Exurb of the Week: Economy (Franklin Park, Ambridge: school district, live in, shopping center)

[runpens1]

Economy is a relatively large (18 sq. mil.) exurban to rural borough (that is more like a township) in the southeastern corner of Beaver County, bordering the towns of Ambridge, Baden, and Conway. In Allegheny County, it borders the township of Marshall as well as the boroughs of Franklin Park and Bell Acres. It shares its northeastern border with Cranberry Township. It is located in the Ambridge Area School District.

The area known as Economy today was first settled in the 1790's and founded in 1825 by the Harmonists to encourage the use of land cultivation and manufacturing activities. Two years later, it was formed as its own township from part of New Sewickley Township (to its north). The discovery of the Economy Oil Field in the 1890's brought about major change to the township as its economy began to boom. In 1957, the township was declared eligible to receive borough status to preserve its boundaries and prevent the annexation of the surrounding communities. The borough then began to grow with the addition of suburban communities spread throughout, that served primarily as suburbs for the industrial river towns nearby. It reached a slight peak population in 1980 and then began to decline slightly for a little while with the slowing of new developments being built and aging population. The borough's main problem seems to be that it lacks cohesion as a community, as it is primarily just a mix of housing developments separated by rural land. The only business district is in the northwest corner of the borough, along route 65, where there is a Walmart Supercenter, over the hill from the Northern Lights Shopping Center, which was built in 1958, which was once a big deal shopping destination, where people could shop at Sears, Jcpenney, W.T. Grant, Hills, multiple grocery stores, etc. Today, only a few stores and fast food outparcels are left, and the plaza buildings are deteriorating. The only recreational opportunities within the borough are the Economy Park and Ambridge Area Sportsmens' Club.

Today, Economy has about 9,000 residents and has recovered some of its previous population losses a little due to some newer housing developments being built as part of the extension of the Cranberry/Wexford area at a slower rate. The U.S. Census Bureau has predicted a 1.4% increase this decade, which is still good for Western PA as a whole, but slow for this general area. That could possibly be due to the average quality of the Ambridge Area School District as well as the lack of cohesion as a community and highway access. Nonetheless, Economy is still a nice, safe exurban area where one can be close enough to opportunities and still live in a semi-rural atmosphere.