West Mifflin, Pennsylvania

Borough of West Mifflin
Borough
Kennywood
Location in Allegheny County and the state of Pennsylvania
Coordinates:
Country	United States
Commonwealth	Pennsylvania
County	Allegheny
Incorporated	1788 (Mifflin Township)
	Dec. 11, 1942 (Borough)
Government
• Mayor	Christopher T. Kelly
• Council	Michael Moses Michael Olack Daniel Davis Robert Kostelnik Joyce Kushner Steve Marone Scott Stephenson
• Borough Manager	Brian Kamauf
• Police Chief	Kenneth Davies
Area
• Total	14.4 sq mi (37.3 km2)
• Land	14.2 sq mi (36.7 km2)
• Water	0.3 sq mi (0.7 km2)  1.8%
Population (2010)
• Total	20,313
• Density	1,400/sq mi (540/km2)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Website	www.westmifflinborough.com

West Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census. It is named after Thomas Mifflin, 1st Governor of Pennsylvania, signer of the United States Constitution, and 1st Quartermaster General of the United States Army.

Although the borough is heavily residential, it is home to one of America's oldest traditional amusement parks, Kennywood Park. Other employers include advanced naval nuclear propulsion technology research and development facility, Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory; Walmart, Sam's Club, monorail manufacturer Bombardier; US Steel's Mon Valley Works - Irvin Plant; Community College of Allegheny County's South Campus; the Allegheny County Airport; and various other businesses and industries.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 14.4 square miles (37 km²), of which 14.2 square miles (37 km²) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km²), or 1.80%, is water. The landscape is largely hilly and wooded, and the borough's eastern boundary is contiguous with the Monongahela River three separate times. Much of the original landscape has been altered as a result of the historic dumping of steel mill byproducts such as slag and fly ash.

Environmental monitoring

Coal mining has also affected the flow and water quality of small streams. Land developers have produced more level ground by clean-filling ravines and other small parcels of land to improve the land usage. Toxic waste dump areas are monitored with water quality improvement with bioremediation successfully implemented. West Mifflin operates its own sewage treatment facility. The Environmental Protection agency regulates 78 facilities for environmental compliance. Asbestos waste and radioactive waste and controls were addressed in 1991.

Surrounding communities

The borough is bordered by the City of Pittsburgh neighborhoods Lincoln Place and Hays, and the boroughs of Munhall and Whitaker to the north, the city of Duquesne to the east, the borough of Dravosburg to the southeast, the boroughs of Jefferson Hills and Pleasant Hills to the south, and the borough of Baldwin to the west.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1940	8,694		—
1950	17,985		106.9%
1960	27,289		51.7%
1970	28,070		2.9%
1980	26,322		−6.2%
1990	23,644		−10.2%
2000	22,464		−5.0%
2010	20,313		−9.6%
Est. 2014	20,175		−0.7%
Sources:

As of the census of 2000, there were 22,464 people, 9,509 households, and 6,475 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,586.2 people per square mile (612.5/km²). There were 9,966 housing units at an average density of 703.7 per square mile (271.7/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 89.64% White, 8.85% African American, 0.12% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.25% from other races, and 0.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.57% of the population.

There were 9,509 households, out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.6% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.9% were non-families. 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the borough the population was spread out, with 21.5% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 21.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.3 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $36,130, and the median income for a family was $46,192. Males had a median income of $36,984 versus $26,529 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $18,140. About 8.8% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.6% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over. The unemployment rate is just over 6%.

Government

Local government is governed by the current codes and commissions. Borough council members are paid $4,125 per year.

Emergency Services

Fire/EMS

EMS

Emergency Medical Services are provided by Baldwin-Pleasant Hills-West Mifflin EMS (County Station 510)

Fire

Fire Departments serving West Mifflin are :

• Homeville Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 (County Station 293) (3900 Greensprings Avenue)
• Duquesne Annex Volunteer Fire Company (County Station 294) (1620 Pennsylvania Avenue)
• West Mifflin Volunteer Fire Company No. 3 (County Station 295) (3722 Rodeo Drive)
• Skyview Volunteer Fire Company No. 4 (County Station 296) (660 Noble Drive)

Police

The West Mifflin Police Department is based at 1020 Lebanon Road, West Mifflin. The current Chief of Police is Kenneth I. Davies. The police department is staffed by full-time, Pennsylvania state certified police officers who provide around-the-clock protection for the Borough. Within the department there are divisions such as the detectives division and the patrol division. The department is involved with a number of activities outside of normal patrol activities, such as the Southwest Drug Task Force (D.A.N.E.T.), D.A.R.E. program for drug prevention education to school children and the Cops-N-Jocks program that deals with older kids in high school. The dispatch division is responsible for the emergency dispatching of the police. Dispatchers are full-time with approved APCO, PEMA and Emergency Medical Dispatch training.

Schools

Eleven schools exist in West Mifflin. These include 7 public schools and 4 private schools. West Mifflin public schools belong to one district-West Mifflin Area School District. School students in the neighboring boroughs of Whitaker and Duquesne also attend school in the West Mifflin School District.

There are 8 West Mifflin elementary schools, 4 West Mifflin middle schools, 2 West Mifflin high schools and 13 West Mifflin preschool schools.

Schools in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania

Name	Grade Level	Address	Enrollment	Type
Calvary Baptist Preschool & Kindergarten	Day Care through K	120 Anborn Drive	7	Private
Clara Barton Elementary School	K-5	764 Beverly Drive	222	Public
Homeville Elementary School	K-5	4315 Eliza Street	395	Public
New Emerson Elementary School	K-5	1922 Pennsylvania Avenue	287	Public
New England Elementary School	K-5	2000 Clairton Road	228	Public
Saint Agnes School	Pre-K-8	653 Saint Agnes Lane	119	Private
Walnut Grove Christian School	Pre-K-6	44 Adams Avenue	251	Private
Wilson Christian Academy	Pre-K-12	1900 Clairton Road	251	Private
West Mifflin Middle School	6-8	91 Commonwealth Avenue	641	Public
West Mifflin Area High School	9-12	91 Commonwealth Avenue	1162	Public

New England Elementary has been closed since June of 2012.

West Mifflin school administrator's use of school credit cards for meals has been recently called into question. The West Mifflin School District charges tuition for nearby Duquesne students to attend.

All-State Career School has a campus in West Mifflin. Class A CDL licenses have been in-demand in the area with the rise of fracking.

Further reading

• D. R. Connors, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, letter to R. L Pearson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, "Update of Idaho Naval Reactor Facilities Miscellaneous Waste Inventory for the 1992 Integrated Data Base Report," dated May 5, 1992.

External links

• Borough of West Mifflin official website
• West Mifflin Community Website
• History of West Mifflin
• West Mifflin Area School District
• West Mifflin Sanitary Sewer Municipal Authority