List of municipalities in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania

This is a list of municipalities in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Sullivan County's thirteen incorporated municipalities are the subject of the list, which gives their names and etymologies, dates settled and incorporated, what they were formed from, area, population, and location within the county. In the 2000 census, the population of Sullivan County was 6,556,cite web|url= http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=Sullivan+County&_cityTown=Sullivan+County&_state=04000US42&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&show_2003_tab=&redirect=Y |title = Fact Sheet: Sullivan County, Pennsylvania | publisher = U.S. Census Bureau | date= 2000 | accessdate = 2008-02-07] making it an "Eighth Class County", defined by Pennsylvania law as "having a population of less than 20,000 inhabitants".cite web| url = http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_71264_0_0_18/ | title = Pennsylvania Local Government |publisher = Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |format = PDF |accessdate = 2008-02-07] Its county seat is Laporte, which is the smallest county seat in Pennsylvania by population, as of 2000. [cite book| title = County Courthouses of Pennsylvania: A Guide |first = Oliver P. |last = Williams | date = 2001 | publisher = Stackpole Books | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=mzwodaKxQmgC&pg=PA194&dq=Laporte+smallest+county+seat&sig=XOOaRoLeCgtu51haarVaU4PaPc8
isbn = ISBN 0811727386 | accessdate = 2008-02-09]

Sullivan County is located in north central Pennsylvania, about 123 miles (198 km) northwest of Philadelphia and 195 miles (314 km) east-northeast of Pittsburgh.cite web | last = Michels | first = Chris | year = 1997 | url = http://www2.nau.edu/~cvm/latlongdist.html | title = Latitude/Longitude Distance Calculation |publisher = Northern Arizona University | accessdate = 2007-09-17] As of 2008, its thirteen incorporated municipalities include four boroughs and nine townships. Sullivan County covers 452 square miles (1,172 km²), of which 450 square miles (1,165 km²) are land and 2 square miles (6 km², 0.53%) are water. Its municipalities range in size from the borough of Dushore with 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²) to Davidson Township with 78.2 square miles (202.3 km²). Cherry Township has the highest population of any municipality (1,718 or 26.2% of the county total as of 2000), while the borough of Forksville has the lowest population (147 or 2.2%).

Under Pennsylvania law, there are two types of incorporated municipalities in the county: boroughs and townships. Any municipality in Pennsylvania with more than 10 persons can incorporate as a borough. Any township or borough with a population of at least 10,000 can ask the state legislature to become chartered as a city. However, as Sullivan County has a population of only 6,556, it has no cities. There are no unincorporated areas in the county, since all territory in Pennsylvania is incorporated.

History

The land which became Sullivan County was originally purchased from the Iroquois by the Province of Pennsylvania in 1768, as part of the first Treaty of Fort Stanwix. It was originally part of Northumberland County, then became part of Lycoming County when it was formed in 1795. cite book | last = Meginness | first = John Franklin | title = History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania: including its aboriginal history; the colonial and revolutionary periods; early settlement and subsequent growth; organization and civil administration; the legal and medical professions; internal improvement; past and present history of Williamsport; manufacturing and lumber interests; religious, educational, and social development; geology and agriculture; military record; sketches of boroughs, townships, and villages; portraits and biographies of pioneers and representative citizens, etc. etc." | date = 1892 | url = http://www.usgennet.org/usa/pa/county/lycoming/history/lyco-history-01.html | accessdate = 2007-08-05 | edition = 1st Edition | publisher = Brown, Runk & Co. | location = Chicago, IL | id = ISBN 0-7884-0428-8 | quote = (Note: ISBN refers to Heritage Books July 1996 reprint. URL is to a scan of the 1892 version with some OCR typos). ] Sullivan County itself was formed from the northeastern part of Lycoming County on March 15 1847. It was the thirteenth and last county formed at least partly from Lycoming County, and the fifth entirely formed from it.

According to the official state publication "Pennsylvania Local Government", Sullivan County was named for Pennsylvania state senator Charles C. Sullivan, who "took an active part in procuring passage of the bill" establishing the county. However, according to former Pennsylvania state librarian Frederic A. Godcharles (1933), the county is named for General John Sullivan, who led the Sullivan Expedition against the Iroquois in 1779.

While all four boroughs were formed after Sullivan County was established, seven of the nine townships were formed while still part of Lycoming County. The first of these was Shrewsbury Township, which encompassed all of modern Sullivan County when originally formed in 1803. Elkland Township was formed from Shrewsbury in 1804, as were Cherry (1824), Davidson (1833), and Forks Townships (1833). Plunketts Creek Township was formed from Franklin and Davidson Townships in 1838, and Fox Township was formed from Elkland in 1839. When Sullivan County was formed in 1847, both Shrewsbury and Plunketts Creek Townships were split, with each county originally having a township of that name. Plunketts Creek Township in Sullivan County changed its name to Hillsgrove Township in 1856. Sullivan County has no former townships, and no counties have been formed from it.

When formed in 1847, Sullivan County had no boroughs. The unincorporated village of Cherry Hill in Cherry Township served as the first county seat until 1850, when Laporte was founded in the geographic center of the county, and became its new county seat. In 1850 the population of the county was 3,694 and it grew steadily to a peak of 12,134 in 1900. This was just after the borough of Eagles Mere was incorporated as the last of the county's municipalities, in 1899. [cite web| url = http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/php/newlong3.php | title= Historical Census Browser: Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania: Total Population by County 1850-1960 |publisher = University of Virginia Library | format = Searchable database | accessdate = 2008-02-13] Much of this growth was fueled by lumber-based industry, but the virgin forests were almost all gone by 1900 and the population declined in seven of ten decades since then, decreasing by a total of 46% between 1900 and 2000. [cite web|url= http://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/pa190090.txt |title = Pennsylvania, Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990 | author= | author = Richard L. Forstall | date= March 27 1995 | publisher = U.S. Census Bureau | accessdate = 2008-02-13]

Municipalities

Clickable map

The map shown below is clickable; click on any municipality name to be redirected to the article for that borough or township.

ee also

*Loyalsock State Forest
*Worlds End State Park
*Ricketts Glen State Park

References

"Unless otherwise noted, all information on area and population comes from the U.S. Census Bureau."

External links

*cite web|url = http://www.sullivancounty-pa.us/ |title = Sullivan County, Pennsylvania | publisher = Sullivan County Commissioners |accessdate = 2008-02-09 "Official Sullivan County Website"
*cite map |scale = 1:65,000 | publisher= Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Bureau of Planning and Research, Geographic Information Division | url= ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf/BPR_pdf_files/Maps/GHS/Roadnames/sullivan_GHSN.PDF | title= 2007 General Highway Map Sullivan County Pennsylvania | format = PDF |accessdate= 2008-02-09