Franklin Park, a community in transition, celebrates bicentennial

Franklin Park Manager Rege Ebner admits that the borough’s 200-year history as a sleepy outcropping of Pittsburgh doesn’t include many claims to fame.

“The only thing we do know is it was named after Ben Franklin, though we’re not sure why,” Ebner said.

Nonetheless, the borough of about 15,000 people is going all out to celebrate its rich, if quiet history at a variety of bicentennial celebrations this summer and fall. This included a special edition of its annual festival in Blueberry Hill Park on June 24, which featured food trucks, fireworks and a concert by the River City Brass Band.

The borough is also hosting a 5k Fun Run at 9 a.m on Sept. 9 and a Veterans Breakfast with Steelers great Rocky Bleier at 10 a.m. Oct. 21, both in Blueberry Hill Park, each with a $25 cost of attendance. The breakfast, followed by a groundbreaking ceremony for Veterans Trail, is open to veterans from all around the Pittsburgh region, Mayor Dennis O’Keefe said.

Those interested in attending can register through https://secure.rec1.com/PA/franklin-park-borough-parks- recreation-department/catalog.

Businesses and families can sponsor the events in packages ranging from $200 to $5,000. So far, the borough has raised around $31,000 and will continue to accept new sponsors, according to O’Keefe.

Net proceeds will go towards preservation efforts at the 1830s log cabin in Blueberry Hill Park and other nearby historic sites.

Franklin Park tells its history this way: It originally was part of Western Pennsylvania’s Depreciation Lands, land set aside by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1783 to compensate Revolutionary War soldiers for their service.

In 1823, residents in the northwestern- most corner of Allegheny County petitioned county court to secede from Ohio Township and create their own municipality. Franklin Township was born that August and included land that what is today Franklin Park, Bradford Woods and Marshall Township.

Forty years later, Marshall Township was created out of part of Franklin Township. Bradford Woods seceded from Marshall in 1915.

There were no towns in Franklin Township, but farms, churches, schools and country stores were scattered over the countryside, though the area had a thriving oil and gas industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Subdivisions didn’t come until after World War II. Franklin Park became a borough in August 1961.

The borough isn’t just dwelling on the past, though. The anniversary happens to coincide with the development of a new comprehensive plan to guide residential and commercial growth, recreation, infrastructure and green space use.

“It’s a vision that’s different than what we’ve seen in the past,” Ebner said.

Franklin Park is slowly, but surely moving away from its rural roots as development accelerates, particularly east of Nicholson Road, according to Ebner.

“Our residents have said they want to see us do more to balance development with open space and green space preservation while we have the opportunity,” Ebner said, noting that a desire for better trail connectivity has filtered to the top of public input.

In the view of Tom Rooney, a seven-year resident, volunteer bicentennial organizer and president of The Rooney Sports & Entertainment Group, the North Allegheny School District is one of Franklin Park’s biggest draws. The district formed in 1948 as a partnership among the borough — then a township — and Marshall, Bradford Woods, McCandless and Pine, though Pine left the following year.

Another part of what makes Franklin Park an attractive bedroom community: It’s proximity to the city, just a 20-minute drive down I-279 from Downtown Pittsburgh.

“It’s quiet, it’s safe, it’s green, and yet at the top of Sts. John and Paul Church, you can see the U.S. Steel building,” Rooney said.