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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.

Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

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

County Seat: Williamsport
Year Organized: 1795
Square Miles: 1,235

Court House:

48 West 3rd Street
County Courthouse
Williamsport, PA 17701-6536

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The name is derived from a Delaware Indian word meaning "sandy or gravelly creek."

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Created on April 13, 1795, from part of Northumberland County and named for Lycoming Creek. The name is derived from a Delaware Indian word meaning "sandy or gravelly creek." Williamsport, the county seat was laid out in 1795, incorporated as a borough on March 1, 1806, and became a city on January 15, 1866. There are various theories about the origin of the city's name: that it was so called for Judge William Hepburn; that Michael Ross named it for his own son William; or that William Ross, a boatman, used it as a port years before the town was founded.

Native American groups had many communities in this area. Part of the county was obtained by Pennsylvania from Indians at the Fort Stanwix Treaty of 1768 and the remainder at Fort Stanwix in 1784 (the "Last Purchase"). A mapping ambiguity in the 1768 deed left an independent settlement area—a "no-man's land"—known as the "Fair Play tract" which lasted until the 1784 deed clearly made it Pennsylvania's land. Heroic fighting against Native Americans occurred during the Revolution, especially the exploits of the Bradys. Lumber was the backbone of the economy from the start. There was good access from major roads, and the West Branch Canal reached to Williamsport in 1833, but production really soared after the Susquehanna Boom was built at Williamsport, between 1846 and 1851, giving greater control over the lumber that was floated down river to its markets. A "Millionaires Row" of houses arose in Williamsport. But the 1889 flood destroyed the boom, much of Williamsport, and all the sawmills. A paper box industry later rose, relying on wood pulp, and Muncy became a manufacturing center. Today, Williamsport makes electronics and metal products. Only one-fifth of the county is farmed, largely along the river, but Lycoming is in the upper half of Pennsylvania counties in value of total farm products. Dairy products and mushrooms are the specialties of greatest economic value.

Geography

As the crow flies, Lycoming County is about 130 miles (209 km) northwest of Philadelphia and 165 miles (266 km) east-northeast of Pittsburgh. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,244 square miles (3,221 km²).1,235 square miles (3,198 km²) of it is land and 9 square miles (23 km²) of it (0.72%) is water. Lycoming County is the largest county in terms of area in Pennsylvania, and is larger than the state of Rhode Island.

Neighboring Counties:

Tioga County (north)
Bradford County (northeast)
Sullivan County (east)
Columbia County (southeast)
Montour County (south)
Northumberland County (south)
Union County (south)
Clinton County (west)
Potter County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Armstrong	township
- Bastress	township
- Brady	township
- Brown	township
- Cascade	township
- Cogan House	township
- Crawford	township
- Cummings	township
- Duboistown	borough	Incorporated Area
- Gamble	township
- Hepburn	township
- Hughesville	borough	Incorporated Area
- Jersey Shore	borough	Incorporated Area
- Jordan	township
- Lewis	township
- Loyalsock	township
- Lycoming	township
- McHenry	township
- Montgomery	borough	Incorporated Area
- Montoursville	borough	Incorporated Area
- Moreland	township
- Muncy	borough	Incorporated Area
- Muncy Creek	township
- Newberry	township
- Nippenose	township
- Old Lycoming	township
- Piatt	township
- Picture Rocks	borough	Incorporated Area
- Pine	township
- Pine Creek	township
- Plunketts Creek	township
- Salladasburg	borough	Incorporated Area
- South Williamsport	borough	Incorporated Area
- Upper Fairfield	township
- Watson	township
- Williamsport (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Wolf	township

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."