Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania

Fox Chapel is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is a suburb of Pittsburgh located 6 miles (10 km) northeast of downtown. The population was 5,343 as of the 2020 census.[3] The borough continually garners national prominence and is home to many of the wealthiest and most powerful patriciate families in Pennsylvania.[4][5][6][7]

Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania
Borough
Shady Side Academy upper school campus
Shady Side Academy upper school campus
Location in Allegheny County and the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
Location in Allegheny County and the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
Fox Chapel is located in Pennsylvania
Fox Chapel
Fox Chapel
Fox Chapel is located in the United States
Fox Chapel
Fox Chapel
Coordinates: 40°30′46″N 79°53′35″W
CountryUnited States
StatePennsylvania
CountyAllegheny
Government
 • MayorWalter Scott, III (R)
Area
[1]
 • Total7.88 sq mi (20.40 km2)
 • Land7.87 sq mi (20.38 km2)
 • Water0.01 sq mi (0.02 km2)
Population
 (2020)[2]
 • Total5,343
 • Density679.08/sq mi (262.21/km2)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes
15215 and 15238
Area code412
School district Fox Chapel Area
Websitewww.fox-chapel.pa.us

History

In the 1750s, the Seneca Indians lived in the region. Until the late 18th century, American Indian tribes hunted and fished in the general Fox Chapel area. Virginia and Pennsylvania both claimed the territory. The dispute was not resolved until after the Revolutionary War.[8] Today, less than 1% of its population is Native American.[9]

The first white settler in the area was James Powers, who arrived around 1790.[10] The first schoolhouse was on Squaw Run, where it stood in 1806. It was a log house. A church was organized in 1818 on Kittanning Road, on a branch of Pine Creek.[11] The Pittsburgh Field Club opened in 1882, and the Fox Chapel Golf Club opened in 1919. Shady Side Academy opened its senior school on property that was formerly two large farms, a gift from prominent Pittsburgh industrialist Wallace H. Rowe, in 1922. A nearby private estate, built in 1928 by steel industrialist James E. Lewis, became the academy's standalone middle school campus in 1958.[12]

Geography

Fox Chapel is located at 40°30′46″N 79°53′35″W (40.512668, –79.892975).[13] The borough has six borders, including Indiana Township to the north, Harmar Township to the northeast, three of the five non-contiguous areas of O'Hara Township to the east, southeast, west and southwest, and the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Lincoln–Lemington–Belmar to the south.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 7.8 square miles (20 km2), of which 0.13% is water.

Demographics
Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
19401,080—
19501,72159.4%
19603,30291.9%
19704,68441.9%
19805,0497.8%
19905,3195.3%
20005,4362.2%
20105,388−0.9%
20205,343−0.8%
Sources:[14][15][16][17][2]

As of the 2000 census,[16] there were 5,436 people, 1,875 households, and 1,599 families residing in the borough. The population density was 693.9 people per square mile (267.9 people/km2). There were 1,942 housing units at an average density of 247.9 per square mile (95.7/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 93.29% White, 0.55% African American, 0.02% Native American, 5.22% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.13% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.68% of the population.

There were 1,875 households, out of which 41.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 79.9% were married couples living together, 3.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 14.7% were non-families. 13.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.18.

In the borough the population was spread out, with 30.1% under the age of 18, 3.3% from 18 to 24, 18.1% from 25 to 44, 33.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.2 males.

As of 2015, the median income for a household in the borough was $154,722, and the median income for a family was $169,596. About 3.3% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line.

Religion

Four churches are located within the borough: Faith Methodist Church, Christ Church Fox Chapel, Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church, and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

In 1953 a group of families living in the Fox Chapel area began to worship together at Shady Side Academy; the congregation became Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church, located at the intersection of Fox Chapel Road and Field Club Road. The Rev. Bickford Lang served as the first pastor. The congregation was officially organized in October 1953 with 339 charter members. The chapel was erected in December 1953, and worship services began to be held on the site of the present church. The church facility has grown to include a Christian Education building, atrium, fellowship hall and a Georgian sanctuary. The Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church has been led by five senior pastors since its founding.[18]

Chabad Fox Chapel - The Jewish Center, opened in 2002 and serves the entire Fox Chapel Area with a Jewish community center, Jewish day camp, Hebrew school and full adult education program with no membership fees.[19]

Adat Shalom, located on Guys Run Road in Indiana Township, serves approximately 240 Jewish families from the Fox Chapel area.[20]

Government and politics
Fox Chapel borough vote
by party in presidential elections
Year Republican Democratic Third parties
2020 37.89% 1,516 60.78% 2,432 1.32% 53
2016 40.77% 1,386 55.35% 1,882 3.88% 132
2012 58.96% 1,998 40.66% 1,378 0.38% 13
2008 53.47% 1,858 45.75% 1,590 0.78% 27

