Avonmore, Pennsylvania

Infobox Settlement
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other_name =
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settlement_type = Borough
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Pennsylvania
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Westmoreland
government_footnotes =
government_type = Borough Council
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name =
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established_title = Settled
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established_title1 = Incorporated
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area_magnitude =
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unit_pref = Imperial
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area_total_km2 =
area_land_km2 =
area_water_km2 =
area_total_sq_mi = 1.6
area_land_sq_mi = 1.5
area_water_sq_mi = 0.1
area_water_percent =
population_as_of = 2000
population_footnotes =
population_note =
population_total = 820
population_density_km2 =
population_density_sq_mi = 547.9
timezone = Eastern (EST)
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
utc_offset_DST = -4
latd = 40
latm = 31
lats = 40
latNS = N
longd = 79
longm = 27
longs = 58
longEW = W
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m =
elevation_ft = 1007
postal_code_type = Zip code
postal_code = 15618
area_code =
website =
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Avonmore is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 820 at the 2000 census.

Geography

Avonmore is located at coor dms|40|31|40|N|79|27|58|W|city (40.527750, -79.466186)GR|1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 1.6 square miles (4.2 km²), of which, 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (6.83%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 820 people, 344 households, and 234 families residing in the borough. The population density was 547.9 people per square mile (211.1/km²). There were 376 housing units at an average density of 251.2/sq mi (96.8/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 98.17% White, 1.22% African American, 0.37% Asian, 0.12% from other races, and 0.12% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.37% of the population.

There were 344 households out of which 26.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.4% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the borough the population was spread out with 21.6% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 23.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 83.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.6 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $30,156, and the median income for a family was $39,583. Males had a median income of $34,286 versus $22,361 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $18,712. About 7.7% of families and 9.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.2% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.

Facts

Avonmore is a borough municipality, nestled in a small valley along the Kiskiminetas River in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Avonmore gets its name from avon, meaning river and moor, meaning plain, or "plain by the river". It is governed by a mayor and a town council. Aileen Reid currently holds the mayoral position and was elected as a write in candidate. The current President of the Avonmore Borough Council is Donna Jean Ventresco. Council members include Robert Banks, Thomas Green, Brian Palmiscno, Robert Gordish, and Dominica McKay. Avonmore's tax collector is P. David Franzi.

Avonmore is part of the Kiski Area School District. Coincidentally, the Superintendent of the school district, Dr. John Meighan, is a lifelong resident of the borough.

The horizontal streets (Avenues) in Avonmore are named after the counties in Western Pennsylvania (with the exception of Railroad & Highland Avenues)and Westmoreland Avenue also acts as Pennsylvania Route 156. The vertical streets are numbered from 1st street to 9th street. The alley ways are also named after various tree species like Oak, Cherry, Maple, Elm, etc.)

Due to the relatively small size of the town, Avonmore maintains few businesses. Among the business are a steel foundry which produces precision steel rolls for global export and an iron fabricating corporation which produces girders for bridges, etc. Back in the day, Avonmore thrived with its own elementary school, high school, bowling alley and movie theater. The elementary school has since been demolished and the old high school now serves as the municipal building and library for the borough.

Avonmore has two baseball facilities at opposite ends of the town. These fields are the home to Bell-Avon little league organization's baseball and softball teams. The town also has at least four churches which serve the residents of the borough and neighboring communities. Avonmore still has at least five bars which the town has quite a reputation for. Unfortunately, The Village Bar and Grill, a structure which formerly housed a bowling alley among other things, was destroyed by fire on February 15 2008. The Village was very well known for its great tasting food at reasonable prices.

Avonmore is well known to many in Southwestern Pennsylvania for it's annual Harvest Days community celebration which is customarily held during either the second or third weekend each September. Harvest Days is known and anticipated by many for its parade, craft booths, children's activities, live bands, custom car show, fireworks, and all night partying famous for keeping the police very busy!

Avonmore's public safety is provided by their own volunteer fire department (Station 55) as well as their ownd their own police department and ambulance service.

The fire department is located on 5th Street, between Westmoreland and Indiana Avenue, in what was the old movie theatre. John Shaffer is currently the Fire Chief of the department which has two apparatus: one engine and one squad / utility truck. The department has multiple life members who remain active and not only respond to countless alarms, but provide guidance and education to the younger members. In addition to fighting fires, the department provides fire safety education, assistance during flooding and environmental emergencies, and assists the local EMS services and the police department in numerous capacities.

The Avonmore Borough Police Department currently consists of two full time officers. Their duties, however, are often not limited strictly to police matters. The Chief of Police, James Shaffer, is also an Assistant Chief with the fire department and frequently assists with firefighting and various rescue operations in addition to his police duties. Chief Shaffer also provides emergency medical treatment to residents in need of care prior to ems arrival. The second police officer holds an active paramedic certification in addition to his police certification. Like the Chief, he also assists with various rescue operations and provides emergency medical treatment until EMS units arrive.

EMS for Avonmore is provided primarily by the Avonmore Life Savers. Since the Life Savers are staffed as basic life support for the majority of the time, advanced life support for Avonmore's residents is supplemented by Lifestat Ambulance (Station 90) of neighboring Saltsburg Borough and the AK-PULSER paramedic response team which maintains three units throughout a two county area. Lifestat Ambulance maintains at least two paramedics who are certified at the critical care level, one of whom is a flight paramedic.

As far as heritage, Avonmore is dominated by those of Polish and Italian descent, although the town was founded by Irish & German immigrants in the early 1800s. The town was incorporated as a borough in 1893 from a portion of nearby Bell Township.

Avonmore Stories and Legends

The woods by the upper ball fields are considered to be haunted by locals due to an abandoned Indian graveyard in those woods. The graveyard is at the site of a church that was to be built there in the early 1800s. Disagreement among the church members led them to construct the church building, formerly St. James Lutheran Church, a few miles away in Bell Township. A little girl died at this cemetery when she was climbing on top of a tombstone and it fell on top of her. She is said to haunt the graveyard along with a little boy buried in the back of the cemetery that died. Reports of seeing white blurs and other abnormalities have been claimed by many residents of the town. This is true. There have also been claims that an old man lives under the bridge that leads into Avonmore. Fishermen and other individuals have claimed to have seen him.

When the old elementary school still stood, many kids of the town believed that it was haunted. It was used as a storage building and the Halloween decorations were stored in this building in front of one of the windows. The kids could see them and mistook them to be real. In order to find out if it really was haunted or not, many of the neighborhood children decided to karate kick in the basement door and explore the building with flashlights. They made their way over antique urinals and sinks to the basement stairs and climbed their way up into the main part of the building. It was very messy and there were outdated books and old desks everywhere along with municipal items. One of the floors was caved in and the building appeared to be nothing more than an old abandoned building. Since that day, the haunted rumor became busted and fear of the building lived on no more. Since Avonmore is such a small town, the kids of the town must use creativity in order to overcome boredom. It is completely normal to see the neighborhood children playing sandlot baseball and football in the summer. Many also play roller hockey at the basketball courts as well as basketball. There is also an old muddy pond on Fifth Street extension that is known as the pump station.

The now famous Jill Corey, who was originally born Norma Speranza, is originally from Avonmore.

References

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