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Pennsylvania State...
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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. |
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McKean County, Pennsylvania
McKean County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Smethport
Year Organized: 1804
Square Miles: 982 |
Court House: 500 West Main Street
County Courthouse
Smethport, PA 16749-1144
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
Named for Governor Thomas McKean.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts:
Census Bureau Quick Facts
History
Created on March 26, 1804 from part
of Lycoming County and named for Governor Thomas McKean. It was attached to
Centre County until 1814, when it was combined with Potter County to elect
commissioners jointly, and was also attached to Lycoming County for judicial and
election purposes. It was formally organized in 1826. Smethport, the county
seat, was laid out in 1807, and named in honor of Raymond and Theodore de Smeth,
Amsterdam bankers. It was incorporated as a borough on February 11, 1853.
Although Indian leaders yielded the land at the second Treaty of Fort Stanwix,
the "Last Purchase" (1784), distance and dense forest delayed settlement. After
1798 settlers from New York arrived, many originally from New England. Except
for Sergeant Township, all early settlements were on the Allegheny River and its
tributaries. Lumbering controlled the economy and settlement spread with each
new cutting operation. Bradford grew from a lumber camp. Deep drilling brought
an oil boom in 1871, lasting two decades, and the water injection method revived
production for another boom, 1930 to 1950. Railroads arrived in the late 1860s
to revive the lumber industry, and tanning and wood chemical industries
(turpentine, creosote, etc.) flourished while the forests lasted. But by 1925
little timber remained. The Civil War leader Thomas Leiper Kane did much to
develop the area. The county led the nation in natural gas production from 1895
to 1905. A lumber industry revived after World War II using managed forest
systems, and there is a little crude oil production. Other products today
include motor oil, Zippo Lighters, electronics, corrugated boxes, furniture,
glass containers and construction blocks, and oil and gas pipes and equipment.
The county's success is attested to by the value added to the economy from its
manufactures, which increased 66 percent between 1987 and 1992. Commercial
forest lands and the National Forest cover much of the county; only 7 percent of
the area is farmed.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 984 square miles (2,549 kmē), of which, 982
square miles (2,542 kmē) of it is land and 3 square miles (7 kmē) of it (0.26%) is water.
Neighboring Counties:
- Cattaraugus County, New York (north)
- Allegany County, New York (northeast)
- Potter County (east)
- Cameron County (southeast)
- Elk County (south)
- Forest County (southwest)
- Warren County (west)
Cities and Towns:
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- Annin |
township |
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- Bradford |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Ceres |
township |
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- Corydon |
township |
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- Eldred |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Foster |
township |
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- Kane |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Lafayette |
township |
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- Lewis Run |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Mount Jewett |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Norwich |
township |
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- Otto |
township |
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- Port Allegany |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Sergeant |
township |
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- Smethport
(County
Seat) |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Wetmore |
township |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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Online High Schools
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our 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." |
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