Ebensburg, Pennsylvania

Reaching New Heights

 

Once a summer resort town, this mountain gem has now elevated to year-round
living

Nestled in the beautiful tree-filled setting of the Allegheny Mountains at an impressive 2100-foot elevation, the once summer retreat town of Ebensburg has blossomed into a thriving borough made up of a cross-section of over 3,000 residents lucky enough to call this mountain paradise home.

The borough of Ebensburg lays claim to the county seat for Cambria County. Its founding dates back to 1797, when a group of Welsh travelers chose to settle in the area.

“We are about two miles south of the Eastern Continental Divide referred to as the Dividing Ridge Summit, so some water that falls here goes down the Mississippi and some goes through to the Susquehanna and goes out to Delaware. We are at the top at about 21000 feet elevation,” Mayor Randy Datsko, describes.

Mayor Datsko notes, “Back in the late 1800s, Ebensburg was kind of a summer resort community for people that wanted to get out of Pittsburgh with the heat, the smoke, and all the industrial side effects of the steel mills.”

“The trains would come from Pittsburgh to Ebensburg to the train station and there were quite a few summer homes here such as a house on South Center Street that belonged to a judge in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court way back when,” he continues.

Ebensburg continues to be a popular summertime destination as the population swells in the summer months. Those looking for the fresh air and the moderate temperatures that only mountain towns can provide pay a visit. Ebensburg’s unique charms and historic significance are also a draw for those who come through and the  welcoming borough offers an enviable lifestyle for those who have planted permanent roots.

Historic downtown focus

About 15 to 20 years ago, Ebensburg went through a bit of a facelift, transforming the historic downtown area.

“We were involved in a pretty extensive streetscape project where all the sidewalks were redone,” Denea Koss,  Borough Community Development Director, points out.

“There was a brick pattern lining each sidewalk on the curb, there were trees added every few blocks, and were new lamp posts that are Victorian looking to complement our Victorian era town when it was founded,” she continues.

“Then we added lamppost banners which have continued.” To mark the different seasons, Ebensburg changes the decorative lamp post banners as well as rotating the banners yearly throughout the downtown core. Matching benches and garbage cans were also added throughout the downtown area to tie together the historic theme.

Adding to the charm of the downtown, Koss notes that Ebensburg boasts two parks; Kimball Park located in the heart of the downtown core at its main intersection, and Evan Park, found across from the borough building which has now become a gathering place for residents and visitors as well as doubling as an event space and where the popular concerts in the park series is held.

Koss has become well known throughout the borough for putting on a host of events catering to residents.

“We put on a series of annual events and every year we have different things going on. It is almost one per month throughout the year which highlights the downtown district,” Koss offers.

“Our largest event which drew around 37,000 attendees last year, is the Potato Fest. We also have a Christmas weekend which is coming up in December and an Art and Bloom art show at our Cambria County Courthouse,” Koss adds.

Thousands of people attend Ebensburg’s Wheels and Wings event and the borough puts on other smaller events regularly including the Downtown Shutdown, the Evens Homecoming, and the Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony in the borough’s Veterans Park.

“These events add vibrancy to the downtown and establish a sense of community for our residents and visitors to come back for these events and enjoy them with family and friends. Also, our businesses benefit, opening their doors for people to come in and see what they have to offer which is a win-win for the community,” Koss remarks.

 

Hometown business pull

When asked about local business success stories, Mayor Datsko draws attention to an influential business that traces its roots back to a small ‘mom and pop’ business that started as a small architectural and engineering firm.

“Mr, Kimball had been a pilot in World War Two and he then came back and rented a second-floor office space from an attorney and developed his business, formerly known as Kimball Engineering and after being bought out by Gannett Fleming, it is now operating under the name Trans Systems. At one point they had 400 employees at the building that was the summer home for the Bissell family,” Mayor Datsko states.

Other notable success stories include an Ebensburg resident who, after working for Henry Ford for a number of years, came back to the borough to set up a machine shop. Mayor Datsko relays that during the 60s and 70s, this Ebensburg-based company employed around 400 people.

After reflecting, the mayor also points to a long-time Ebensburg resident, Jim Lyons, who set up a machine shop named Lyons Cable Company that supplied the coal mines and railroads with wheels and wires.

