| West Brownsville | |
| Settlement Type: | Borough |
| Pushpin Map: | Pennsylvania |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of West Brownsville in Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates: | 40.0297°N -79.8864°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Pennsylvania |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Washington |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Established Date: | 1831 |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | W Dean Lacey |
| Leader Title1: | Borough Council[1] |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Area Footnotes: | [2] |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 1.42 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 1.30 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.12 |
| Population Footnotes: | [3] |
| Population Total: | 977 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | 752.12 |
| Timezone1: | EST |
| Utc Offset1: | -4 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | -5 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code |
| Postal Code: | 15417[4] |
| Area Code Type: | Greater Pittsburgh |
| Area Code: | 724 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 42-82616 |
| Area Total Km2: | 3.68 |
| Area Land Km2: | 3.36 |
| Area Water Km2: | 0.32 |
| Population Density Km2: | 290.42 |
West Brownsville is a former important transportation nexus and a present-day borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States and part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 972 at the 2020 census.[5] Culturally, by postal route, and socially, the community is connected to cross-river sister-city Brownsville, for the two were long joined by the Amerindian trail known as Nemacolin's Path that became a wagon road after the American Revolution, but West Brownsville is a separate municipality. Brownsville was the first point where the descent from the Appalachians could safely reach the river down the generally steep banks of the Monongahela River. Between Brownsville and West Brownsville was a shallow stretch, usable as a river ford astride a major Emigrant Trail to the various attractive regions in the Northwest Territory, the first National Road, the Cumberland Pike (Now U.S. Route 40).
West Brownsville is located at 40.0297°N -79.8864°W (40.029731, -79.886412).[6]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 1.4sqmi, of which 1.3sqmi is land and 0.1sqmi (8.51%) is water.
West Brownsville was sited on the inside of the sweeping curve along the Monongahela River and has relatively level ground opposite the cut bank effect giving Brownsville relatively steep slopes and West Brownsville, cupped by the inside of the curve, more flood-prone sandy mud flats lands. Historically, at a bit upstream of the location of the Brownsville-West Brownsville Bridge was the Amerindian crossing ford and wagon road of early westward migrants. A few hundred yards west from the shoreline, PA Route 88 enters from along the riverside bluff and the south as Lowhill Road and hugs the foot of the steep Pennsylvania hillsides flanking tongue-shaped flat terrain of the streets and housing through most of the length of W. Brownsville before twisting left uphill. It exits the W. Brownsville flat climbing Northwest as Blainsburg Road, climbing beside and below the bluff of Blainsburg, a larger 'satellite' bedroom community really an extension of the community, situated above West Brownsville proper, to its North-Northwest. The steep bluff behind the West Brownsville tongue provided two climbable ascents which became early U.S. roads; the more southerly heading nearly due west climbing steadily upwards over a stretch, an old wagon road, and later the National Road following the westward extension of Nemacolin's Path up to and through the outlier neighborhood known as Malden from a river-shallows area known as a ford to Amerindians, a landscape feature which attracted settlers heading west on the Emigrant Trail once known as Nemacolin's Path, then the Cumberland Road and then renamed as the 'National Road'. The other ascent would allow PA Route 88 to climb out of the valley where the road cut across several loops of the Monongahela to California.
Sundered by the county boundaries running down the center of the river, West Brownsville economically was integrated with cross-river Brownsville by a ferry dating back into the early 1800s when Brownsville became a riverboat building and outfitting center. With construction of boats on nearby large tributaries, the shallow banks of West Brownsville were a favorite location to tie up and outfit a new built water craft to outfit it and load cargoes. The modern-day Main Street is notable for featuring on-street running by freight trains down the center of the street. Considered one railroad crossing, it is one of the longest crossings in the United States. Along with right bank Brownsville on the opposite shore, West Brownsville and Brownsville hosted extensive rail yards jammed into the tight confines along both banks of the Monongahela River. One special feature at either end of the two railyards was they each shared a bridge joining two river crossing wyes that tied together to contain a rare true-life reversing loop, normally a feature only found in model railroading layouts. The yards serviced the extensive rail hopper car deliveries feeding the coking ovens up river along the southside of Brownsville, and were integral parts of the famous Pittsburgh Steel Industries. The Monongahela Railroad represented the Lake Erie, the PRR, and the B&O, and Norfolk and Western both utilized the trackage in the towns, which today is operated by the N&W's successor, Norfolk Southern with the Monongahela vanishing into the Conrail debacle.
There were 459 households, out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.0% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.0% were non-families. 27.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.82.
In the borough the population was spread out, with 16.8% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, and 22.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $27,315, and the median income for a family was $36,641. Males had a median income of $31,964 versus $21,875 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $15,368. About 10.4% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.3% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.