According to local legend, the community received its name from a Bible-reading settler who likened the location to the Plain of Sharon in Israel.

Initially a center of coal mining, Sharon's economy transitioned to iron and steelmaking and other heavy industry after the arrival of the Erie Extension Canal in the 1840s.

Following extensive national deindustrialization of the 1970s and 1980s, the city's economy diversified and is now based primarily on light industry, education, health care, and social services.

During World War II the Westinghouse Electric Corporation at Sharon produced 10,000 torpedoes for the US Navy.

[3] In 2004, local politicians proposed the creation of the city of Shenango Valley, a new municipality consisting of Sharon as well as Hermitage, Sharpsville, Farrell, and Wheatland with the issue being put on the ballot in the form of a referendum.

[4] Then Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell voiced support for the measure and would be joined by Kathleen McGinty, Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, and Dennis Yablonsky, Secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development with the trio touring the region to urge for voters to pass the motion.

From the Census Ancestry Question, Sharon has the following ethnic make-up: German 21%, Irish 14%, Italian 11%, Black or African American 11%, English 8%, Polish 5%, Slovak 5%, Welsh 3%, Scots-Irish 2%, Hungarian 2%, Dutch 2%, French (except Basque) 2%, Croatian 1%, Scottish 1%, Russian 1%, Swedish 1%, Arab 1%, Slavic 1%, American Indian tribes, specified 1%.

It is one of 16 flood control projects in the Pittsburgh district of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

[14] Sharon is the home of the original Quaker Steak & Lube, which opened in 1974,[15] and formerly The Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

Sharon is home to the Shenango campus of Pennsylvania State University, which offers several two-year and four-year degrees.

Because of Sharon's location on the Pennsylvania/Ohio border, it is served by WKBN-TV (CBS), WFMJ-TV (NBC), WYTV (ABC), WYFX-LD (Fox) and WBCB (CW), all broadcast from nearby Youngstown, OH.