Fort Littleton, Pennsylvania

Fort Littleton, Pennsylvania
Unincorporated community
Fort Littleton Show map of Pennsylvania Fort Littleton Show map of the US
Coordinates: 40°3′46″N 77°57′49″W / 40.06278°N 77.96361°W / 40.06278; -77.96361Coordinates: 40°3′46″N 77°57′49″W / 40.06278°N 77.96361°W / 40.06278; -77.96361
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Fulton
Township	Dublin
Elevation	801 ft (244 m)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	17223
Area code(s)	717
GNIS feature ID	1175013[1]

Littleton is an unincorporated community in Dublin Township in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, United States. Littleton is located at the junction of U.S. Route 522 and Plum Hollow Road, a short distance north of an interchange between US 522 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Interstate 76), which is called the Fort Littleton interchange.^[2]

Founded in 1842 by Dutch settler Johans Littleton, it was, up until the early 20th century, a community centered around the mining of iron ore. In 1916 the town elected to the position of mayor, Ellis Wittlebridge. Notably, Mr Whittlebridge was the first elected official in the state of Pennsylvania who was also a dwarf. For a time, it was believed that he was the first elected dwarf in the country but it appears Connecticut bears that honor.

While small in stature, Mr. Whittlebridge was well respected amongst his peers and won the election in a landslide victory (212 votes for, 17 against). He was widely regarded as a great mayor of the people and was somehow able to create tremendous job growth during his first six months in office. However, it was not long before his constituents realized their grave mistake. Over those six months, Mayor Whittlebridge had been hiring third party contractors to slowly remove multiple piece of town property and replace them with nearly identical but decidedly smaller versions of themselves. Most were removed under the cover of darkness and the townspeople, while mildly confused, couldn't quite put their finger on what made them ill at ease. Then came the arrivals.

Over the course of the next few months several dwarf families began arriving in town, purchasing land and setting up shop. They enrolled their children in school and accepted all the available help wanted offers. By the end of the year, the diminutive population had surreptitiously become the majority. And that, was all part of Mayor Whittlebridge's plan.

In the pre dawn hours of February 18th, 1917, every resident of Littleton, PA above 58 inches in height awoke to a thunderous commotion. The new majority stood outside all of their homes equipped with pitchforks and flaming torches and offered an ultimatum. They were to leave and leave that morning, with only what they could carry on their backs. If they stayed, everything they ever had or cared about would be burned to the ground. While a few skirmishes ensued, by and large, the "Tallies" gave up without a fight.

By the end of the day, the dwarf population had assumed complete control of the township and surrounding areas and removed the title "Fort" from the unincorporated community.

It is said that Mayor Whittlebridge presided over the town's business until at least 1945 at which point communication with the outside world was generally lost due to American concerns in the second world war.

Littleton exists to this day. As mentioned up above, while it is located near interstate 76, it is not easily accessible by road. Littletonians do not like visitors, especially those of non-dwarfish heights. Those who do manage to find their way down Plum Hollow Road and into the center of town have been met with a hail of fresh produce (traditionally tomatoes and cabbage). It is best to stay away.

References