| Borough of Lititz | |
| Settlement | |
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Typical street scene along Main Street in Lititz
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| Named for: A Bohemian Castle | |
| Motto: The Heart of Lancaster County | |
| Country | United States |
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| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Lancaster |
| Elevation | 381 ft (116.1 m) |
| Coordinates | |
| Area | 2.3 sq mi (6 km2) |
| - land | 2.3 sq mi (6 km2) |
| - water | 0.0 sq mi (0 km2), 0% |
| Population | 9,029 (2000) |
| Density | 3,884.0 / sq mi (1,499.6 / km2) |
| Settled | 1710 |
| - Founded | 1756 |
| Mayor | Ronald G. Oettel, Jr. (R) |
| Timezone | EST (UTC-5) |
| - summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 17543 |
| Area code | 717 |
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Location of Lititz in Lancaster County
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Location of Lititz in Pennsylvania
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Location of Pennsylvania in the United States
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| Website: http://www.lititzpa.com | |
Lititz /lɨˈtɪts/ is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 6 miles (approximately 10 km) north of the city of Lancaster.
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Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1756, and was named after a castle (mentioned form of name is German; Czech name of this castle is Litice) in Bohemia near the village of Kunvald where the ancient Bohemian Brethren's Church had been founded in 1457. The roots of the Moravian Brethren's Church date back to the ancient Bohemian Brethren's Church.
For a century, only Moravians were permitted to live in Lititz. Until the middle of the 19th century, only members of the congregation could own houses; others were required to lease. The lease-system was abolished in 1855, just five years before the beginning of the Civil War. More information can be found in the book A Brief History of Lititz Pennsylvania by Mary Augusta Huevener, published in 1947.
During a part of the American Revolution, the Brethren's House, built in 1759, was used as a hospital. A number of soldiers died and were buried here. Lititz is also home to Linden Hall School, the oldest all-girls boarding school in the United States. Located adjacent to the Moravian Church on 47 acres (190,000 m2) of land, Linden Hall School was founded by the Moravians in 1746, a decade before the borough was incorporated.[1]
In modern days, Lititz is now recognized for having the longest continuous-running celebration of Independence Day, which has been a town tradition since 1813. This celebration hosts a large volume of tourists and former Lititz residents who return for the Queen of Candles pageant and the yearly fireworks gala supporting Lititz Springs Park. The park itself is decorated each year, rather extravagantly, with wooden beams and trestles placed from side to side of the stone-walled stream and stretching nearly the entire length of the park. The trestles are fitted sockets for white candles to be placed and lit during the celebration. The first candle has traditionally been lit by the years Queen of Candles pageant winner. Musical performances each year ensue, and in the past years have often included Flamin' Dick and the Hot Rods. The park also hosts festivities for children and a plethora of food similar to what may be found at a fair. The 4th of July parade is sponsored by Lititz Lions. Another large event in the summer is the annual art show sponsored by the Village Art Association of Lititz, along with the craft show sponsored by the Lititz Rotary Club, which extends from the Lititz Springs Park out into Broad Street (PA-501) and Main Street (PA-772).
During 2006 a year long celebration was held commemorating the 250th anniversary of the naming of the town. Some of the major events included a service and commemoration ceremony in Lititz Springs Park on Sunday June 11, the official naming ceremony on Monday June 12, a fountain show in the park called "Symphonic Springs" during August 20–26th, and a New Year's celebration.
Lititz is often named in lists of "delightfully-named towns" in Pennsylvania Dutchland, along with Intercourse, Blue Ball, Mount Joy, Bareville, Bird-in-Hand and Paradise.[2][3][4][5][6]
Lititz is located at [7].
Pennsylvania Routes 772 (Orange and Main Streets) and 501 (Broad Street) run through the town.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 2.3 square miles (6.0 km2), all land.
Lititz, along with Elizabeth and Warwick townships and part of Penn Township, is located in the Warwick School District.
As of the census[8] of 2000, there were 9,029 people, 3,732 households, and 2,407 families residing in the borough. The population density was 3,884.0 /sq mi (1,499.6 /km2). There were 3,827 housing units at an average density of 1,646.2 per square mile (636.9/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 97.23% White, 0.44% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races, and 0.83% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.52% of the population.
There were 3,732 households out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.5% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.91.
In the borough the population was spread out with 23.0% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 86.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.2 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $40,417, and the median income for a family was $52,028. Males had a median income of $36,126 versus $25,997 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $20,601. About 2.6% of families and 4.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over.
