Mountain Top, Pennsylvania

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mountain Top is a census-designated place (CDP) in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 15,269.

Mountain Top consists of the entirety of Dorrance Township, Fairview Township, Nuangola, Rice Township, Slocum Township, Dennison Township, and Wright Township.

Though it is generally accepted that the area's proper name is "Mountain Top," there has been some debate about whether it should actually be "Mountaintop." The local historical society[1] uses the spelling "Mountain Top". The United States Postal Service uses the spelling "Mountain Top" for ZIP Code 18707 and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spells it Mountain Top on a Pennsylvania driver's licence. The local newspaper, however, the Mountaintop Eagle [2], uses the Mountaintop spelling in both its title as well as any reference to its location.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Mountain Top is located at 41°8′17″N, 75°55′54″W (41.138082, -75.931634)[1].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 69.0 square miles (178.7 km²), of which 68.2 square miles (176.6 km²) of it is land and 0.8 square miles (2.2 km²) of it (1.22%) is water.

Mountain Top is located 8 miles north of White Haven and 10 miles south of Wilkes-Barre on Pennsylvania Route 309.

Mountain Top is elevated at 1558 feet above sea level.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 15,269 people, 5,556 households, and 4,394 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 224.0 people per square mile (86.5/km²). There were 5,774 housing units at an average density of 84.7/sq mi (32.7/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.02% White, 0.54% African American, 0.03% Native American, 1.62% Asian, 0.24% from other races, and 0.56% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.08% of the population.

There were 5,556 households out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.2% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.9% were non-families. 18.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.10.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 26.0% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 13.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.9 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $51,655, and the median income for a family was $58,588. Males had a median income of $41,271 versus $26,346 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $22,480. About 2.9% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

About 26.5% of the population has Polish roots.

[edit] Education

Mountain Top is located in the Crestwood Area School District which covers over 110 square miles. In this area is included Dennison Township, Dorrance Township, Fairview Township, Nuangola Borough, Rice Township, Slocum Township, White Haven Borough, Wright Township, and Penn Lake Borough.

The Crestwood School District consists of five schools:

[edit] Notable Events in Mountain Top History

[edit] December 1, 2006

Parts of Mountain Top fell victim to the first December tornado in Pennsylvania on Friday, December 1, 2006. The F2 tornado left a path of destruction approximately 15 miles long. Damage attributed to the tornado included weakened and destroyed roofs, downed trees, and loss of power to the majority of the local area. In addition, Mr. Z's grocery store incurred extensive damage to the front and interior of the building. Crestwood High School also suffered damage, the worst affecting the gymnasium roof.

[edit] December 16,2007

WNEP-TV's transmission tower broadcasting the analog signal on channel 16 collapsed on December 16, 2007 due to severe ice, winds, and snow at the transmitter location on Penobscot Knob[2]. The tower collapse also destroyed the transmitter building. No one was injured during the incident[2]. WCLH's FM antenna and transmitter, which was co-located on WNEP's analog TV tower, was also destroyed during the incident [3]. Transmission of the digital signal on channel 49 was restored after a brief interruption of power to the tower supporting the digital transmitter and antenna. WNEP's signal on local cable systems and satellite was restored by the end of the day on December 16, 2007. WNEP-TV partially restored its analog over the air TV signal by January 1, 2008 [4] by broadcasting from the nearby American Tower on Penobscot Knob supporting the WNEP-DT antenna as well as WOLF-TV/DT's antenna[5][6].

As the WNEP-TV analog broadcast tower collapsed on December 16, 2007, one of the falling guy wires supporting the WNEP-TV tower damaged the neighboring tower broadcasting WVIA-TV (analog and digital) and WVIA-FM by shearing off the top section of the WVIA tower supporting the antenna for the analog and digital TV signals. The antenna for WVIA-FM, located on a lower section of the WVIA tower, remained intact as did the lower section of the WVIA tower. The WVIA-TV analog signal on channel 44 was temporarily put off the air until service was restored through a back-up tower on Penobscot Knob[7]. The collapse of WNEP-TV's analog tower also served power to the transmitters for WYOU-TV and WBRE-TV putting those stations off the air for a time.

[edit] Notable Personalities from Mountain Top

[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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