Editing Ben Avon, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
Ben Avon was incorporated as a borough in January 1891, from [[Kilbuck Township, Pennsylvania|Kilbuck Township]].<ref name="phmc">{{cite web| url =http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/counties/pdfs/Allegheny.pdf | title = Allegheny County - 2nd Class | access-date = 2007-08-19}}</ref>

Like many early suburbs, Ben Avon was originally linked to [[Pittsburgh]] by train.  One of the first homes in the area, the Arthur-Johnson House, was built at a bend in the [[Ohio River]] above the Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne Railroad, a route that was known to [[George Washington]].  The house was built by a merchant from [[Allegheny, Pennsylvania|Allegheny City]] looking for a summer retreat from the [[steel industry]].  To make the commute from Pittsburgh easier, a commuter railroad was built. Laurel Run station was located by the Arthur-Johnson House.  The new railroad made Ben Avon and bordering [[Avalon, Pennsylvania|Avalon]] a desirable place for wealthy merchants and executives to live.  Ben Avon had its own newspaper, the ''Ben Avon Forum'', which, in July 1930, wrote, "Ben Avon is the most desirable community to live in the entire Allegheny County - and if pressed, we might take an even larger territory."

In 1928, plans were underway to build the Pittsburgh and Ohio River Boulevard (currently [[Ohio River Boulevard]], along the northern bank of the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the [[Beaver River (Pennsylvania)|Beaver River]] at [[Rochester, Pennsylvania]]).  Residents feared that the new road would change their community.  The wide, heavily traveled boulevard divided the community and made it difficult for pedestrians to get from one side of Ben Avon to the other.  Additionally, by 1950, the train station at Laurel Run was closed.

Today, Ohio River Boulevard, outside of Ben Avon proper (there are no commercial properties along the boulevard in Ben Avon), is lined with commercial businesses, gas stations, thrift shops, and auto repair shops, but the houses and old railroad tracks from the early 20th century remain as reminders of the era when Ben Avon was a pleasant summer retreat from Pittsburgh's steel industry.<ref>{{cite web | title = The Suburb That Was | author = Eric Miller | work = The New Colonist | url =http://www.newcolonist.com/goodway.html | access-date = 2007-07-07| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070712042510/http://www.newcolonist.com/goodway.html| archive-date= 12 July 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref>