Williamsport, Pennsylvania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County,GR6 Pennsylvania in the United States. The population was 30,706 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Williamsport-Lock Haven, Pennsylvania Combined Statistical Area.
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[edit] Business and Culture
Williamsport is the home of two colleges, Lycoming College and Pennsylvania College of Technology, as well as the Newport Business Institute. Williamsport is also well known for the Lycoming aircraft engines made by Textron. The local newspaper is the Williamsport Sun Gazette. The local news/talk radio stations are WRAK/WRKK 1400/1200 kHz, and WWPA 1340 kHz. The town is served by Williamsport Regional Airport (IPT), although the airport is located several miles east of the city in the town of Montoursville.
The Little League World Series is held annually on the other side of the West Branch Susquehanna River in South Williamsport, where Little League Baseball now has its headquarters. Williamsport also hosts the Williamsport Crosscutters baseball club of the New York-Penn League.
Williamsport "First Fridays" is a new addition to Williamsport monthly tradition. On the first Friday of each month, businesses, restaurants, and personal shops in the area come together to display a set theme (local photography, works of local artists, etc.) in each of their storefronts in order to bring pedestrians into the city.
[edit] History
Williamsport was incorporated as a borough on March 1, 1806, and as a city on January 15, 1866. The city is the original home of Little League Baseball, founded in 1939 as a three-team league.
In the late 1800s, when Williamsport was known as "The Lumber Capital of the World" because of its thriving lumber industry, it also was the birthplace of the national newspaper Grit in 1882. Williamsport once had more millionaires per-capita than anywhere in the world. The area's local highschool, the Williamsport Area High School, uses The Millionaires as its mascot.
[edit] Selection of Williamsport as the county seat
The selection of Williamsport as county seat was a major controversy in the early history of Lycoming County. It involved a bitter rivalry between an old frontier town and an upstart town that was built on a swamp. The first commissioners and officers of Lycoming County had their first offices and held their first court in Jaysburg (now part of the Newberry section of Williamsport). Jaysburg was on the western side of Lycoming Creek on a high piece of land. The land to the east of Lycoming Creek was known as "Deer Park" and was quite swampy. Jaysburg was at the time the only sizeable village west of Muncy. Although Muncy was and still is in Lycoming County it was not considered as an option for county seathood, possibly due to its proximity to the southern and eastern borders of the county. Jaysburg's buildings were sufficient enough to serve as the first courthouse and jail in the history of Lycoming County. It seemed to be the most logical place for establishing a county seat and many of its residents quite sure that their town would indeed be the county seat. This was not to be. The county seat was awarded to a new community across the creek and Jaysburg soon disappeared from the map and its land was absorbed by the new city of Williamsport.
One of the first county judges, William Hepburn, owned the land on the opposite shore of Jaysburg that was known as Deer Park. Another land speculator, Michael Ross owned 285 acres of land in what is now the central part of Williamsport. Ross had laid out a town on his property and a few homes were being built. Ross and Hepburn would team together to create Williamsport from land that was swampy and thought to be uninhabitable by the Susquehannocks who had originally inhabited the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley. Ross wanted to sell his properties and rightly believed that they would quickly sell if his town was made county seat. Hepburn desired for politcal power, had little money by which to gain that power, but had a lot of land, land that could also be sold if Williamsport were to become the county seat.
