Jeannette, Pennsylvania

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Jeannette is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 10,654 at the 2000 census.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Jeannette is located at 40°19′44″N, 79°36′50″W (40.328773, -79.613997)[1].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.4 square miles (6.2 km²).2.4 square miles (6.2 km²) of it is land and none of the area is covered with water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 10,654 people, 4,630 households, and 2,949 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,414.3 people per square mile (1,706.9/km²). There were 5,139 housing units at an average density of 2,129.3/sq mi (823.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 82.81% White, 15.19% African American, 0.08% Native American, 0.09% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.19% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.50% of the population.

There were 4,630 households out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.3% were married couples living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.3% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.1% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,091, and the median income for a family was $37,038. Males had a median income of $32,413 versus $21,702 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,961. About 10.9% of families and 15.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.2% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] History

First incorporated as a borough on June 7, 1889,[3] Jeannette earned the nickname as "the glass city" in recognition of the numerous glass plants that were founded in the area, with those factories contributing to the city's original stature as the first large manufacturing town in Westmoreland County. In fact, the impact of the glass industry was so significant that the city's name actually comes from Jeannette E. Hartupee McKee, the wife of H. Sellers McKee, a local industrialist who cofounded the Chambers and McKee Glass Works and was a member of the elite South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of Johnstown Flood fame.[4] At times, there were as many as 7 significant glass factories operating in the city of Jeannette including some of the most well known in the history of the glass industry. Names like Jeannette Glass; Fort Pitt Glass; the Pittsburgh Lamp, Brass and Glass Company; American-Saint Gobain, Westmoreland Glass; and others all supplied the country with everything from plate glass windows, to bottles, to milk glass, and much more for many decades. Some estimates over the years indicate that Jeannette once produced somewhere between 70-85% of the world's glass. Unfortunately, the Jeannette's glass industry was one of the early United States industry victims of cheap, foreign competition that made it less expensive to produce glass overseas and today only two glass factories remain in the city. An interesting and more detailed history of the glass industry in Jeannette can be found at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~mhender/jeanette.html.

Jeannette's manufacturing history doesn't end with the glass industry. Today's Elliott Company represents an evolution dating back to 1914 when William Swan Elliott moved his company to Jeannette. The Elliott Company, owned by the Carrier Corporation from 1979 until a 1987 buyout that returned the company to a privately-owned status, only to become an Ebara Corporation plant in 2000 has always had a solid reputation in the dynamo, turbine, and large rotating equipment industry. In 1941, the company produced the first diesel-engine turbocharger and subsequently built more than 40,000 more of them. Throughout the 1970s, local residents routinely witnessed a revolving door of trains hauling parts into the plant on North 4th Street and hauling the huge turbine engines back down the tracks.[5]

The Pennsylvania Rubber Works, moved to Jeannette from Erie, Pennsylvania around 1903, was yet another key part of the city's significant industrial base. Not only did this factory become a significant supplier of play balls (basketballs, footalls, tennis balls, etc.) and carpet underlay as part of General Tire in its later years; but the original Pennsylvania Rubber Works provided products for Jeeps and gas masks during World War II.[6]

[edit] Notable residents

[edit] Notes

1,4. "Jeannette hopes to reclaim glory of manufacturing heyday", , Tribune Review, January 28, 2007

2. "Jeannette", John N. Boucher, "History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania", The Lewis Publishing Co., 1906. Pages 504-505, hostd by rootsweb

3. "A History of Accomplishments", Elliott Company Website

[edit] References

  1. ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  2. ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  3. ^ "Jeannette hopes to reclaim glory of manufacturing heyday", , Tribune Review, January 28, 2007
  4. ^ John N. Boucher, "History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania", The Lewis Publishing Co., 1906. Pages 504-505, http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~mhender/jeanette.html
  5. ^ A History of Accomplishments, Elliott Company Website
  6. ^ "Jeannette hopes to reclaim glory of manufacturing heyday", , Tribune Review, January 28, 2007

[edit] External links

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