Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Lock Haven, Pennsylvania
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image_caption = Clinton County Courthouse in Lock Haven


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mapsize = 160px
map_caption = Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Clinton County


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map_caption1 = Map of Clinton County highlighting Lock Haven
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Pennsylvania
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Clinton County
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government_type = Council-Manager
leader_title =
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leader_title1 = Mayor
leader_name1 = Richard P. Villelo, Jr.
leader_title2 = Manager
leader_name2 = Richard Marcinkevage
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established_title = Settled
established_date = 1769
established_title2 = Incorporated (borough)
established_date2 = 1844
established_title3 = Incorporated (city)
established_date3 = 1870
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unit_pref = Imperial
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area_total_sq_mi =2.7
area_land_sq_mi = 2.5
area_water_sq_mi = 0.2
area_water_percent = 5.64
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population_as_of =2000
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population_total =9149
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population_density_sq_mi = 3455
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timezone = EST
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
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latd= 41 |latm= 8 |lats= 4 |latNS= N
longd= 77 |longm= 29 |longs= 1 |longEW= W
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m =
elevation_ft = 564
postal_code_type = Zip code
postal_code = 17745
area_code = 570
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website = [http://www.lockhavencity.org/ City of Lock Haven]
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Lock Haven is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County,GR|6 Pennsylvania, United States. Near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, it is the principal city of and is included in the Lock Haven, Pennsylvania Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania-Lock Haven, Pennsylvania Combined Statistical Area. At the 2000 census, Lock Haven's population was 9,149.

Built on a site long favored by pre-European peoples, Lock Haven began in 1833 as a timber town and a haven for loggers, boatmen, and other travelers on the river or the West Branch Canal. Resource extraction and efficient transportation financed much of the city's growth through the end of the 19th century. In the 20th century, a light-airplane factory, a college, and a paper mill, along with many smaller enterprises, drove the economy. Frequent floods, especially in 1972, damaged local industry and led to a high rate of unemployment in the 1980s.

The city has three sites on the National Register of Historic Places—a significant pre-European archaeological find, a Victorian-era museum, and an historic district with a mix of 19th and 20th century architecture. A dike and levee, completed in 1995, protect the city from further flooding. While industry remains important to the city, about a third of its workers are employed in education, health care, or social services.

History

Pre-European

The earliest settlers in Pennsylvania arrived from Asia between 12000 BCE and 8000 BCE, the "Paleo-Indian Period", when the glaciers of the Pleistocene Ice Age were receding. Fluted point spearheads from this era have been found in most parts of the state.cite web | last = Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission | title = Pennsylvania Archaeology: An Introduction | publisher = Commonwealth of Pennsylvania | url = http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/archaeology/page1.asp?secid=31 | accessdate = 2007-10-13] In Lock Haven, an archaeological site at Memorial Park, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, holds significant remains of a large village from the "Late Woodland Period" (around 1000 CE).cite web |title = Pennsylvania at Risk, 1993 | publisher = Preservation Pennsylvania | url = http://www.preservationpa.org/programs/paatrisk/index.php | accessdate = 2007-10-13] Investigation has revealed a series of buried Indian components below the Late Woodland levels; the oldest is from the "Middle Archaic" (9,000–5,000 BCE).cite web |last = GAI Consultants, Inc.|title = Archaeological Investigations at the Memorial Park Site (36CN164) Clinton County, Pennsylvania (abstract of full article) | publisher = Storming Media | url = http://www.stormingmedia.us/71/7183/A718303.html | accessdate = 2007-10-13] The site is one of the deepest and most significant archaeological sites in the Middle Atlantic states.cite web |title = Pennsylvania at Risk, 1993 | publisher = Preservation Pennsylvania | url = http://www.preservationpa.org/programs/paatrisk/index.php | accessdate = 2007-10-13]

