Editing Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
[[File:Beaver Falls Cutlery Works 1867.jpg|thumb|left|Beaver Falls Cutlery Works (1867)]]
The area of present-day Beaver Falls was first mentioned in 1770 in the journals of David Zeisberger, a [[Moravian Church]] [[missionary]] who eventually settled in present-day [[Lawrence County, Pennsylvania|Lawrence County]]. A [[Lenape]] chief named [[Custaloga|Pakanke]] took Zeisberger to the valley surrounding the [[Beaver River (Pennsylvania)|Beaver River]], where the Lenape owned a large tract of open land which Zeisberger was given access to.<ref name="Histories">{{cite web|url=https://www.timesonline.com/story/lifestyle/2020/09/01/histories-mysteries-stories-falls-beaver/3447864001/ |title=Histories & Mysteries: Stories from the 'Falls of the Beaver' |author=Jeffrey Snedden |publisher=Beaver County Times |access-date=August 9, 2022 }}</ref> In April 1770, Zeisberger and his followers set out in 16 canoes down the [[Allegheny River|Allegheny]] and [[Ohio River|Ohio]] rivers, reaching the mouth of the Beaver three days later. They made their way up to what was called the “Falls of the Beaver," where they encamped.<ref name="Histories" /> The town originally formed around the middle falls area was named Brighton after [[Brighton, England]], which was the hometown of the area's surveyors.<ref name="Histories" />

Despite early promise through the [[canal]] business on the falls, the town fell behind neighboring [[New Brighton, Pennsylvania|New Brighton]] after repeated poor economic periods. The earlier proprietors sold the land to the [[Harmony Society]] in 1859.<ref name="Histories" /> The Harmonists immediately brought in surveyors to re-plan Brighton, laying out a town twice the size of the original, paving several main streets with brick and officially changing the name of the community to Beaver Falls.<ref name="Histories" /> The rapid revitalization of the community allowed it to gain borough status on November 9, 1868. In the 1870s, Beaver Falls had a [[Chinatowns in the United States#Pennsylvania|Chinatown]] and had up to 225 Chinese residents, brought in to work at [[Beaver Falls Cutlery Company]] moved in to the borough by the Harmonists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/racerelations/ChineseinBFM99/ChineseinBFMSP99.html |title=Chinese Workers In Beaver Falls |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609114016/http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/racerelations/ChineseinBFM99/ChineseinBFMSP99.html |archive-date=June 9, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Anon |title=Industrious Beaver Falls |date=1993 |publisher=Beaver County Industrial Museum |location=Darlington, Pennsylvania |chapter=Gone but not forgotten: the Beaver Falls Cutlery Company}} This is based on {{cite book |last1=Anon |title=The Beaver Countian Vol III no.1 |date=1992 |location=Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania |pages=1–3 |chapter=The history and lore of Beaver Co.: the Chinese in Beaver Falls 1872}}</ref>

On May 31, 1985, an F3 [[tornado]] hit just north of the city as it went across northern portions of Beaver County, as part of the [[1985 United States–Canada tornado outbreak]].<ref>Britten, Kenneth, ''Beaver Falls Gem of Beaver County'', Arcadia Publishing, 2002, {{ISBN|0-7385-2382-8}}.</ref>

The population declined nearly 50% between 1940 and 2000, which is attributed mostly to its central location in the [[Rust Belt]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/1940.html |title=1940 Census of Population and Housing |access-date=December 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327062101/http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/1940.html |archive-date=March 27, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/1960cenpopv1.html |title=1960 Census of Population and Housing |access-date=December 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505050039/http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/1960cenpopv1.html |archive-date=May 5, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cph2/cph-2-1-1.pdf|title=1990 Census of Population and Housing|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218003445/https://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cph2/cph-2-1-1.pdf |archive-date=December 18, 2021}}</ref>