Posted August 28, 200816 yr Now we enter Mercer County, PA (pop. 120,293)... which was added to the Youngstown-Warren, OH MSA this decade. Grove City (pop. 8,024) is located in the southeastern corner of Mercer County near the intersection of I-80 and I-79. It has an Urban Cluster population of 10,727. Grove City is about 58 miles north of Downtown Pittsburgh and 40 miles east of Youngstown OH. Most people in the Penn-Ohio region know the name "Grove City" due to the Prime Outlets shopping destination nearby, but the "real" Grove City is a beautiful small town with an industrial history that today is the host of Grove City College, a "conservative" liberal arts college. This evangelical Christian school has some impressive campus architecture. The chapel at Grove City College administrative building a lush residential neighborhood near campus... it probably doesn't come across in photos... but elements of it seemed Olmsteadian... I was quite shocked that a small "independent" town like Grove City had a neighborhood like this closer to downtown Downtown Grove City blew me away... they've really done a bang up job here... no empty storefronts, no crumbling facades, fresh paint jobs, lots of ped traffic... bravo Grove City! some old industry near downtown I wish today's banks wouldn't put those plastic tumors on classic old banks like these... there should be more appropriate signage functioning downtown movie theatre a cheerful lemon-lime house ... Now we travel 9 miles northwest to the small hamlet of Mercer (pop. 2,391), which is the seat of Mercer County. It has an Urban Cluster population of 3,715. For being a somewhat heavily populated county with a large urban area (Sharon), Mercer County has a very tiny place for its seat. Mercer has a huge courthouse in the center of a square downtown. Beyond the square though, Mercer barely is a town... its "structure" has a very "loose" feel. But there are some impressive old homes. Mercer is surrounded by vast agricultural lands. Mercer is famous for being the hometown of Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor. Reznor has in fact cited his upbringing in Mercer as a prime creative influence. photo credit: wikipedia side view of the imposing courthouse
August 28, 200816 yr Ugh... I'll get this situation straightened out... how frustrating... please check back again!
August 28, 200816 yr I was determined to mention Trent if nobody else had yet :). Please keep me apprised of your progress.
August 28, 200816 yr Heavy industry built a lot of the cities in that part of the U.S. 1500-horsepower engines powering gas compressors on a pipeline. Installed in 1937, these engines were capable of running as long as 10 years continuously without shutdown. There were five of these in this building.
September 4, 200816 yr Mercer looks trashy but I like Grove City! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
September 4, 200816 yr Neat pics, and Grove City is gorgeous. That sweet neighborhood isn't surprising, considering the concentration of wealth that those heavy industries generated, back in the day. The factory workers in skilled trades made a decent living and the general laborers made enough to feed and clothe their families and keep a roof over their heads, but high-level management really raked it in. I haven't seen Mercer in person, but in the photos it doesn't look trashy, just blue-collar and a bit frayed, faded and worn. Every town has some run-down properties, but some of those old homes look very well cared for. There's not a lot of residential density; I don't know if it existed and was lost, but maybe the plat never lived up to expectations and the blocks never got filled in.
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