Eighteenth century

In the early 18th century, the Six Nations of the Iroquois, headquartered in New York, ruled the Indian tribes of Pennsylvania, including those who lived near what would become Lock Haven. Indian settlements in the area included three Munsee villages on a 325 acre (1.32 km²) island, known as the Great Island, in the West Branch Susquehanna River at the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek. During the French and Indian War (1754–63), colonial militiamen on a military expedition to an Indian stronghold in the village of Kittanning, convert|44|mi|km|0 northeast of Pittsburgh, destroyed Indian property on the Great Island and along the West Branch. By 1763, the Indians had abandoned the Great Island and other villages in the area. [Miller (1966), p. 4] . Hundreds of people fled along the river to Fort Augusta, about convert|50|mi|km|0 from Fort Reed. Some did not return for five years. [Miller (1966), p. 28.] In 1784, the United States and the Iroquois signed a separate Treaty of Fort Stanwix transferring all remaining Indian territory in Pennsylvania to the state.

Nineteenth century

Lock Haven prospered during much of the 19th century largely because of timber and transportation. The forests of Clinton County and other counties upriver held a huge supply of white pine and hemlock as well as oak, ash, maple, poplar, cherry, beech, and magnolia. The wood was used locally for such things as frame houses, shingles, canal boats, and wooden bridges, and whole logs were floated to Chesapeake Bay and on to Baltimore to make spars for ships. Log driving and log rafting, competing forms of transporting logs to sawmills, began along the West Branch around 1800. By 1830, "the lumber industry was in full swing". [Miller (1966), pp. 109–111]

and because it was a resting place for loggers, boatmen, and other travelers. Over the next quarter century, canal boats convert|12|ft|m|0 wide and convert|80|ft|m|0 long carried passengers and mail as well as cargo such as coal, ashes for lye and soap, firewood, food, furniture, dry goods, and clothing. A rapid increase in Lock Haven's business and population followed the opening of the canal. [Miller (1966), pp. 44–46]

A Lock Haven log boom, smaller than but otherwise similar to the Susquehanna Boom at Williamsport, was constructed in 1849. Large cribs of timbers weighted with tons of stone were arranged in the pool behind the Dunnstown Dam, named for a settlement on the opposite shore. The piers, about convert|150|ft|m|0 from one another, stretched in a line from the dam to a point convert|3|mi|km|0 upriver. Connected by timbers shackled together with iron yokes and rings, the piers anchored an enclosure into which the river current forced floating logs. Workers called "boom rats" sorted the captured logs, branded like cattle, for delivery to sawmills and other owners. Lock Haven became the lumber center of Clinton County and the site of many businesses related to forest products. [Miller (1966), pp. 111–119]

The Sunbury and Erie Railroad, re-named the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad in 1861, reached Lock Haven in 1859, and with it came a building boom. Hoping that the area's coal, iron ore, white pine, and high-quality clay would produce significant future wealth, railroad investors led by Christopher and John Fallon, financed a line to Lock Haven. On the strength of the railroad's potential value to the city, local residents invested heavily in housing, building the largest homes in Lock Haven between 1854 and 1856. Though the Fallons' coal and iron ventures failed, Gothic Revival, Greek Revival, and Italianate mansions and commercial buildings such as the Fallon House, a large hotel, remained, and the railroad provided a new mode of transport for the ongoing timber era. A second rail line, the Bald Eagle Valley Railroad, originally organized as the Tyrone and Lock Haven Railroad and completed in the 1860s, linked Lock Haven to Tyrone, convert|56|mi|km|0 to the southwest. The two rail lines soon became part of the network controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad. [Wagner (1979), pp. 9–60]