The citizens of Jaysburg saw the attempts by Hepburn and Ross as a threat and they fought back. They believed that Jaysburg was much better suited to be the seat of government. It was already well established and held the higher and drier land. They firmly believed that Williamsport would be frequently flooded and that the swamps would carry deadly diseases. The Jayburgers sought to prove their point by sending an affidavit to the state capital stating that the land was prone to flooding and thereby unsuitable to be the county seat. A resident of Northumberland wrote a sworn affidavit that he had once "tied up" his boat on a point of land on what is now East Third and State Streets in downtown Williamsport. He accessed it by way of a "gut" or an arm of the river that backflowed into the land. The affidavit was the proof that the Jaysburg interests needed to discredit Williamsport as a possible location for the county seat. Hepburn and Ross heard of this potentially financially devastating document and sought to have it destroyed before it reached the state government. It is supposed that men working for Hepburn and Ross met up with the messenger bearing the affidavit at the Russell Inn on the corner of East Third and Mulberry Streets in Williamsport and got him intoxicated. Then they are said to have cut open his saddle bags and made off with the documents. [1]
The state commissioners by this time had begun to grow very weary of the rivalry between Jaysburg and Williamsport. They began to consider a third possibility for the county seat, a new village that was further up the West Branch Susquehanna River west of the mouth of Pine Creek in what is now Clinton County. The town of Dunnsburg even went as far as offering, free of charge, lots on which to build the buildings that would be required by the county government. It appeared as if the state commissioners would choose neither Williamsport nor Jaysburg, instead choosing the outpost of Dunnsburg. This is when Judge Hepburn and Michael Ross set out their plan that ulitmately lead towards Williamsport being named the county seat.
Hepburn convinced Ross to offer lots of his property to the state commissioners for the building of a county courthouse and jail. This he believed would induce the state commissioners to give the seathood to Williamsport. Ross is stated to have had litte interest in politics, but being a good businessman was interested in selling his land. Ross agreed to Hepburn's suggestion and the lots were offered to the state commission. The state commission accepted the lots and Williamsport was finally named the county seat of Lycoming County.
When Williamsport was established as the county seat it was little more than a few cabins spread here and there in the aforementioned swampy areas. Jayburg served as the defacto county seat for several years after Williamsport was "officially" named the seat of government for Lycoming County. This delay became a cause for concern to the residents of county and the state government in Philadelphia. The county commissioners delayed in constructing a courthouse and jail in Williamsport until 1799. The jail was finally opened in 1801. Next the commsissioners approved the construction of the county courthouse in Williamsport. Construction also began in 1800 and work was completed in late 1804, nearly ten years after Williamsport was named the county seat.
[edit] Current Development
The Williamsport Downtown Gateway Revitalization Project, begun in 2004, has been set into place in order to attract more people (both citizens of the Williamsport community and visitors) to the Downtown Williamsport area, as the last major transit project sought to do the exact opposite and has rerouted people around the city for years.
Construction on the Market Street Bridge, the first of many projects, began in June 2004. Physical work is expected to take four years, ending in 2008; three planned for the new bridge, and the last is scheduled for work on Via Bella.
The first two-lane bridge has been built just upstream of the existing structure. Demolition of the old bridge has been completed. Another two-lane structure will be built at the same location as the old bridge. The new upstream bridge will carry Route 15 southbound traffic, while the new downstream bridge will carry Route 15 northbound traffic.
From the old Donut Deli next to the Basin Street Shops on Via Bella, a Starbucks coffeeshop franchise has been constructed and was opened in late September, early October 2006. It currently enjoys many customers, especially in time for the holiday season with the addition of certain holiday beverages to the menu.
The growth of food-services and sit-down restaurants in the area has also seen interest, especially in the new Aspen Square complex built aside Pine Street which featured the first Quiznos sub shop in the area (which closed later when a second Quiznos, only a few miles away, opened in a more strategic spot on Maynard Street, next to the Pennsylvania College of Technology) and a take-out only Pizza Hut, the second of the franchise in the area.
Keystone Coffee, built in the same building complex as the Quiznos on Maynard Street (next to the recently-built Sheetz convenience store, Wendy's, and Blue Bird carwash), opened on April 1st, 2006, and features a great coffeehouse cultural atmosphere and "Starbucks-style" beverages and lower prices, perfect for those who are anti-Starbucks, of which there are many in Williamsport's growing college community.