The Mayor highlights that all of these notable companies provide examples of what can be considered a long line of entrepreneurs who embody the spirit of Ebensburg and tie well into the historic fabric of this dynamic community.

“These three companies are significant and happened during my lifetime,” he adds.

Planned infrastructure to support anticipated growth

As Ebensberg continues to anticipate further growth, borough officials are focused on key critical infrastructure projects earmarked to help lay the necessary foundation.

“About 20 years ago, we became the first tertiary sewer plant system in Pennsylvania. We are way ahead of our time. Johnson just got to secondary stage about 15 years ago, whereas we have had fluoridated water since the late 40s/early 50s-way ahead of our time,” Mayor Datsko remarks.

Turning to current infrastructure projects in the pipeline, the Mayor also sees a significant water line replacement that the borough has broken ground on, and Ebensburg is adding new mains and connections for roughly one-third of the entire municipality.

“With this, we are also upgrading all the fire hydrants. We are replacing the old hydrants with new ones and adding additional ones. The one section they just finished had 18 and they have just added 8 more hydrants totaling now 26,” Mayor Datsko calculates.

“It is not pretty but it is something that was necessary and part of the reason we did this [add to and upgrade hydrants] and could get funding was because the project was concentrating on replacing any lead within the service lines due to the age of the infrastructure.”

“We expected a lot more lead that we ended up with but it was still extremely beneficial for us to replace these water lines, some of which were hundreds of years old,” the Mayor elaborates.

The borough has a stormwater project currently under construction which is a first of its kind in Ebensburg.

“We don’t have a stormwater system within the borough. This is the first phase. Hopefully, we will do two more phases within the next 15 to 20 years,” he states.

Roadworks within the borough also remain top of mind for borough officials, and although the borough is responsible for repaving any borough-owned roadways affected by infrastructure works, Ebensberg also works very closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) for other roadwork projects.

 

Residential and Local Business focus

When asked what residential opportunities exist in Ebensburg the Mayor is quick to answer.

“We do not have a lot of open residential land at this point; there are a few empty lots here and there. We also have some apartment buildings and there is quite a bit of residential growth taking place in CambriaTownship which is just right outside the borough, this is where we are seeing most of our growth” Mayor Datsko notes.

The Mayor attributes the restricted growth directly in the borough to the age of the community (200 years) and challenges in terms of growing outward with limited lands available to build on.

In terms of commercial and business growth, the Mayor draws attention to the strength of Ebensburg’s local business.

“We don’t have any empty storefronts in the borough.”

“This is highly unusual and shows that there is such a vitality within the town and because of the events and the people it attracts, it is a very sought-after area for some businesses to gain entry into,” Kelly Cook, Borough Manager specifies.

“We try to make it more attractive by seeking grants through the year for facade improvement projects and by highlighting what makes it more desirable, more attractive to local businesses to choose our downtown to set up shop here,” Koss says.

To help bring foot traffic to the local businesses Ebensburg has worked hard to make the downtown area more accessible and pedestrian-friendly, embarking on a massive sidewalk project. The borough was also recently offered a $52,000 grant to put in a rapid rectangular flashing beacon to light a major crosswalk in the downtown core.

Looking Ahead

All of these streetscape projects as well as the ongoing borough support for local businesses coupled with a continued focus on business attraction equal a strong growth trajectory for Ebensburg as we round out 2024 and welcome a new year ahead.

So what is the borough focusing its efforts on over the next 18 months or so?

“We are wrapping up our infrastructure projects and hoping to hear work if we have received a grant to dredge Lake Rowena which is a lake that offers a lot of recreation in the form of fishing. The grant would enable us to dredge the lake to help with the wildlife and fishing quality in the area as well as stabilizing the banks- we are really hoping that this goes through,” Cook offers.

“I would say we are just continuing to maintain our sense of community and the vibrancy of our downtown,” Koss reflects.

“I’ve been here for 16 years, the Mayor before me was here for 16 years, and the Mayor before him was here for 20 years,” Mayor Datsko describes.

“There is a lot of stability in a lot of areas here,” he concludes.

AT A GLANCE

Ebensburg

What: Mountain borough that is both historic and a tourist draw with planned infrastructure projects and a dedication to supporting local business

Where: Cambria County, PA