During the era of log floating, logjams sometimes occurred when logs struck an obstacle. Log rafts floating down the West Branch had to pass through chutes in canal dams. The rafts were commonly convert|28|ft|m|0 wide—narrow enough to pass through the chutes—and convert|150|ft|m|0 to convert|200|ft|m|0 long.cite journal
last = Theiss | first = Lewis Edwin | title = Lumbering in Penn's Woods | journal = Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies | volume = 19 | issue = 4 | pages = 397–412 | publisher = Pennsylvania Historical Association | location = University Park, Pa. | month = October | year = 1952 | url = http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Disseminate&handle=psu.ph/1142888412&view=body&content-type=pdf_1# | format = PDF | id = psu.ph/1133209642 | accessdate = 2008-02-03 ] In 1874, a large raft got wedged in the chute of the Dunnstown Dam at Lock Haven and caused a jam that blocked the channel from bank to bank with a pile of logs convert|16|ft|m|0 high and trapped, in addition to loose logs, another 200 log rafts, and two canal boats, "The Mammoth of Newport" and "The Sarah Dunbar". [Miller (1966), pp. 119–120]

In terms of board feet, the peak of the lumber era in Pennsylvania arrived in about 1885, when about nowrap|1.9 million logs went through the boom at Williamsport. These logs produced a total of about nowrap|226 million board feet (533,000 m³) of sawed lumber. After that, production steadily declined throughout the state, including Lock Haven.cite journal
last = Theiss | first = Lewis Edwin | title = Lumbering in Penn's Woods | journal = Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies | volume = 19 | issue = 4 | pages = 397–412 | publisher = Pennsylvania Historical Association | location = University Park, Pa. | month = October | year = 1952 | url = http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Disseminate&handle=psu.ph/1142888412&view=body&content-type=pdf_1# | format = PDF | id = psu.ph/1133209642 | accessdate = 2008-02-03 ]

The Central State Normal School, established to train teachers for central Pennsylvania, held its first classes in 1877 at a site overlooking the West Branch Susquehanna River. The small school, with enrollments below 150 until the 1940s, eventually became Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.cite web | title = Lock Haven University: A Brief History | publisher = Stevenson Library, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania | url = http://www.lhup.edu/library/archive/briefhistory.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-15] In the early 1880s, the New York and Pennsylvania Paper Mill in Castanea Township near Flemington and Lock Haven began paper production on the site of a former sawmill; the paper mill remained a large employer until the end of the 20th century.

Twentieth century

As older forms of transportation such as the canal boat disappeared, new forms arose. One of these, the electric trolley, began operation in Lock Haven in 1894. The Lock Haven Electric Railway, managed by the Lock Haven Traction Company and, after 1900, the Susquehanna Traction Company, ran passenger trolleys between Lock Haven and Mill Hall, about convert|3|mi|km|0 to the west. The trolley line extended from the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad station in Lock Haven to a station of the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania, which served Mill Hall. The route went through Lock Haven's downtown, close to the Normal School, across town to the trolley car barn on the southwest edge of the city, through Flemington, over the Bald Eagle Canal and Bald Eagle Creek, and on to Mill Hall via what was then known as the Lock Haven, Bellefonte, and Nittany Valley Turnpike. Plans to extend the line from Mill Hall to Salona, convert|3|mi|km|0 miles south of Mill Hall, and to Avis convert|10|mi|km|0 northeast of Lock Haven, were never carried out, and the line remained unconnected to other trolley lines. The system, always financially marginal, declined after World War I. Losing business to automobiles and buses, it ceased operations around 1930. [ Shieck (1978), pp. 81–92]

In 1937, William T. Piper, Sr., built the Piper Aircraft Corporation factory in Lock Haven after the company's Taylor Aircraft manufacturing plant in Bradford, Pennsylvania, was destroyed by fire. The Piper plant in Lock Haven began operations in a building that once housed a silk mill.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21] As the company grew, the original factory expanded to include several additions, an engineering building, and an office building. In 1984, the company, then owned by Lear-Siegler, ceased operations in Lock Haven and moved to Vero Beach, Florida. A non-profit corporation bought the former Piper engineering building in 1995 to create the Piper Aviation Museum.cite web | title = The History of Piper Aviation | publisher = Piper Aviation Museum | url = http://www.pipermuseum.com/about.aspx | accessdate = 2007-10-31]