Borough Council
  • Andrew C. Bennett (R) - President
  • Harrison Lauer (R) - Vice President
  • Betsy Monroe (D)
  • Mandy Steele (D)
  • Thomas A. Karet (R)
  • Bradley Harrison (D)
  • Sarah Hanna (D)
  • Walter A. Scott III (R) - Mayor

Education

Public education is provided by the Fox Chapel Area School District. The high school is located in O'Hara Township. The middle school is located in Dorseyville, a small community five miles to the north of the borough in Indiana Township. Elementary school children attend schools located in either Indiana Township or O'Hara Township. These are O'Hara Elementary, Kerr, Fairview, and Hartwood. Fox Chapel Area School District, which includes the communities of Aspinwall, Fox Chapel, Indiana Township, O'Hara Township, Sharpsburg, and Blawnox, has received numerous awards in the past; each of its schools have been named National Blue Ribbon Schools, and the Fox Chapel Area High School has been awarded the Silver Medal rank by the U.S. News & World Report.[21]

Fox Chapel is home to Shady Side Academy, a co-educational independent college preparatory school. Shady Side Academy operates on four separate campuses— a junior school which offers private education for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades one through five known formerly as Fox Chapel Country Day School,a middle school for grades 6–8, and a senior school for grades 9–12. Shady Side Academy has operated in Fox Chapel since the early 1920s, when it relocated its upper school from nearby urban Shadyside within the Pittsburgh. The middle school campus was a later addition, the result of the academy's 1958 purchase of the former James E. Lewis estate, built in 1928.[22] Both campuses and their playing fields are located in the vicinity of the Pittsburgh Golf Club. Shady Side Academy's fourth campus, the urban junior school, is located in the city in Point Breeze.

Fox Chapel Country Day School which is now part of Shady Side Academy, offers private education for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades one through five. The Fox Chapel Chabad Community Hebrew School has classes on Sunday and Wednesday and offers a supplemental Jewish education.[23]

The Pittsburgh Japanese School (ピッツバーグ日本語補習授業校 Pittsubāgu Nihongo Hoshū Jugyō Kō), a weekend supplementary Japanese school, uses the middle school facilities of Shady Side Academy.[24][25] The school, established in 1993, originated from a group of parents starting a Japanese class system in 1977.[26]

Notable people

References
  1. "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  2. "Census Population API". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  3. "Explore Census Data".
  4. "Neighboring towns, separated by a vast divide... Affluent Fox Chapel, struggling Sharpsburg illustrate gap between rich and poor". New Pittsburgh Courier. December 31, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  5. "Fox Chapel Ranked Among Best Suburbs In America". October 23, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  6. "Michelle Obama Welcomes G-20 Spouses, Hosts Dinner At Teresa Heinz Kerry's Rosemont Farm (PHOTOS)". HuffPost. June 27, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  7. "Census shows state's wealthiest people live in Fox Chapel". TribLIVE.com. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  8. "Township of O'Hara - Community News & Info". Archived from the original on April 26, 2007.
  9. http://www.foxchapeldistrictassociation.org/history.htm
  10. "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Fox Chapel".
  11. https://web.archive.org/web/20130920032852/http://www.foxchapeldistrictassociation.org/history.aspx
  12. "Fox Chapel Borough - History". Archived from the original on September 27, 2006.
  13. "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Archived from the original on August 24, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  14. "Number of Inhabitants: Pennsylvania" (PDF). 18th Census of the United States. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 8, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  15. "Pennsylvania: Population and Housing Unit Counts" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 8, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  16. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  17. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  18. "Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church". foxchapelpresby.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  19. "Our Synogogue". www.chabadfoxchapel.com. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  20. http://www.goadatshalom.org/
  21. "Fox Chapel Area School District". Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  22. Linda Wilson (September 28, 1978). "School names library for young scholar". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  23. "Chabad of Fox Chapel". October 8, 2007. Archived from the original on October 8, 2007.
  24. "北米の補習授業校一覧（平成25年4月15日現在）." (Archive) MEXT. Retrieved on May 5, 2014. "c/o Shady Side Academy Middle School, 500 Squaw Run Road East, Pittsburgh, PA 15238, U.S.A"
  25. "Zoning Map" (Archive). Borough of Fox Chapel. Retrieved on May 6, 2014.
  26. "In English" (Archive). Pittsburgh Japanese School. Retrieved on May 6, 2014.
  27. Owen, Rob (September 22, 2010). "Anisha Nagarajan, gets 'Outsourced'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on September 28, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
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