Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
From Freepedia
Canonsburg is a borough located in Washington County, Pennsylvania, 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Pittsburgh. Canonsburg was laid out by Colonel John Canon in 1789 and incorporated in 1802. It was the central point of the whiskey insurrection of 1794. The borough is in a rich coal district. Population, including South Canonsvurg, annexed in 1911, 5,588; in 1920, 10,632; and in 1940, 12,599. As of the 2000 census, the borough had a total population of 8,607.
Famous people from Canonsburg include Perry Como, Bobby Vinton, Marty Schottenheimer and Jacob Lewandowski
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History of Chemical Plant
From 1911 to 1922, the Standard Chemical Company operated a radium extraction plant on a 19-acre site in Canonsburg. Between 1930-1942, uranium and radium salts were extracted at the Canonsburg plant from residues and uranium ore. From 1942 to 1957, Vitro Manufacturing Company (later the Vitro Corporation of America) operated a mill at the site to recover uranium and rare metals from various ores and onsite residues, government-owned uranium ore, process concentrates, and scrap materials. The uranium concentrates produced by Vitro were sold to the U.S. Government. The waste products that accumulated at the site over its long history include residues generated by the incomplete extraction of radium, uranium, and other metals during processing of ore, byproduct chemical precipitates such as iron oxides and gypsum, process solutions, raw unprocessed ore materials, and uranium mill tailings. The total quantity of uranium/radium-bearing materials that were processed at the Canonsburg site during the periods of operation is not readily calculated based on the total radioactive waste volumes reported in the literature for the Canonsburg and Burrell sites. The uranium mill tailings were initially stored in uncovered piles, and the tailings material became dispersed by wind and water erosion. Some tailings material were also removed from the mill site for use as fill in local and regional construction projects. In 1956 and 1957, about 11,600 tons of mill tailings from the Canonsburg site were relocated to a railroad property near Blairsville in Burrell Township, Pennsylvania. After the Vitro uranium mill was closed down in 1957, the site was used until about 1966 as a storage facility under a contract issued by the Atomic Energy Commission. The land was purchased in 1967 by private interests and eventually became the Canon Industrial Park, a commercial park for light industrial use.
Remedial action began in October 1983 and was completed in December 1985. The expanded Canonsburg (Vitro) mill site, located in a residential area, includes a 34-acre tract that incorporates the former property used by the Vitro mill and also several adjacent private properties. Detailed radiological surveying of the site revealed that large quantities of radioactive wastes generated during radium and uranium recovery operations remained on the site. Contamination by radium materials extended locally to more than 16 feet below the surface. In response to local public concern, most of the site’s radioactively contaminated materials were stabilized in place. Remediation work at the Vitro mill site included stabilizing about 192,000 cubic yards of onsite radioactive materials and the decontamination and cleanup of nearby vicinity properties including several residences. In all, 163 vicinity properties were identified and cleaned up: radioactively contaminated soil was excavated and clean backfill material was used in grading the properties for proper drainage. Contaminated material removed from vicinity properties was returned to the Vitro mill site and stabilized there along with the in situ residual material.
Disposal Area: At the Vitro site, the residual radioactive materials were consolidated into a 6-acre disposal cell in1985. The cell is lined with a one-foot thick clay layer designed to minimize percolation of water through the cell and thereby protect local groundwater reservoirs. The engineered, multilayered cap of the disposal cell is six-feet thick and consists of: a three-foot-thick soil and clay barrier designed to prevent the escape of radon gas; a riprap layer up to two feet thick covers the radon barrier and serves as erosion protection; and a one-foot-thick soil layer planted with native grass species covers the cell.
complements of: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/umtra/canonsburg_title1.html
Geography
Canonsburg is located at 40°15'43" North, 80°11'6" West (40.262012, -80.185030)1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 6.0 km² (2.3 mi²). 6.0 km² (2.3 mi²) of it is land and none of the area is covered with water.
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there are 8,607 people, 3,809 households, and 2,285 families residing in the borough. The population density is 1,432.4/km² (3,703.5/mi²). There are 4,144 housing units at an average density of 689.7/km² (1,783.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough is 91.01% White, 6.53% African American, 0.06% Native American, 0.64% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 0.19% from other races, and 1.50% from two or more races. 0.72% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 3,809 households out of which 23.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.6% are married couples living together, 12.8% have a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% are non-families. 34.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 17.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.23 and the average family size is 2.88.
In the borough the population is spread out with 20.3% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 42 years. For every 100 females there are 87.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 83.8 males.
The median income for a household in the borough is $31,184, and the median income for a family is $42,793. Males have a median income of $32,458 versus $22,733 for females. The per capita income for the borough is $17,469. 8.9% of the population and 5.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 14.5% of those under the age of 18 and 6.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
External links
- Maps and aerial photos
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- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Local or Microsoft Virtual Earth
