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Pennsylvania Counties

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Pennsylvania Counties

There are sixty-seven counties of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States of America. The city of Philadelphia is coterminous with Philadelphia County, and governmental functions have been consolidated since 1854.

Erie County, Pennsylvania

Erie County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Erie
Year Organized: 1800
Square Miles: 802

Court House:

140 West Sixth Street
County Courthouse
Erie, PA 16501-1002

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Lake Erie, which in turn had been named for the Indians of the same name.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Created on March 12, 1800, from part of Allegheny County and named for Lake Erie, which in turn had been named for the Indians of the same name. It was attached to Crawford County until 1803. Erie, the county seat, was so named because it was a port on Lake Erie. Laid out in 1795, it was incorporated as a borough on May 29, 1805 and as a city on April 14, 1851. The county adopted a home rule charter in November 1976.

Pennsylvania purchased this territory from the United States government in 1792. The city of Erie began to grow during the War of 1812. It was the point from which Commodore Perry's fleet sailed to fight the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. Abundant running water led to the development of many sawmills and gristmills. There was a brief oil boom in the 1860s, and in the middle of the century Erie was the freshwater fishing capital of America. The Erie Extension Canal was opened in 1844, and railroads were introduced in 1864. As a Great Lakes port, Erie has declined since 1900. Once important for manufacturing such items as General Electric's locomotives and Hammermill Paper, Erie still turns out electrical products. Grapes grow well along the lakeshore; a significant wine making industry developed. Erie ranks fifth among the counties in value of crops and tenth in value of livestock product sales. Farms cover 36 percent of the landed area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,558 square miles (4,036 km²), of which, 802 square miles (2,077 km²) of it is land and 756 square miles (1,959 km²) of it (48.54%) is water. There are only two cities in Erie County; the City of Erie and the City of Corry.

Neighboring Counties:

northeast by Chautauqua County, New York
east by Warren County
south by Crawford County
west by Ashtabula County, Ohio.
north of the county is Lake Erie, with the nearest landmass beyond it being the province of Ontario, Canada.

Cities and Towns:

- Albion	borough	Incorporated Area
- Conneaut	township
- Corry	city	Incorporated Area
- Cranesville	borough	Incorporated Area
- Edinboro	borough	Incorporated Area
- Elgin	borough	Incorporated Area
- Elk Creek	township
- Erie (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Fairview	borough	Incorporated Area
- Girard	borough	Incorporated Area
- Greene	township
- Greenfield	township
- Harborcreek	township
- Lake City	borough	Incorporated Area
- LeBoeuf	township
- McKean	borough	Incorporated Area
- Mill Village	borough	Incorporated Area
- North East	borough	Incorporated Area
- Platea	borough	Incorporated Area
- Union	township
- Union City	borough	Incorporated Area
- Waterford	borough	Incorporated Area
- Wattsburg	borough	Incorporated Area
- Wesleyville	borough	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."