Brackenridge Borough is one square mile, stretching along the right bank of the Allegheny River. Brackenridge is a little over 22 miles north of Pittsburgh and its population is approximately 3,500. The borough is named after the Brackenridge family. The family at one point owned thousands of acres in what is present day Brackenridge, Harrison Township and Tarentum. The first member of the Brackenridges, Hugh Henry, came over to the U.S. in 1753 and was later credited with founding the University of Pittsburgh. Hugh’s son Col. Henry Marie Brackenridge settled with his family in the Allegheny Valley in the early 1800s. The home he built there was called Oak Grove that was later torn down for Allegheny Ludlum Brackenridge Works, an Allegheny Technologies Steel Mill. The neighborhood was set up as a borough on September 21, 1901. The borough celebrated 100 years in a celebration from July 29 through August 4, 2001.

Brackenridge is part of the Highlands School District which operates the Fairmount Primary Center. Noteworthy people from Brackenridge include Bud Carson, former defensive coordinator for the Steelers, Ronald Robertson, a figure skater and Olympic silver medalist and Cookie Gilchrist, an African-American civil rights activist and former American Football League and Canadian Football League star.

A court order setting up a borough was signed by an Allegheny County court on September 21, 1901. John Long was named the first burgess. Members of the first council were appointed by the court. On May 3, 1902, the first taxes were levied in Brackenridge, setting a property assessment at five mills.