Editing Ambridge, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
The town is near the location of [[Legionville]], the training camp for General [[Anthony Wayne|"Mad" Anthony Wayne]]'s [[Legion of the United States]]. Wayne's was the first attempt to provide [[basic training]] for regular U.S. Army recruits and Legionville was the first facility established expressly for this purpose. The [[Harmony Society]] first settled the area in the early 19th century, founding the village of "Ökonomie" or [[Old Economy Village|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. The society was dissolved and its vast real estate holdings sold, much of it to the [[American Bridge Company]], who subsequently enlarged the town and incorporated it as Ambridge in 1905.

[[File:Ambridge PA Presby PHS16.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|Presbyterian church in Ambridge from a pre-1923 postcard.]]
American Bridge attracted thousands of immigrants who came to fulfill their dreams of work, freedom, and peace. The steel mills became the focal point of the town. Most of the employees were relatives of relatives and the small town grew, with wards separating the town into ethnic sections. In addition, many of the ethnicities had their own church, club, and musical group that sought to give immigrants a familiar place to be as well as to preserve their culture. Many were from Eastern and Southern Europe including Italian, Greek, Slovak, Croatian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovene, and Carpartho-Rusyn, to name a few.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Slater|first1=Larry|title=Ambridge(Images of America)|date=April 9, 2008|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0738554860|url=https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/9780738554860/Ambridge}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Christ The King church|url=http://diopitt.org/parishes/christ-king-ambridge|website=Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh|access-date=April 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810163919/http://diopitt.org/parishes/christ-king-ambridge|archive-date=August 10, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Holy Trinity Ambridge|url=http://diopitt.org/parishes/holy-trinity-ambridge|website=Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh|access-date=April 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809224402/http://diopitt.org/parishes/holy-trinity-ambridge|archive-date=August 9, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Divine Redeemer Ambridge|url=http://diopitt.org/parishes/divine-redeemer-ambridge|website=Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh|access-date=April 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809234542/http://diopitt.org/parishes/divine-redeemer-ambridge|archive-date=August 9, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Saint Stanislaus, Ambridge|url=http://diopitt.org/parishes/saint-stanislaus-ambridge|website=Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh|access-date=April 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809223854/http://diopitt.org/parishes/saint-stanislaus-ambridge|archive-date=August 9, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church|url=http://www.htgoc.org/about-us/history-of-our-parish/|website=Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Ambridge|access-date=April 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424002440/http://www.htgoc.org/about-us/history-of-our-parish/|archive-date=April 24, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Holy Ghost Orthodox Church, Ambridge, Pennsylvania|url=http://www.holyghostoca.org/orthodoxy.html|website=Holy Ghost Orthodox Church, Ambridge|access-date=April 13, 2016}}</ref>

With the growth of the steel mills, Ambridge became a worldwide leader in steel production.{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}} The borough became known for bridge building, metal molding, and the manufacture of tubes (large iron pipes). During [[World War II]], the American Bridge Company fabricated steel for the building of LSTs (Landing Ship Tanks). The steel was then sent by rail to the adjacent American Bridge naval shipyard in [[Leetsdale, Pennsylvania]], where the LSTs were built. The area was also home to several other steel mills like Armco, the pipe mill which manufactured oil piping, and A. M. Byers, a major iron and tool fabricator. Eventually competition by foreign steel producers began to cause the share of the steel market for U.S. manufacturers to dwindle. With the shift of steel production overseas, the American Bridge Company ended operations in Ambridge in 1983. The legacy of American Bridge can be seen today in [[American Bridge Company|bridges]] around the world.

The decline of both the steel industry and the town is chronicled in ''Rust Belt Boy'' by Ambridge native [[Paul Hertneky]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Behe|first1=Rege|title=Writer chronicles growing up in '60s Ambridge|url=http://triblive.com/aande/books/10466889-74/hertneky-ambridge-belt|access-date=June 1, 2016|publisher=Pittsburgh Tribune Review|date=May 20, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Laughlin Memorial Library.jpg|thumb|Laughlin Memorial Library]]
With Ambridge now over 100 years old, revitalization is beginning to occur along Merchant Street in the Downtown Commercial District. Entrepreneurs and investors have begun to renovate the Victorian facades of the commercial storefronts. [[Antique shop]]s are opening in the Historic District, which is also a National Historic Landmark, and a once industrial warehouse area is being converted to condominiums, shops, and parks. In 2007 Ambridge was designated as a Preserve America Community by the White House. Convenient to Pittsburgh along the Ohio River Boulevard and just across the Ohio River from the Pittsburgh Airport, Ambridge leaders hope it will benefit by its location and low cost of living.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}