The Central State Normal School was acquired by the state of Pennsylvania in 1915 and was renamed Lock Haven State Teachers College in 1927. Between 1942 and 1970, the student population grew from 146 to more than 2,300, the number of teaching faculty rose from 25 to 170, and the college carried out a large building program. In 1960, the school's name was changed to Lock Haven State College, and its emphasis shifted to include the humanities, fine arts, mathematics, and social sciences, as well as teacher education. In 1983, the school's name was changed again to Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. The school opened a branch campus in Clearfield, convert|48|mi|km|0 west of Lock Haven, in 1989.cite web | title = Lock Haven University: A Brief History | publisher = Stevenson Library, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania | url = http://www.lhup.edu/library/archive/briefhistory.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-15]

Floods

The streams of Pennsylvania have frequently flooded since at least the advent of written records. According to William H. Shank, the Indians of Pennsylvania warned white settlers that great floods occurred on the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers every 14 years. Shank tested this idea by tabulating the highest floods of record at key points throughout the state over a 200-year period and found that a major flood had occurred, on average, once every 25 years between 1784 and 1972. Major floods recorded at Harrisburg, on the main stem of the Susquehanna about convert|120|mi|km|0 miles downstream from Lock Haven, occurred in 1784, 1865, 1889, 1894, 1902, 1936, and 1972. Readings from the Williamsport gage station, convert|24|mi|km|0 miles below Lock Haven on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, showed major flooding between 1889 and 1972 in the same years as the Harrisburg station; in addition, a major flood occurred on the West Branch at Williamsport in 1946. [Shank (1972), pp. 10–13]

One of the biggest floods in Lock Haven occurred in 1889 and coincided with the Johnstown Flood. On June 1, the flooding Susquehanna demolished Lock Haven's log boom, and millions of feet of stored timber were swept away. [Shank (1972), pp. 22–23] The flood damaged the canals, which were subsequently abandoned, and destroyed the last of the canal boats based in the city. [Miller (1966), p. 59]

The most damaging Lock Haven flood was caused by the remnants of Hurricane Agnes in 1972. The storm, just below hurricane strength, made landfall on June 22 near New York City. The storm merged with a non-tropical low on June 23, and the combined system affected the northeastern United States until June 25. The combination produced widespread rains of convert|6|in|cm|0 to convert|12|in|cm|0 with local amounts up to convert|19|in|cm|0 inches in western Schuylkill County, about convert|75|mi|km|0 southeast of Lock Haven. [cite web
url =http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/agnes1972.html|title =Hurricane Agnes - June 14–25, 1972 | publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)| year= | accessdate=2007-09-16] At Lock Haven, the flood greatly damaged the local paper mill (formerly the New York and Pennsylvania Paper Mill, bought by the Hammermill Paper Company, and later acquired by International Paper) and the factory and airplanes of Piper Aircraft. Piper permanently ended production of the Comanche and Twin Comanche because of the destruction of tooling.

In 1992, Federal, state, and local governments began construction of barriers to protect the city. The project included a levee of convert|36000|ft|m|0 and a floodwall of convert|1000|ft|m|0 along the Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, closure structures, ponding areas, a pumping station, and some relocation of roads and buildings. Completed in 1995, it protected the city from high water in 1996 and again 2004, when rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ivan threatened the city.cite journal | last = Yowell | first = Robert | title = Intergovernmental Success in Multi-Component Flood Mitigation: The Lock Haven Flood Protection Project Experience | journal = Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education | issue = 129 | pages = 46–48 | month = March | year = 2005 | url = http://www.ucowr.siu.edu/updates/130/11%20yowell.pdf | accessdate = 2007-09-16|format=PDF]

Geography and climate

The city of Lock Haven is located at coor dms|41|8|4|N|77|27|1|W|city (41.134388, -77.450347).GR|1 According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.7 square miles (6.9 km²).Of this total, 2.5 square miles (6.5 km²) of it is land, and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (5.64%) is water.

