Tower City, Pennsylvania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tower City is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,396 at the 2000 census.
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[edit] Geography
Tower City is located at (40.588869, -76.553282)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.8 km² (0.3 mi²), all land.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 1,396 people, 608 households, and 383 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,738.7/km² (4,546.8/mi²). There were 684 housing units at an average density of 851.9/km² (2,227.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough was 98.85% White, 0.21% African American, 0.50% from other races, and 0.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.86% of the population.
There were 608 households out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.2% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 32.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.92.
In the borough the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 20.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 85.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.3 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $30,037, and the median income for a family was $39,219. Males had a median income of $29,286 versus $25,089 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $15,678. About 7.3% of families and 9.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.8% of those under age 18 and 17.9% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] History
Tower City was born in an attempt by attorney Charlemange Tower and his business partner, Alfred Munson, to create a single landed estate, measuring some 65 by 4 1/2 miles at it's widest point, in southwest Schyulkill County. This thin, but long, stretch of land was to be leased to various coal compaines to support the burgeoning iron manufacturing business in Schyulkill County at that time.
The plan called for Tower to claim and purchase several thousand acres of land that surrounded Munson's eight thousand acre claim. In addition, he was to use his legal acumen to clear all liens and opposing claims to Munson's land, and all new land acquired. In return, Tower would receive ownership and title to one half of the land obtained, once the cost to Munson had been settled, or Tower paid him half the value of the land.
At the time, the Schyulkill Valley was a hotly contested property, with constant conflicts over titles and rights. Had any of their competitors became aware of what Tower and Munson were up to, they may well have bought up the land the pair were after, and charged exorbitant prices for it. Or worse, refuse to sell it at all. Thusly, they chose to operate in secret. Tower would make the purchases, and convey the titles to legal dummies to hide the actual ownership of the land.
When Alfred Munson passed away in May of 1854, his son, Samuel, was appointed to handle his estate. This made him Tower's new partner.
By 1858 Tower and Munson were owners of eleven thousand acres. By now, Tower's plan was well out of the bag, and anyone who had even a partial claim to any of the lands began to litigate. Only Tower's considerable skill as a lawyer kept the whole enterprise from falling apart.
In 1867, Tower decided to start selling the lands, wanting to realize his 1/2 interest in them, as stated in the original contract with Alfred Munson. Unfortunately, he could not find a buyer due to the title issues.
Deciding instead to establish colleries on the land, in March of 1868 he leased 1,503 acres to two independent coal companies. It was a 15 year term, with a rental of $.30 for each ton of coal mined. The companies placed two colleries on the land, the Tower and the Brookside.
Near the colleries, Tower and Munson began to develop a small town, which was named Tower City when first surveyed. Tower laid out the town, and rented lots to settlers. The town was up and running by mid 1872, and immediately suffered a housing shortage. After these initial growing pains, the town grew steadly due to the colleries, and was officially incorporated on December 19, 1892 as a borough of Porter Township, Schyulkill County.
[edit] External links
- Porter Tunnel Mine Kocher Coal Company Tower City, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania March 1, 1977 (9 Killed)
- Maps and aerial photos
- 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
