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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.

Northampton County, Pennsylvania

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

County Seat: Easton
Year Organized: 1752
Square Miles: 374

Court House:

669 Washington Street
County Courthouse
Easton, PA 18042-7411

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Northamptonshire, England, where Thomas Penn's father-in-law, the Earl of Pomfret, lived.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Created on March 11, 1752 from parts of Bucks County and named for Northamptonshire, England, where Thomas Penn's father-in-law, the Earl of Pomfret, lived. Easton, the county seat was named for the Earl's estate. It was incorporated as a borough on September 23, 1789 and became a city on November 2, 1886. The county adopted a home rule charter in April 1976.

Pennsylvania's Walking Purchase from the Delaware Indians in 1737 included all the present area of this county. Moravians settled in 1740 at Nazareth and in 1741 at Bethlehem. Fries' Rebellion against a federal tax on windows occurred here. Until 1800 Northampton was the entire northeastern section of Pennsylvania. In 1812 the creation of Lehigh County divided the Lehigh Valley, and Northampton continued to yield land until the formation of Carbon County in 1843. German farmers from Bucks County and Perkiomen Valley, as well as Scots-Irish from New Castle, were the first settler groups. The opening of the Lehigh Canal in 1829 triggered industrial growth. Major iron works functioned at Easton, Glendon, and South Bethlehem before 1860. Bethlehem Iron Works became Bethlehem Steel, the second largest United States' steel producer. By 1890 there were also flour mills, textile factories, slate quarries, and zinc mines. Depression was seriously felt from 1930 to 1941. Bethlehem Steel recognized the United Steelworkers in 1939, but there was a bitter strike in 1941. Lasting industrial decline began in 1955, reaching beyond the steel industry. The cement mills and the Dixie Cup Company have closed. Farms cover 36 percent of the county and Northampton is a significant grain and peaches producer.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 377 square miles (977 km²), of which, 374 square miles (968 km²) of it is land and 4 square miles (9 km²) of it (0.94%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Monroe County (north)
Warren County, New Jersey (east)
Bucks County (south)
Lehigh County (west)
Carbon County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Allen	township
- Bangor	borough	Incorporated Area
- Bath	borough	Incorporated Area
- Bethlehem	city	Incorporated Area
- East Allen	township
- East Bangor	borough	Incorporated Area
- Easton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Forks	township
- Fountain Hill	borough	Incorporated Area
- Freemansburg	borough	Incorporated Area
- Glendon	borough	Incorporated Area
- Hellertown	borough	Incorporated Area
- Lehigh	township
- Lower Mount Bethel	township
- Lower Nazareth	township
- Lower Saucon	township
- Moore	township
- Nazareth	borough	Incorporated Area
- North Catasauqua	borough	Incorporated Area
- Northampton	borough	Incorporated Area
- Palmer	township
- Pen Argyl	borough	Incorporated Area
- Portland	borough	Incorporated Area
- Roseto	borough	Incorporated Area
- Stockertown	borough	Incorporated Area
- Tatamy	borough	Incorporated Area
- Upper Mount Bethel	township
- Upper Nazareth	township
- Walnutport	borough	Incorporated Area
- West Easton	borough	Incorporated Area
- Wilson	borough	Incorporated Area
- Wind Gap	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."