Lock Haven lies mostly on a floodplain convert|564|ft|m|0| above sea level at the confluence of Bald Eagle Creek and the West Branch of the Susquehanna River in north-central Pennsylvania. The city is about convert|24|mi|km|0| west-southwest of Williamsport and convert|66|mi|km|0| northeast of Altoona. U.S. Route 220, a major transportation corridor, skirts the city on its south edge, intersecting with Pennsylvania Route 120, which passes through the city and connects it with Renovo in northern Clinton County. Other highways entering Lock Haven include Pennsylvania Route 664 and Pennsylvania Route 150, which connects to Avis.

The city and nearby smaller habitations—Castanea,
Dunnstown, Flemington, and Mill Hall—rest mainly at valley level in the ridge-and-valley Appalachians, a mountain belt characterized by long even valleys running between long continuous ridges. Bald Eagle Mountain, one of these ridges, runs parallel to Bald Eagle Creek on the south side of the city. The geologic formations in the southeastern part of the city are mostly limestone, while those to the north and west consist mostly of siltstone and shale. Large parts of the city are flat, but slopes rise to the west, and very steep slopes are found along the river, on the university campus, and along Pennsylvania Route 120 as it approaches U.S. Route 220.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21]

The average temperature in Lock Haven in January is convert|28|°F|°C|0|, and in July it is convert|73|°F|°C|0|. The city averages 73 rainy days a year, and the average snowfall is convert|39|in|cm|0| inches. The highest recorded temperature for Lock Haven is convert|106|°F|°C|0|, and the lowest recorded temperature is convert|-22|°F|°C|0|.cite web
url =http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=028937&refer= |title =Weatherbase: Weather for Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, United States of America | publisher=Weatherbase | year=2007 | accessdate=2007-09-15 ]

Infobox Weather
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source =cite web
url =http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=028937&refer= |title =Weatherbase: Weather for Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, United States of America | publisher=Weatherbase | year=2007 | accessdate=2007-09-15 ]
accessdate = September 2007

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 9,149 people, 3,306 households, and 1,659 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,643.9 people per square mile (1,407.4/km²). There were 3,565 housing units at an average density of 1,419.9/sq mi (548.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.26% White, 1.43% African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.82% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.43% from other races, and 0.90% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.11% of the population.

There were 3,306 households out of which 24.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.0% were married couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.8% were non-families. 37.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.86.

In the city the population was spread out with 16.7% under the age of 18, 33.2% from 18 to 24, 20.3% from 25 to 44, 14.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females there were 82.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $20,731, and the median income for a family was $28,619. Males had a median income of $27,310 versus $18,463 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,948. About 18.6% of families and 30.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.4% of those under age 18 and 11.2% of those age 65 or over.

Students at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania account for about a third of the city's population.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21 ]

Economy

Lock Haven's economy, from the city's founding in 1833 until the end of the 19th century, depended heavily on the region's natural resources, particularly timber, and on cheap transportation to eastern markets.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ] Loggers used the Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek to float timber to sawmills in Lock Haven and nearby towns. The West Branch Canal, reaching the city in 1834, connected to large markets downstream, and shorter canals along Bald Eagle Creek added other connections. [Miller (1966), pp. 44–46] In 1859, the railroad arrived in Lock Haven, spurring trade and economic growth.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office
coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21 ]

By 1900, the lumber industry had declined, and the city's economic base rested on other industries, including a furniture factory, a paper mill, a fire brick plant, and a silk mill. In 1938, Piper Aircraft Corporation moved its light-plane production to Lock Haven and remained one of the city's biggest employers until the 1980s, when, after major flood losses related to Hurricane Agnes in 1972, it moved to Florida.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office
coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21 ]

