SHARON

town (township), Windsor county, east-central Vermont, U.S. It lies along the White River 29 miles (47 km) northeast of Rutland and is surrounded on three sides by high hills. Chartered in 1761, it received its biblical name from Sharon, Conn., which was founded in the 1730s during the religious revival known as the Great Awakening. A small lumbering and farming community, Sharon is known as the birthplace of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon faith, who was born Dec. 23, 1805, on an isolated farm in the township. His birthplace is marked by a monolith of polished Barre granite 38.5 feet (12 metres) high, each foot representing a year of his life (he died June 27, 1844). Area 40 square miles (103 square km). Pop. (1990) 1,211; (1996 est.) 1,402. city, Mercer county, western Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies along the Shenango River at the Ohio border, 14 miles (23 km) northeast of Youngstown, Ohio. It is part of an industrial area that includes Sharpsville, Farrell, and Wheatland. The original settlement developed about 1802 around a gristmill. It was laid out in 1815 and was probably named for the biblical plain. The Sharon Furnace, which was built following the completion of the Lake Erie extension of the Pennsylvania Canal in 1844, became the nucleus of an important steel industry in the city. The manufacture of electric transformers and steel-based products are now the city's main economic activities. The Shenango campus of Pennsylvania State University (Penn State Shenango) opened (1965) in Sharon. Buhl Farm Park and the Shenango Dam and Reservoir are nearby. Inc. borough, 1841; city, 1918. Pop. (1990) city, 17,533; Sharon MSA, 121,003; (1998 est.) city, 16,373; (1996 est.) Sharon MSA, 122,155.