awhile for me to get used to the whole "no town" thing here. Do they commonly call boroughs towns in NEPA or something?

I don't know, lol. I lived too many years in another state in an actual city. Growing up here, everything was either "in town" or out in the country. So I guess rural western PA, we thought of places as either town or (farm) country. Townships have an identity; Hermitage used to be Hickory Township, and I still think of it as that. "Borough" is technically correct for places like Sharpsville and Greenville and Mercer, but I can't recall anyone who was not in government or law enforcement caring much about the distinction between a town and a borough. I don't consider any of the "cities" here to be a city. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, maybe Erie: Those are urban enough and large enough to be "city" in my mind. Sharon, Farrell, Hermitage: They are totally small-town in character and are cities only because they met letter of the law to be called cities at one time.

Someone made the comment at a meeting the other night that Farrell (PA) really doesn't meet the requirements for city anymore. But, to be converted back into borough, they have to petition Pennsylvania, and nobody has done that.

[eschaton]

Well, I can speak to growing up. My family was from Bucks County mostly, and they talked about, for example, going to "Newtown Borough" versus "Newtown Township" or "Bristol Borough" versus "Bristol Township." Admittedly if a place didn't share a name with another, they wouldn't make the distinction

In general though, I expect that people in less rural parts of the state wouldn't call boroughs "town" because there would be too many that could refer to. In Pittsburgh, going to "town" almost always seems to mean going to Pittsburgh itself, not the nearest borough to you. I think the same is generally true in the Philly burbs.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Well, I can speak to growing up. My family was from Bucks County mostly, and they talked about, for example, going to "Newtown Borough" versus "Newtown Township" or "Bristol Borough" versus "Bristol Township." Admittedly if a place didn't share a name with another, they wouldn't make the distinction

In general though, I expect that people in less rural parts of the state wouldn't call boroughs "town" because there would be too many that could refer to. In Pittsburgh, going to "town" almost always seems to mean going to Pittsburgh itself, not the nearest borough to you. I think the same is generally true in the Philly burbs.

"Going into Town" (what most Philly suburbanites say when they travel into the city as well) isn't the same as calling a place a town. Ex, Media is a Borough that prides itself as "Everybody's Hometown."

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Well, I can speak to growing up. My family was from Bucks County mostly, and they talked about, for example, going to "Newtown Borough" versus "Newtown Township" or "Bristol Borough" versus "Bristol Township." Admittedly if a place didn't share a name with another, they wouldn't make the distinction

In general though, I expect that people in less rural parts of the state wouldn't call boroughs "town" because there would be too many that could refer to. In Pittsburgh, going to "town" almost always seems to mean going to Pittsburgh itself, not the nearest borough to you. I think the same is generally true in the Philly burbs.

If someone asks about some affordable towns in Pittsburgh, we'll say Millvale, West View, etc., and they're all boroughs. The only Pittsburgher I know who calls a place a borough is Curtis when he's referring to Fox Chapel. It's the perfect example of someone trying to distinguish their location according to income. There are two Fox Chapels, the borough and the school district. Curtis wants everyone to know he's in the borough where the wealthy people live, not in the outer areas of the school district where the others live. It's important to note that most Fox Chapel Borough residents don't refer to it as a borough in everyday conversation. Most just say Fox Chapel.