Kingston, Pennsylvania

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kingston is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River, opposite Wilkes Barre. Kingston was incorporated as a borough in 1858. It is part of the greater metropolitan area of the city of Wilkes-Barre. In 1900, 3,846 people lived here; in 1910, 6,449; and in 1940, 20, 679 people lived here. In the census of 2000, the borough of Kingston had a population of 13,855 people.

Contents 1 History 2 Transportation 3 Geography 4 Government 5 Demographics 6 Notable natives and residents 7 External links

[edit] History

Near Kingston stood Forty Fort, prominent in the Pennamite-Yankee War and in the Revolution. In the vicinity of this fort occurred, in 1778, the famous Wyoming Massacre, which resulted from a dispute between settlers from Connecticut and other settlers from Pennsylvania.

• Pearce, Annals of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, (Philadelphia, 1860)
• Smith, History of Wyoming Valley, (Kingston, Pa., 1906)

[edit] Transportation

• The Wilkes-Barre Wyoming Valley Airport is located in the adjacent town of Forty Fort.
• Kingston is connected to downtown Wilkes-Barre by the famous Market Street bridge.
• The lengthy, famous U.S. Route 11, which stretches out to the southern United States, runs across Kingston on Wyoming Avenue, which is the longest non-highway road in all of northeastern Pennsylvania.

[edit] Geography

Kingston is located at 41°15′59″N, 75°53′22″W (41.266481, -75.889478)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 5.7 km² (2.2 mi²). 5.5 km² (2.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (2.71%) is water.

[edit] Government

A mayor represents the borough of Kingston, elected to a term of office. The current Kingston mayor is Republican James Haggerty, also a part-time attorney in the borough.

Haggerty's office proudly stands by the one of town's major economically beneficial sites, the Wyoming Seminary Upper School, a college-preparatory-linked part-boarding high school recognized as one of the most prestigious educational institutions for high schoolers across the globe.

Haggerty has entered the race for the GOP nomination for the Pennsylvania State Senate to succeed retiring senator, Charles Lemmond, who represents scattered portions of various counties including Trucksville and Shavertown, both Kingston suburbs. In May 2006 Haggerty lost his State Senate bid in the primary to Lisa Baker.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 13,855 people, 6,065 households, and 3,372 families residing in the borough. The population density was 2,499.7/km² (6,461.6/mi²). There were 6,555 housing units at an average density of 1,182.7/km² (3,057.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough was 96.84% White, 0.77% African American, 0.07% Native American, 1.53% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.29% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.80% of the population.

There were 6,065 households out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.7% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.4% were non-families. 40.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the borough the population was spread out with 19.7% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 24.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 83.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.9 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $33,611, and the median income for a family was $45,578. Males had a median income of $34,069 versus $24,482 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $20,568. About 8.2% of families and 11.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.7% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Notable natives and residents

• Frank Zane, legendary bodybuilder was born in Kingston. He graduated from Wilkes University and went on to win the Mr. Olympia title an impressive three years in a row (1977-1979).
• Edie Adams, singer and light comedienne (It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), began her career with and later married Ernie Kovacs. Did TV commercials in the 1960's for Muriel Cigars, with the somewhat racy line at the time "Why don't you pick me up and smoke me some time?".
• Kingston has produced one Major League Baseball player...Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Steamer Flanagan. (b. April 20, 1881)

[edit] External links

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 41.266481° -75.889478°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA