Foxburg

History

The town takes its name from the Fox family of Philadelphia, former owners of the land upon which the town was built. Samuel Mickle Fox (1763–1808), along with his brother George and brothers-in-law Joseph Parker Norris and George Roberts, purchased a number of tracts of land in western Pennsylvania from the Commonwealth during the 1790s. Six of these tracts, numbered #5725–5730, comprising , were contiguous and located along the Allegheny north of its confluence with Toby's Creek (today's Clarion River). The present town of Foxburg is located on what was designated tract #5729. Samuel's son Joseph purchased these tracts from his father's estate in 1816 and established a residence here ten years later. This was south of the town near the mouth of the Clarion. It became known to generations as "the Fox Mansion" or simply "the Mansion". Succeeding generations would make it a seasonal residence for the next 140 years. The town of Foxburg was founded amidst the oil developments in western Pennsylvania in 1870. At its height during the early 1870s it had a population of over 1,000. It remained a village until its incorporation as a borough on February 6, 1930. The borough was once served by two railroads. One was the Allegheny Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the other was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The B&O actually ran over the old Foxburg Bridge from 1921 to 1964. Today, both railroads are gone, as is the bridge, which was demolished on July 24, 2008. The town is home to the nine-hole Foxburg Country Club, founded in 1887. It has been recognized as the oldest continuously operated course in the United States. The town is also where the character John Nolan from the ABC series The Rookie is from. Before he moved to Los Angeles to become a police officer.

Geography

Foxburg is located in western Clarion County at (41.142937, -79.679926), along the east bank of the Allegheny River, which forms the boundary with Armstrong County. Pennsylvania Route 58 passes through the borough, crossing the Allegheny on the new Foxburg Bridge, which opened in 2009. PA 58 leads northeast and uphill to St. Petersburg and west to Eau Claire. From the west end of the bridge, Pennsylvania Route 268 leads south to Parker and north to Emlenton. According to the United States Census Bureau, Foxburg has a total area of , of which is land and , or 26.45%, is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  3,176
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  3,142
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,067
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,967
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,932
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,901
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,679
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,462

Largest nearby schools

• Keystone JSHS
  High · Knox · 443 students · 13:1 ratio
• Keystone El Sch
  Elementary · Knox · 389 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• Allegheny-Clarion Valley Elem
  Elementary · Foxburg · 318 students · 11.8:1 ratio
• Allegheny-Clarion Valley HS
  High · Foxburg · 265 students · 8.3:1 ratio
• Sligo El Sch
  Elementary · Sligo · 253 students · 12:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2020-10-06
  5 km WSW of Bolivar, Pennsylvania
• M 4 — 2011-12-31
  3 km NW of Youngstown, Ohio