Indiana, Pennsylvania

History

The Indiana Weekly Messenger was published in the town between 1874 and 1946.

The Downtown Indiana Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Also listed on the National Register are Breezedale, Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway Indiana Passenger Station, Silas M. Clark House, Graff's Market, James Mitchell House, Old Indiana County Courthouse, Indiana Borough 1912 Municipal Building, Indiana Armory, Old Indiana County Jail and Sheriff's Office, and John Sutton Hall.

Indiana Mall is the area's major shopping center.

Industry

For decades the major industry of the town was coal mining, but as mines closed throughout the latter half of the 20th-century the area has had ongoing economic difficulty. Natural gas surveying and production have picked up some of the slack, and Indiana serves as the home of the largest privately owned drilling company in the United States, S.W. Jack Drilling Company. It counts a number of other production and service firms as members of the community, as well as three publicly traded companies: S&T Bancorp, Inc., First Commonwealth Financial Corporation, and Superior Well Services Inc. As well, it holds one of the nation's largest independent insurance agencies: The Reschini Group, which was founded by the nation's first female insurance agent, Rose Reschini, in 1938.

A large section of the southern part of the town, and bordering the university is occupied by Kovalchick Salvage Co. The land was recently purchased by the university and it plans to rejuvenate part of what is considered the largest eyesore in the community. Kovalchick holds large amounts of railroad salvage and aluminum. As of December 2008, roughly fifty percent of the salvage materials held by Kovalchick Corporation have been cleared or otherwise removed from publicly viewable land.

Notable people

Indiana was the birthplace and hometown of actor Jimmy Stewart (1908–1997), who was born there and lived at 104 North 7th Street. Despite the fact that he left the area upon graduating from high school, the town always followed his career closely, with the local newspaper periodically publishing rumors in his later years that Stewart planned to return there to live. On May 20, 1983, Stewart was given a 75th birthday celebration by the town. Before Stewart's death, a museum to his memory was opened on the third floor of the local public library, and a bronze statue of Stewart was erected in his honor at the county courthouse during his 75th birthday. The town annually holds a Jimmy Stewart film festival as part of the town's "It's a Wonderful Life" holiday celebration.

Environmentalist author Edward Abbey (1927–1989), was born at the Indiana hospital and raised in Indiana and near the Indiana County towns and villages of Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, Tanoma, and Home, Pennsylvania. Abbey's first novel, Jonathan Troy (1954), is set entirely in a thinly disguised Indiana, and his novel The Fool's Progress (1988), which he called his "fat masterpiece", is an autobiographical account of his growing up in this area and his imagined attempt to return home after a lifetime spent mostly in the desert Southwest. His nonfiction book Appalachian Wilderness (1970) lovingly describes Indiana and Home. There is a Pennsylvania state historical marker for Abbey at Home.

Geography

Indiana, Pennsylvania is located at 40°37′16″N 79°9′18″W (40.6211, -79.1549). The borough is an independent municipality surrounded by White Township. For some time in the 1990s there was discussion of merging the borough and township, but the matter was never acted upon.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 1.8 square miles (4.7 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 13,975 people, and 4,624 households residing in the borough. The population density in 2000 was 8,440.0 people per square mile (3,267.6/km²). There were 5,096 housing units at an average density of 2,887.6 per square mile (1,117.9/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 91.51% White, 5.19% African American, 0.07% Native American, 1.89% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.44% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.20% of the population.

There were 4,804 households, out of which 14.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.5% were married couples living together, 6.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 65.3% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.81.

In the borough the population was spread out, with 8.2% under the age of 18, 59.4% from 18 to 24, 13.7% from 25 to 44, 10.5% from 45 to 64, and 8.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 22 years. For every 100 females there were 83.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.3 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $21,279, and the median income for a family was $47,768. Males had a median income of $32,333 versus $27,831 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $12,317. About 11.2% of families and 44.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.3% of those under age 18 and 11.5% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Indiana University of Pennsylvania (or IUP) is a public university founded in 1875. It offers over 100 undergraduate majors and is the only doctoral degree-granting institution in the system.

For public K-12 education, the Indiana Area School District supports four neighborhood elementary schools (Eisenhower Elementary, Horace Mann, East Pike, Ben Franklin), a junior high school (Indiana Area Junior High School) and high school (Indiana Area Senior High School), which are accredited and recognized for quality. A Catholic affiliated Pre-K through grade 6 program is offered at the St. Bernard School, in addition to other various parochial schools for different denominations.

Early care and education programs for pre-k children are available. The non-profit IndiKids [2] or (Indiana County Child Day Care Centers) offers NAEYC-accredited care for children of students and community members on the campus of IUP and throughout the community.

Local media

Indiana, Pennsylvania, is also home to the Indiana Gazette, formerly the Indiana Evening Gazette, a seven-day-a-week publication. Although Indiana County is considered to be part of the Pittsburgh DMA by Nielsen, many area residents view the Johnstown TV stations. The area receives coverage from both media markets.