Jonestown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania

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Jonestown is a borough in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon County, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,028 at the 2000 census.

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[edit] History

Originally, Jonestown was called Williamsburg.

In 1813, Thomas Walker, a politician, was scheduled to vote on whether Jonestown or Lebanon should become the county seat of Lebanon County. But on the day of the vote two men from the Lebanon faction took Walker to the Buck Hotel (still open and located in the main square of Jonestown) and kept buying him rum until he was too intoxicated to vote. As a result, Lebanon won by a vote and is now home to the county courthouse.

In 1961, Jonestown celebrated its bicentennial. Nearly 30,000 people showed up to enjoy the festivities which included a parade and many other festivites that spanned over 8 days.

Recently, due to new construction of housing developments, the population continues to grow.

[edit] Geography

Border detail of Jonestown and surrounding municipalities
Border detail of Jonestown and surrounding municipalities

Jonestown is located at 40°24′50″N, 76°28′45″W (40.414001, -76.479030)[1].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.7 km²), all of it land.

Jonestown is bordered to the north, east, and south by Swatara Township (2.4 mi), and to the west by Union Township (1.18 mi)

[edit] Demographics

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 1,028 people, 402 households, and 272 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,597.0 people per square mile (620.2/km²). There were 418 housing units at an average density of 649.4/sq mi (252.2/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 97.67% White, 1.26% African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 0.58% from other races, and 0.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.85% of the population.

There were 402 households out of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.5% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.1% were non-families. 28.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the borough the population was spread out with 27.2% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 31.9% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 107.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.9 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $36,000, and the median income for a family was $45,208. Males had a median income of $30,700 versus $20,724 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $15,322. About 6.9% of families and 9.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.8% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.

[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.

[edit] External links

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