With an industrial foundation laid down more than 200 years ago, Beaver Falls quickly secured a role in history as one of the most well-established manufacturing towns in western Pennsylvania. Further recognition as a Pittsburgh in miniature soon followed as the town's commercial base grew and prospered during the halcyon days of the nineteenth century. Early residents strove to build the town into a self-supporting community committed to family values, and Beaver Falls continued to grow and thrive after the mills and factories gave way to the social experiments of the Harmony Society and the founding of Geneva College.
Beaver Falls: Gem of Beaver County devotes a chapter to local football legend Joe Namath's first season of greatness, complete with play-by-play details of the exciting Friday night high school games. Broadway Joe's early team picture is here, along with dozens more rare and compelling, never-before-published images. Readers will also find telling narratives of the Big Snow of 1950 and the Great Race of 1908, with more than 100 vintage photographs and maps detailing the gripping stories and unique memories chronicled here.
Beaver Falls Historical Society president and noted historian Kenneth Britten is the author of Arcadia's Images of America volume on his hometown. In this new look at the city's history, his selection of pictures complements vivid descriptions of the people and places whose histories were previously unavailable in print. Beaver Falls: Gem of Beaver County offers readers both young and old an entertaining and informative look at the city from its earliest days to the new millennium.