A new 8+ screen movie theater is being built on West 4th Street, which will be an incredibly simple addition to the community as the closest upscale theater had been at the Lycoming Mall, at least fifteen miles away from the city center.
Other initiatives planned include the construction of a riverside amphitheater next to the new Market Street Bridge, a multi-purpose arena where hockey and ice skating would be available, a conference center with a pedestrian cable-stayed bridge spanning from the amphitheater across the highway to the center, and some other officials have even suggested the construction of an Imax theater in the downtown area.
The Lycoming Mall, placed in what could be called the "extreme Greater Williamsport Area" in Pennsdale, recently undergone a major growth spurt. In 2006 alone, Old Navy, Borders Bookstore (with Seattle's Best cafe'), Macy's (converted from Kaufman's), Best Buy, and Dick's Sporting Goods have all come to the mall and seems to have fulfilled the wishes of the mall owners of revitalizing the one wing of the mall, which had become stagnant after the destruction of the mall's internal movie theater after the Great Escape theater (12 screens) had been built across the parking lot.
North America's biggest fully air-supported structure , and the third largest in the world, has been constructed directly adjacent to the Lycoming Mall in Muncy township and opened on November 1st, 2006. Called the STN Sports Dome, it has 135,000 square feet of usable space for field sports, training, tournaments, leagues, clinics and special events.
Future development of the Lycoming Mall area has already gotten underway in December 2006 with the announcement of another retail and restaurant center that will provide 135,000 more square feet of economic development in Lycoming County. Plans have been announced that the square footage of this retail development center will be even larger and will include a Target, Michael's Arts and Crafts, a new Circuit City building (relocating the current Circuit City establishment from inside the immediate Lycoming Mall area), and a possible restaurant chain (plans for an Applebee's had been scratched during the last major mall development, and rumors have started that it may be chosen for this most recent development).
[edit] Geography and Climate
As the crow flies, Williamsport is approximately 100 mi (160 km) northwest of Philadelphia and about 165 mi (265 km) east-northeast of Pittsburgh. It is bordered by the West Branch Susquehanna River to the south, Loyalsock Township to the east and north, Old Lycoming Township to the north and Woodward Township to the west.
Williamsport is located at (41.244428, -77.018738).GR1 +.GR1
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.7 km² (9.5 mi²). 23.0 km² (8.9 mi²) of it is land and 1.7 km² (0.7 mi²) of it (6.92%) is water.GR1
| Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures | ||||||||||||
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rec High °F | 69 | 71 | 87 | 92 | 96 | 102 | 103 | 100 | 102 | 91 | 83 | 69 |
| Norm High °F | 33.2 | 37.1 | 47.8 | 60.2 | 71.3 | 78.9 | 83.2 | 81.4 | 73.3 | 61.8 | 49 | 37.8 |
| Norm Low °F | 17.9 | 19.9 | 28.2 | 37.8 | 47.8 | 56.8 | 61.7 | 60.4 | 52.8 | 40.9 | 32.7 | 23.7 |
| Rec Low °F | -20 | -13 | -2 | 15 | 28 | 36 | 43 | 38 | 28 | 20 | 8 | -15 |
| Precip (in) | 2.85 | 2.61 | 3.21 | 3.49 | 3.79 | 4.45 | 4.08 | 3.38 | 3.98 | 3.19 | 3.62 | 2.94 |
| Source: USTravelWeather.com [2] | ||||||||||||
[edit] Government
Williamsport operates on a "Strong Mayor" form of governing, meaning the mayor has the power to do something without consent of the city council. The current mayor of the City of Williamsport is Mary B. Wolf.
[edit] Mayors
Former Mayors (1968-Present)
- Richard J. Carey
- John R. Coder
- Daniel P. Kirby
- Steven J. Lucasi
- Jessie L. Bloom - First female mayor.
- Phillip E. Preziosi - Previously member of the Williamsport Police Department. Second officer to win mayor's office. Served one term as mayor.
