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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.

Wyoming County, Pennsylvania

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

County Seat: Tunkhannock
Year Organized: 1842
Square Miles: 397

Court House:

1 Courthouse Square
County Courthouse
Tunkhannock, PA 18657-1233

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for the Wyoming Valley. "Wyoming" is derived from an Indian word meaning "extensive meadows."

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Created on April 4, 1842, from part of Luzerne County and named for the Wyoming Valley. "Wyoming" is derived from an Indian word meaning "extensive meadows." Tunkhannock, the county seat was incorporated as a borough on August 8, 1841, and was named for Tunkhannock Creek. The creek's name means "small stream."

Wyoming shares with its mother county, Luzerne, the Wyoming Valley tradition of the Connecticut claims, which began in 1754, and the Yankee-Pennamite wars. The Trenton Decree (1782), its acceptance by Connecticut (1786), and the land claimants' compensation statute (1807) ended the dispute. Although not part of the geologically defined Wyoming Valley, which is in Luzerne County, Wyoming it is one of four counties regarded as making up the historic Wyoming Valley. Connecticut Yankees made up a large percentage of the early settlers. The area experienced the settler exodus known as the Great Runaway following the Wyoming Massacre (a Tory and Indian victory) in 1778. Lacking significant coal beds, the county had primarily a lumber economy until 1900, which gave rise to a leather tanning industry using hemlock bark. Leather manufacture continued after the stands of hemlock were gone. The North Branch Canal passed through the area, and Tunkhannock was on the Lehigh Valley and Nicholson on the D. L. & W. Railroads. Grain and dairy farming gradually increased, and about 1900 dairying replaced lumber as the major product. Also, quarrying, especially of Pennsylvania bluestone, has been profitable. Tanneries used cattle hides and hemlock. The Cyrus Avery Foundry made farm equipment. The absorbent papers unit of Procter and Gamble, established at Mehoopany in 1966, is the county's biggest employer. Presently, lumber and wood products, women's apparels, and shoes are other products of this country. Farms cover 29 percent of the land, and dairy products dominate agricultural production.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 405 square miles (1,048 km²), of which, 397 square miles (1,029 km²) of it is land and 8 square miles (20 km²) of it (1.88%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Susquehanna County (north)
Lackawanna County (east)
Luzerne County (south)
Sullivan County (west)
Bradford County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Braintrim	township
- Eaton	township
- Factoryville	borough	Incorporated Area
- Falls	township
- Forkston	township
- Laceyville	borough	Incorporated Area
- Lemon	township
- Mehoopany	township
- Meshoppen	borough	Incorporated Area
- Nicholson	borough	Incorporated Area
- North Branch	township
- Northmoreland	township
- Noxen	township
- Overfield	township
- Tunkhannock (County Seat)	borough	Incorporated Area
- Windham	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."