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Welcome to Bessemer, pennsylvania
Established in 1913, the Borough of Bessemer, Pennsylvania is home to 1,100 residents who inhabit 1.7 square miles of ground near the Ohio state line in western Lawrence County. Once the local center of the cement, limestone and brick industries, Bessemer labor helped to pave and build America for the past 100+ years!
Bessemer remains a small residential community with a rich heritage. The local quarries, long-lasting reminders of the once formidable cement industry, now provide places for fishing and boating. The surrounding farmlands provide a picturesque country setting, while providing the amenities of a small town, including, a coffee shop, a pharmacy, several businesses, parks and restaurants. Three churches within the borough provide spiritual enlightenment to our people. Located within the Mohawk Area School District, Bessemer Borough lies about a mile from the school campus, where both the Elementary and Junior/Senior High School buildings are located.
Bessemer is also a place with great potential for growth. Located with easy access to Pittsburgh (via Interstate 376) and Youngstown (via OH-170 and Interstate-680), and adequate utilities, including its own public water and access to a public sewer system, Bessemer would be an ideal place to locate industrial or commercial ventures.
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ABOuT BESSEMER
DEMOGRAPHICS
According to the 2010 census, the population of Bessemer Borough is 1,111. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,172 people, 480 households, and 345 families residing in the borough. The racial makeup of the borough was 98.55% White, 0.51% African American, 0.43% Asian, and 0.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.77% of the population. In 2000 census 9.5% of population related Croatian backgrounds, the highest percentage of the population of any municipality in the United States.
HISTORY
Bessemer Borough has been in existence since 1913, although the area was settled over 100 years before, and the town itself came into being a few decades before it became a borough.
The first settlers came in the late 1790's and early 1800's, mainly of Scots-Irish and German descent. The town of Bessemer itself did not exist beyond a small, rural cross-roads in the north-west corner of North Beaver Township for nearly a century. That all began to change in 1887, when a group of blast-furnace operators located limestone deposits on the farms surrounding Bessemer, and began opening quarries to supply the furnaces in Youngstown. To extract these minerals, immigrant laborers came from various parts Europe - Sweden, Austria, Finland, Croatia, Italy and the like. The extraction led to the many quarry lakes that surround the town.
Soon after this began, the Bessemer Limestone Company was established, taking its name from Sir Henry Bessemer, the English inventor who invented the “Bessemer process” for using limestone in the melting process to make steel. This would later give rise to the area being called “Bessemer,” which would grew quickly and became a borough in 1913.
Bessemer was once a thriving industrial community. It hosted a cement plan, two brick yards, and two railroad spurs from the Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroads. In fact, to avoid confusion with a station outside of Pittsburgh called “Bessemer,” the station here was called “Walford Station,” and the branch line which ran from Coverts Crossing to Bessemer was called the “Walford Secondary.” Bessemer also hosted several department stores, supermarkets, businesses and a plethora of bars and restaurants. The brick yards closed by the mid-1960’s and the cement plant ceased production in 2009. With the decline of industry, Bessemer also saw a decline in terms of businesses as well.
While many of the old mainstays of the community have disappeared with the passage of time, the strong heritage and natural resources of our community remains. Today, the community of Bessemer is a safe, mainly residential community within a short drive to shopping centers in New Castle, PA and in Boardman, Ohio. Close to major highways, Bessemer is located within close proximity to I-76, I-680 and I-376, making easy access to Akron, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. However, the town of Bessemer possesses the ability and the natural resources to be a quaint small town, with affordable places to live.
borough council meetings
The Borough Council is made of seven elected council members and the mayor. It meets on the second Monday of every month at 7 p.m. in the council chambers of the H. Spencer Carr Municipal Building. The public is both welcomed and encouraged to attend. Time is given for the public to comment during the meetings. Learn more about Council by clicking here.
water, sewer & garbage
Bessemer Borough owns its own water system, which is operated by of Book and Proach Well Drilling of New Castle. Sewer service is provided by the Bessemer Municipal Authority of Bessemer, and garbage service is provided by Republic Services. All services are billed through the Bessemer Municipal Authority.
For ALL BILLING questions (water, garbage or sewage), please contact the BMA at (724) 667-0990.
For SEWER issues, please contact the BMA at (724) 667-0990.
For GARBAGE issues, please contact the Borough office at (724) 667-7061.
For WATER related emergencies (water main breaks), please contact the Bessemer Borough office during operating hours at (724) 667-7061, or report issues to the Lawrence County Emergency Operations Center (LEOC) at (724) 656-9300, who will dispatch the appropriate authorities.
2023 Drinking Water quality report link
2023 Consumer Confidence Report
important water announcement (4/11/24)
Contact Us
The office of the Borough of Bessemer is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. For more information or with any questions, please contact us using the information to the right or using the form below.
BOROUGH OF BESSEMER OFFICE
H. SPENCER CARR MUNICIPAL BUILDING
201 1/2 E. Poland Ave.
P.O. Box #789
Bessemer, PA 16112
Phone: (724)-667-7061 Email: bessemerboro@comcast.net