- Steven W. Cappelli - Currently State Representative
- Michael R. Rafferty - Mayor 2000-2004. Served nine years city council, six years city council president.
- Mary B. Wolf
See also: List of Mayors of Williamsport, Pennsylvania
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 30,706 people, 12,219 households, and 6,732 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,335.1/km² (3,456.3/mi²). There were 13,524 housing units at an average density of 588.0/km² (1,522.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.11% White, 12.73% African American, 0.36% Native American, 0.57% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.48% from other races, and 1.73% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.11% of the population.
There were 12,219 households out of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.9% were married couples living together, 15.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.9% were non-families. 35.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% 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 2.97.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.5% under the age of 18, 18.0% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,946, and the median income for a family was $33,844. Males had a median income of $26,668 versus $20,196 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,707. About 13.7% of families and 21.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.0% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Media
[edit] Radio Stations
Williamsport is ranked #271 by Arbitron in terms of its radio market.
By frequency: (FM) 88.1 | 88.9 | 89.7 | 90.7 | 91.7 | 92.1 | 93.3 | 95.5 | 96.3 | 97.7 | 99.3 | 99.9 | 102.7 | 105.1 | 107.9
(AM) 1050 | 1200 | 1340 | 1400
By callsign: | WBYL | WBZD | WCRG | WILQ | WJSA | WKSB | WLYC | WPTC | WQBR | WQSU | WRAK | WRKK | WRLC | WRVH | WSNU | WVRT | WVYA | WWPA | WZXR
- See also: List of radio stations in Williamsport
Allentown (FM) (AM) | Altoona | Erie (FM) (AM) | Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon (FM) (AM) | Johnstown | Lancaster (FM) (AM) | Meadville-Franklin | Philadelphia (FM) (AM) | Pittsburgh (FM) (AM) | Reading | State College | Sunbury-Selinsgrove-Lewisburg | Wilkes Barre-Scranton (FM) (AM) | Williamsport | York (FM) (AM)
Non-Arbitron-Ranked Pennsylvania Radio Markets:
Northern Pennsylvania (includes DuBois, Kane, Punxsutawney, and St. Marys)
Markets that transcend New York and Pennsylvania:
Olean NY/Bradford PA | Jamestown NY/Warren PA
[edit] Reference
Meginness, John Franklin [1892]. "XIII", History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania: including its aboriginal history; the colonial and revolutionary periods; early settlement and subsequent growth; organization and civil administration; the legal and medical professions; internal improvement; past and present history of Williamsport; manufacturing and lumber interests; religious, educational, and social development; geology and agriculture; military record; sketches of boroughs, townships, and villages; portraits and biographies of pioneers and representative citizens, etc. etc.", 1st Edition, Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co.. ISBN 0-7884-0428-8. Retrieved on February 22, 2007. “(Note: ISBN refers to Heritage Books July 1996 reprint. URL is to scan of 1892 version with some OCR typos).”
[edit] External links
- 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
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Lycoming County, Pennsylvania County Seat: Williamsport |
|---|---|
| Cities |
Williamsport |
| Boroughs |
Duboistown | Hughesville | Jersey Shore | Montgomery | Montoursville | Muncy | Picture Rocks | Salladasburg | South Williamsport |
| Townships |
Anthony | Armstrong | Bastress | Brady | Brown | Cascade | Clinton | Cogan House | Cummings | Eldred | Fairfield | Franklin | Gamble | Hepburn | Jackson | Jordan | Lewis | Limestone | Loyalsock | Lycoming | McHenry | McIntyre | McNett | Mifflin | Mill Creek | Moreland | Muncy Creek | Muncy | Nippenose | Old Lycoming | Penn | Piatt | Pine | Plunketts Creek | Porter | Shrewsbury | Susquehanna | Upper Fairfield | Washington | Watson | Wolf | Woodward |
| Communities and CDPs |
