Pennsylvania State...
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Pennsylvania Counties
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Mifflin County, Pennsylvania
Mifflin County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Lewistown
Year Organized: 1789
Square Miles: 411 |
Court House: 20 North Wayne Street
County Courthouse
Lewistown, PA 17044-1770
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
named for Governor Thomas Mifflin. Lewistown
Demographics:
County QuickFacts:
Census Bureau Quick Facts
History
Created on September 19,1789, from
parts of Cumberland and Northumberland Counties and named for Governor Thomas
Mifflin. Lewistown, the county seat, was laid out in 1790 and incorporated as a
borough on April 11, 1795. However, the charter apparently was not accepted, for
it was reincorporated on February 6, 1811. It was named for William Lewis, local
ironmaster.
The first legitimate settlers had barely arrived after the Albany Purchase of
1745 when the area was involved in the Indian raids of 1755 to 1763. Fort
Granville fell to Indian assault in 1756. Lewistown and Mifflintown were rivals
for designation as the county seat because there was topographical division at
the Narrows. The formation of Juniata County settled the matter. The
Pennsylvania Canal arrived in 1829 followed twenty years later by the
Pennsylvania Railroad, and the county was also favored by being on the route of
the William Penn Highway (later US 22). Despite mountains, the Kishacoquillas
Valley is fertile, and limestone, glass quality sand, silica sand, and ganister
are profitable. A silk industry was converted to rayon, then to nylon, and now
to polyester. In the 1930s Vicose Silk had 4,000 employees, 10 percent of the
county's population. Iron and steel were once produced, leaving in their trail
the current trades of fabricated forgings, rolled rings, and railroad wheels and
axles. Forty percent of the work force is still engaged in manufacturing.
One-third of the area is in farmland, and egg and dairy production is high.
Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
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- Bratton |
township |
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- Brown |
township |
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- Burnham |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Granville |
township |
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- Juniata Terrace |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Kistler |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Lewistown
(County
Seat) |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- McClure |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- McVeytown |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Menno |
township |
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- Newton Hamilton |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Union |
township |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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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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Penn Foster High School
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