Pennsylvania State...
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Pennsylvania Counties
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Perry County, Pennsylvania
Perry County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: New Bloomfield
Year Organized: 1820
Square Miles: 554 |
Court House: P.O. Box 37
County Courthouse
New Bloomfield, PA 17068-0037
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
named in honor of Oliver Hazard Perry, victor in the Battle of
Lake Erie.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts:
Census Bureau Quick Facts
History
Created on March 22, 1820, from part
of Cumberland County and named in honor of Oliver Hazard Perry, victor in the
Battle of Lake Erie. Bloomfield, the county seat after 1827, bears the name
given to the tract of land in the original patent. It is said that it was laid
out in the month of June 1822, when clover was in bloom. It was incorporated as
a borough on March 14, 1831. The post office name for Bloomfield is New
Bloomfield.
The area was a favorite for illegal squatters before Indians yielded the land at
the Treaty of Albany in 1754. Sherman's Valley was the scene of Indian attacks
in 1755 and 1756. The county was formed in order to eliminate trips to Carlisle.
In 1820 Sherman's Valley boasted forty-eight grist and merchant mills, a forge,
ten fulling mills, sixty sawmills, eight carding machines, four oil mills, a
furnace, two tilted hammers, and a powder mill. Waterpower was king. The
Pennsylvania Canal had four locks in Perry; the economies of Duncannon, New
Buffalo, Liverpool, and Newport depended on the canal from 1828 to 1901, when it
was closed. Perry also had the Juniata Canal from 1828 to 1898. The county made
high-quality hickory barrel hoops. Lumbering continues today, serving over a
dozen active sawmills. Farms occupy 32 percent of the land. Retail sales have
been low in the last two decades due to convenient shopping center beyond the
county lines. Home building has been strong since 1970. Almost two-thirds of the
resident population work force is employed outside the county.
Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
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- Blain |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Buffalo |
township |
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- Carroll |
township |
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- Duncannon |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Greenwood |
township |
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- Howe |
township |
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- Juniata |
township |
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- Landisburg |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Liverpool |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Marysville |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Miller |
township |
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- Millerstown |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- New Bloomfield
(County
Seat) |
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- New Buffalo |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Newport |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Northeast Madison |
township |
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- Rye |
township |
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- Saville |
township |
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- Southwest Madison |
township |
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- Spring |
township |
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- Toboyne |
township |
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- Watts |
township |
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- Wheatfield |
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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