The loss of Piper Aircraft contributed to an unemployment rate of more than 20% in Lock Haven in the early 1980s, though the rate declined to about 9% by 2000. Another large plant, a paper mill that had operated since the 1880s [Wagner (1979), p. 134] about convert|1|mi|km|1 west of Lock Haven in Castanea Township, closed in 2001. [cite journal | title = International Paper Sells Lock Haven Mill | journal = Pulp and Paper | month = March | year = 2003 | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3636/is_200303/ai_n9214109 | accessdate = 2007-09-21 ] By 2005, 32% of the city's labor force was employed in health care, education, or social services, 16% in manufacturing, 14% in retail trade, 13% in arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services, and smaller fractions in other sectors. Two of the city's employers, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania and Lock Haven Hospital, were among the seven biggest employers in Clinton County.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21]

Arts and culture

Annual cultural events

In the summer, enthusiasts of radio-controlled aircraft hold an annual meeting, "Wings Over Piper", at the William T. Piper Memorial Airport to fly model Piper Cubs and other model airplanes. [cite web | title = Wings Over Piper | publisher = Wings of Williamsport, Incorporated | url = http://www.wingsoverpiper.com/ | accessdate = 2007-09-25] Another group of light airplane enthusiasts, during a summertime "Sentimental Journey Fly-In", pilot vintage Piper planes to Lock Haven. [cite web | title = Sentimental Journey | publisher = Sentimental Journey, Inc. | url = http://www.sentimentaljourneyfly-in.com/ | accessdate = 2007-09-25] Summer concerts are held in city parks. [cite web | title = Summer Concert Series | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-25] An annual Labor Day boat regatta on the river includes motorboat racing, amusement rides, and fireworks. [cite web | title = Labor Day Boat Regatta | publisher = Lock Haven Area Jaycees | url = http://www.lockhavenjaycees.org/Regatta.php | accessdate = 2007-09-25] The city sponsors a festival called "Airfest" at the airport in the summer, a Halloween parade in October, and a holiday parade in December.

Museums and other points of interest

The Piper Aviation Museum exhibits aircraft and aircraft equipment, documents, photographs, and memorabilia related to Piper Aircraft. An eight-room home, the Heisey Museum, restored to the mid-1800s, displays Victorian-era collections; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972cite web | title = National Register Information System | publisher = National Park Service | url = http://www.nr.nps.gov/iwisapi/explorer.dll?IWS_SCHEMA=NRIS1&IWS_LOGIN=1&IWS_REPORT=100000039| accessdate = 2007-10-01] and is home to the Clinton County Historical Society. [cite web | title = Brief History | publisher = Clinton County Historical Society | url = http://www.clintoncountyhistory.com/| accessdate = 2007-10-01] The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has placed three cast aluminum markers—Clinton County, Fort Reed, and Pennsylvania Canal (West Branch Division)—in Lock Haven to commemorate historic places. [cite web | title = Historical Marker Program | publisher = Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission | url = http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/doh/hmp.asp?secid=18| accessdate = 2007-10-01] The Water Street Historic District, a mix of 19th and 20th century architecture near the river, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Memorial Park, a site of prehistoric archaeological significance near the airport, was added to the National Register in 1982.cite web | title = National Register Information System | publisher = National Park Service | url = http://www.nr.nps.gov/iwisapi/explorer.dll?IWS_SCHEMA=NRIS1&IWS_LOGIN=1&IWS_REPORT=100000039| accessdate = 2007-10-01]

Theaters, concert halls, libraries

Lock Haven University presents public concerts, plays, and student recitals during the fall and spring semesters at the Price Performance Center and the Sloan Auditorium on campus. [cite web | title = Event Calendar | publisher = Department of Performing Arts, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania | url = http://www.lhup.edu/performing-arts/calendar.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-16] The Millbrook Theatre in Mill Hall, convert|3|mi|km|0 west of Lock Haven, has offered professional summer stock theatre since 1963. [cite web | last = Hannegan | first = Sue | title = History | publisher = The Millbrook Playhouse | url = http://www.millbrookplayhouse.com/history.html| accessdate = 2007-10-16] The central library for Clinton County is the Annie Halenbake Ross Library in Lock Haven; it has about 130,000 books, subscriptions, electronic resources, and other materials. [cite web | title = Annie Halenbake Ross Library - Lock Haven, Pennsylvania - Central Library | publisher = Education Bug | url = http://pennsylvania.educationbug.org/public-library/13488-annie-halenbake-ross-library.html | accessdate = 2007-10-17] The Stevenson Library on the university campus held about 360,000 books in 2005–06 as well as periodicals, electronic resources, and other materials. [cite web | title = Library Five-Year Review, 2007 | publisher = Stevenson Library, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania | url = http://www.lhup.edu/library/libraryreport.htm| accessdate = 2007-10-17]

