Wexford, Pennsylvania
Wexford is an unincorporated community in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The area known as Wexford is split among multiple municipalities, including Franklin Park, McCandless, Pine Township, and Marshall Township. It is named after County Wexford, Ireland.[1]
Home to many upper-middle-class people, Wexford's commercial landscape is dominated by a mixture of corporate chains, car dealerships, and a number of local small businesses, concentrated on the main thoroughfare of the "Wexford Flats", U.S. Route 19. It is also home to what is considered to be one of the top high schools in Pennsylvania, North Allegheny Senior High School.[2] Other schools in the area are Pine-Richland High School, and Vincentian Academy.
It was recently ranked the twenty-eighth best place to live by Money magazine,[3] despite it being essentially a postal zip code and a general descriptor of a section of suburban Pittsburgh, not a formal town. The presence North Allegheny Senior High School, a large, well funded public high school, the numerous businesses, and a number of churches along the "Wexford Flats" gives the area a more distinct community identity than simply an otherwise unremarkable suburb in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. Adjacent to Wexford is North Park and North Park lake. This area is a great feature to the community featuring many hiking/biking trails, 5 mile paved running path around the lake, many pavilions for outdoor events, outdoor ice rink, golf course, dog parks, and local restaurants and shops. The lake is currently under construction including dredging and refinishing shore lines, but plans to be completed by 2012.
The Wexford area is a growing community with subdivisions and neighborhoods constantly increasing. To account for the immense increase in population in the past few years and for years to come, the county has finally been forced to make a change to Rt 19, the road that runs clear through the "flats". This will be an ongoing project, with a projected due date of 2012. The four lane (two each way) road is prone to accidents, due to the amount of traffic and the difficulty in making turns onto side roads. The project includes adding a center turning lane starting before North Allegheny Senior High School to Church Road.[4]
[edit] Notable natives and residents
- Christina Aguilera, singer and pop culture icon. She lived in Wexford from the age of 2 until her high school years.
- Richard Rossi: writer and director of the biopic Aimee Semple McPherson; graduated from North Allegheny Senior High School
- Charlie Batch, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback
- James Harrison, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker
- Julie Bologna, WPXI meteorologist
- Frank Nicotero, Comedian
- Bradley C. Livezey, ornithologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History
- Cy Hungerford, longtime editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.wexfordvfc.com/County_Wexford_Ireland.php
- ^ See Pennsylvania Department of Education: Adequate Yearly Progress report for North Allegheny test scores.
- ^ http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2009/
- ^ http://www.dot.state.pa.us/penndot/Districts/district11.nsf/1f38a1dad4f45b968525716b0056a269/ef31e73f884fc221852578260067b130?OpenDocument
[edit] External links
- Money magazine's profile on Wexford (2005)
- "Pa. Town On 'Best Towns' List Does Not Exist." NBC10.com. 13 July 2005. Accessed 25 December 2006 <http://www.nbc10.com/news/4712294/detail.html>.[dead link]
- Heyl, Eric. "Unreal! Wexford bounced from list." Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. 19 July 2006. Accessed 28 July 2009 <http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_462438.html>.
Coordinates: 40°37′35″N 80°03′21″W / 40.62639°N 80.05583°W