Lititz has been criticized for its alleged poor ground water quality. The water in Lititz Springs Park tested at 19.1 for Nitrates on August 8, 2007 in a test paid for by the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal.[9] Lititz' water quality was also criticized in February 2008 after Listerine was discharged into the aquifer by the nearby Johnson & Johnson chemical plant,[10][11] and residents complained about a "minty" taste. Johnson and Johnson initially denied any responsibility, but the problem was later identified as the result of a leaky pipe on the company's property. In 2008, the Intelligencer Journal reported that the nonprofit group League of Humane Voters created a website "dedicated to the cause of monitoring issues surrounding the Lititz watershed."[12][13]
Lititz Borough has a multi-million dollar water treatment plant that removes pollutants so that the water distributed to residents meets all Federal and State regulations.[14]
Lititz received national press coverage on 13 November 2005, after David G. Ludwig shot and killed Michael and Cathryn Borden. Ludwig fled the scene with their daughter, Kara Beth, and an Amber Alert was issued for her.
Ludwig was arrested with Kara in Indiana, extradited to Lancaster County, and held on several charges including criminal homicide. He pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree murder, reckless endangerment, statutory sexual assault and firearms violations. Ludwig received two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 9.5 to 19 years for the weapons charges. Ludwig lived within the borough of Lititz. The Bordens lived outside the borough in Warwick Township.
Kara Borden did not return to Lititz following the shooting.
The town received national press coverage on 11 October 2007, after three white 16-year-old students allegedly yelled racial slurs and threw paper wads at minority students outside the 1,600-student Warwick High School. School officials vowed to discipline the three students with suspension or expulsion, tighten security, and ban Confederate flags on school property, and six of the students were charged with disorderly conduct.[15]
The superintendent said the incident was revealed only after a teacher overheard other students discussing it and alerted administrators.[16]
In order to "[try] to rebound from a string of racially motivated incidents," the community will commemorate the 2009 Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday with a call to unity. The community's churches, including the Lititz Moravian Church, will make "a clear statement against racism." The Moravian Church's associate pastor, Mark Breland, who is the first African American to hold that position in the church, will deliver the message. Most of Lititz's congregations don't have African Americans, and community leaders felt that "part of learning to celebrate our diversity begins with hearing about the experience of diversity."[17]
The high school's current mascot depicts the profile of a Native American warrior. Since 1999, some Lititz residents, teachers, and students have criticized the mascot both as a racist stereotype[18] and for misrepresenting a Native American religious symbol.[19] The campaign to eliminate the mascot resurfaced during the 2009–2010 school year, as the district renovated the high school's football field; current plans call for a spear design in the center of the field. In 2010, the district removed the warrior logo from the high school's sign, replacing it with a black-and-red seal featuring the letter W.[20] The warrior image has been used less frequently since 1999;[19] since then, residents have suggested to the school board that the mascot be changed to something representative of Lititz, such as "Wilbur Buds,"[19] a well-known product of the local Wilbur Chocolate Company.
In 2010, the Warwick School Board passed a resolution that from now on, the Native American Head & Spear logos will be used for athletics and the black-and-red seal featuring the letter 'W' will be used for academics.
In January 2011, a member of a group in support of the Warrior logo/name presented a donation to the school board from a bumper sticker sale that was conducted the previous fall.
A Sister City relationship between Lititz and Kunvald (Czech Republic) was established on June 11, 2006, during the celebration of the 250th anniversary naming of Lititz. The ceremony took place in Lititz Springs Park.
...in such delightfully-named towns in Pennsylvania Dutchland as his native Mount Joy, and neighboring Lititz, Blue Ball, Bareville, Intercourse, Bird in Hand, and Paradise.
"...but anyone who names their towns Mount Joy, Intercourse, and Blue Ball can't be all bad. Obviously they have more on their minds than just religion."
Which brings us to Intercourse. You can imagine my delight when I found out that the Amish call the town of Intercourse, Pennsylvania, their home. There seems to be a lot of explanations from locals trying to pass off the name as a bastardisation of 'Enter Course' and so on, but seeing as there are other local towns called Blue Ball, Bird In Hand, and Mount Joy, I suspect that the person responsible had a very juvenile sense of humour. The town sits in upstate Pennsylvania and is a tourist trap for anyone even remotely curious about the Amish way of life.
In the years since then many of these names have been changed to more elegant ones,2 and others have vanished with the ghost towns they adorned, but not a few still hang on. Indeed, there are plenty of lovely specimens to match them in the East, in regions that were also frontier in their days, e.g., the famous cluster in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania: Bird in Hand, Bareville, Blue Ball, Mt. Joy, Intercourse and Paradise.