Media

The "Express" is the city's only daily newspaper. Radio stations WBPZ, 1230 AM, and WSNU, 92.1 FM, broadcast from the city. "The Eagle Eye" is the student newspaper at Lock Haven University. A student-operated television station, LHUTV, broadcasts on campus channel 10. Students there also manage an Internet radio station, WLHU.

Parks and recreation

The city has 14 municipal parks and playgrounds ranging in size from the 0.75 acre (0.30-ha)Triangle Park in downtown to the 80 acre (32-ha) Douglas H. Peddie Memorial Park along Route 120. Fields maintained by the city accommodate baseball for the Pony League, Little League, and Junior League and softball for the Youth Girls League and for adults. Hanna Park includes tennis courts, and Hoberman Park includes a skate park. The Lock Haven City Beach, on the Susquehanna River, offers water access, a sand beach, and a bath house. In conjunction with the school district, the city sponsors a summer recreation program.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21]

The Lock Haven YMCA offers programs related to fitness, health, and recreation including swimming, volleyball, karate, gymnastics, climbing, and dance. The Clinton Country Club maintains a private 18-hole golf course and driving range in Mill Hall. In 1948, the town's team won the Little League World Series. [cite web | last = | title = Little League Baseball World Series Champions | publisher = Little League Baseball Incorporated | url = http://www.littleleague.org/Series/history/divisions/llbbhistory.htm | accessdate = 2007-09-25 ] The annual Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect, an endurance event of convert|25|mi|km|0, starts and ends at the south edge of Lock Haven in September. [cite web | title = Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect | publisher = Bald Eagle Mountain Megatransect | url = http://www.ultrahike.com/home.htm | accessdate = 2007-09-25]

Government

Lock Haven has a council-manager form of government. The council, the city's legislative body, consists of six members and a mayor, each serving a four-year term. The council sets policy, and the city manager oversees day-to-day operations.cite web | title = Lock Haven City | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/| accessdate = 2007-09-20 ] As of 2007, the mayor was Richard P. Villelo, Jr., and the manager was Richard Marcinkevidge. Lock Haven is the county seat of Clinton County and houses county offices, courts, and the county library.

Education

The Keystone Central School District serves most of Clinton County, including Lock Haven, as well as parts of Centre County and Potter County. The district's administration building is in Lock Haven as are three of the district's elementary schools, Dickey Elementary, McGhee Elementary, and Robb Elementary, for children enrolled in kindergarten through fifth grade. The total enrollment of these three schools combined in 2002–03 was 790.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21] The nearest public middle school, grades six to eight, is Central Mountain Middle School in Mill Hall. The nearest public high school, grades nine to twelve, is Central Mountain High School, also in Mill Hall. The city has two private schools, Lock Haven Christian School, with about 80 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, and Lock Haven Catholic Elementary School, with about 190 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. The main campus of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, offering a wide range of undergraduate studies as well as continuing education and graduate school programs, occupies 175 acres (71 ha) on the west edge of the city. Enrollment at this campus was about 4,400 in 2003.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21]

Infrastructure

Transportation

Lock Haven Taxi, based in the central downtown, has taxicabs for hire. Fullington Trailways provides daily intercity bus service between Lock Haven and nearby cities including State College, Williamsport, and Wilkes-Barre. Charter and tour buses are available through Susquehanna Trailways, based in Avis, convert|10|mi|km|0 northeast of Lock Haven. Pennsylvania Bicycle Route G follows Pennsylvania Route 150 and links to the Pine Creek Rail Trail at the eastern end of the county near Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. A convert|2.5|mi|km|1 walking trail on the dike-levee along the river is restricted to pedestrian use.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21]

