Western Pennsylvania is full of former steel and coal towns that have redefined themselves since those industries’ departure. The largest and best-known of these is Pittsburgh, the one-time steel capital that’s transformed into one of America’s most livable cities. Many of the smaller towns around Pittsburgh have gone through a similar evolution.
One example is Ambridge, a Beaver County town of just under 7,800 people (according to the U.S. Census Bureau) that grew as a company town for the American Bridge Company. Its manufacturing plant anchored Ambridge’s economy until it closed in 1982. In the decades since, Ambridge has reinvented itself as a charming and historic getaway whose revitalized downtown pays homage to its 19th-century roots.
Ambridge is about a half-hour drive northwest of Pittsburgh, and about the same distance east from the waterfall, beach, and wildflowers of the underrated Raccoon Creek State Park. Its history goes back well before the arrival of the American Bridge Company. In fact, the town celebrated its bicentennial in June of 2024, and many of its buildings date back to the early 19th century. St. John’s Lutheran Church is one of the oldest churches in southwest Pennsylvania, built in 1838. Some of its historic homes have been converted into bed-and-breakfasts, like the Hestlet House, a log home built in the 1820s, and The Epochary Inn, an 1824 brick home whose quaint historic furnishings are complemented by a fully modern vegan menu. Along with historic buildings occupied by inns, restaurants, and other businesses, visitors can check out the Old Economy Village, an outdoor museum where visitors can see artifacts, images, and documents from Ambridge’s earliest days.
Historic Ambridge
In the 1780s, German priest Johann Georg Rapp founded the Harmony Society, a group that believed the second coming was imminent and they needed to remain pure and ready for the rapture. In 1803, Rapp and his followers immigrated to the United States to establish Harmony, which still exists today as a quaint historic borough just outside Pittsburgh. The community grew to about 700 members by 1814, when crop struggles and conflicts with neighbors prompted their move — first to a settlement in Indiana, then back to Pennsylvania in 1824 to found Oekonomie (or “Economy” in modern parlance)…