The Norfolk Southern Railway mainline from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Buffalo, New York, runs through the center of Lock Haven. On the east side of town, it connects to the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad, a short line. Trains serving Lock Haven carry only freight. The City of Lock Haven operates the William T. Piper Memorial Airport at the eastern end of the city. The airport has a paved runway, runway lighting, paved taxiways, a tie-down area, and hangar spaces. No commercial, charter, or freight services are available at this airport.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21]

Utilities

Electric service to Lock Haven residents is provided by PPL, the gas division of which provides natural gas to the city. Verizon Communications handles local telephone service; long-distance service is available from several providers. Comcast offers high-speed cable modem connections to the Internet. Several companies can provide Lock Haven residents with dial-up Internet access. One of them, KCnet, has an office in Lock Haven. Comcast also provides cable television.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21]

The City of Lock Haven owns the watersheds, reservoirs, and water distribution system for Wayne Township, Castanea Township, and the city. Water is treated at the Central Clinton County Water Filtration Authority Plant in Wayne Township before distribution. The city also provides water to the Suburban Lock Haven Water Authority, which distributes it to surrounding communities. Lock Haven operates a sewage treatment plant for waste water, industrial waste, and trucked sewage from the city and eight upstream municipalities: Bald Eagle Township, Castanea, Flemington, Lamar, Mill Hall, Porter Township, Woodward Township, and Walker Township in Centre County. Storm water runoff from within the city is transported by city-owned storm sewers. Curbside pickup of household garbage is provided by a variety of local haulers licensed by the city; recyclables are picked up once every two weeks. The Clinton County Solid Waste Authority owns and operates the Wayne Township Landfill, which serves Lock Haven.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21]

Healthcare

Lock Haven Hospital is a 77-bed hospital with a 120-bed extended-care unit. It offers inpatient, outpatient, and 24-hour emergency services with heliport access. Susque-View Home, next to the hospital, offers long-term care to the elderly and other services including speech, physical, and occupational therapy for people of all ages. A 10-physician community practice clinic based in the city provides primary care and specialty services. A behavioral health clinic offers programs for children and adolescents and psychiatric outpatient care for all ages.cite web | last = City of Lock Haven Planning Office | coauthors = Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee; Gannett Fleming, Inc.; Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url = http://www.lockhavencity.org/ | accessdate = 2007-09-21]

Pollution control

An eight-acre (3.2 ha) industrial area in Castanea Township adjacent to Lock Haven was placed on the National Priorities List of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites (commonly referred to as Superfund sites) in 1982. Drake Chemical, which went bankrupt in 1981, made ingredients for pesticides and other compounds at the site from the 1960s to 1981. Starting in 1982, the United States Environmental Protection Agency began a clean-up of contaminated containers, buildings, and soils at the site and by the late 1990s had replaced the soils. Equipment to treat contaminated groundwater at the site was installed in 2000 and continues to operate. [cite web | title = Mid-Atlantic Superfund: Drake Chemical: Current Site Information | publisher = U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | url = http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/npl/PAD003058047.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-18]

Notable natives and residents

*Alison Bechdel, cartoonist. She was born in Lock Haven and lives in Vermont. She is best known for the comic strip "Dykes to Watch Out For" and "Fun Home", a graphic memoir .
*John Sloan Dickey (1907–91), diplomat, intellectual and president of Dartmouth from 1945 to 1970
*Robbie Gould, kicker, National Football League (NFL), New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, and Chicago Bears
*Kermit Lipez, federal judge, United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit
*Alexander McDonald (1832–1903), United States Senator for Arkansas from 1868 to 1871
*John French Sloan (1871–1951), artist
*C.J. Snare, the lead singer of the band FireHouse, Lock Haven High School graduate

References