Curwensville is a borough in

Clearfield County Clearfield County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 80,562. The county seat is Clearfield, and the largest city is DuBois. The county was created in 1804 and later organized in 1822. C ...

, Pennsylvania, United States, north of Altoona on the West Branch Susquehanna River. Coal mining, tanning, and the manufacture of fire bricks were the industries at the turn of the 20th century. In 1900, 1,937 people lived in the borough, and in 1910, 2,549 lived there. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough had a population of 2,570. The population of the borough at its highest was 3,422 in 1940.

History

Curwensville was named for John Curwen in 1799. Once the Borough was established and local government formed, many improvements were made to this country village, including sidewalks being laid on Filbert, Thompson, and Pine Streets in May of 1855, the first bridge constructed in the borough in 1870, and in 1890 the first water system was established. The town began to do well financially because of the lumber trade along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. The leather trade has been and continues to be a large industry in Curwensville, Wickett and Craig. The Clearfield Cheese Company has been producing high-quality cheese out of Curwensville, Pennsylvania since 1938. In 1956, a man named Arnold Nawrocki came up with the idea to invent a method for wrapping cheese slices in cellophane, which drastically increased their shelf life and changed the modern cheese industry. Curwensville became the second borough of Clearfield County in 1851. Curwensville, Pennsylvania April 2015

Industry

North American Refractories Company (NARCO) was a brick plant in Curwensville. The "Brick Yard" as most called it in the community made many different types of brick. Seneca, acid, and cardic brick were all manufactured in NARCO. They were also noted for hot gun models and specialty shapes. The sandstone quarry owned by Russell Stone Products, Inc. in Curwensville, PA, is a valued asset. Although the site had remained dormant for a lengthy period of time in the 1900s, today it is a viable source that has extensively supplied material for many prominent projects nationwide. Lezzer Lumber founded in 1927, by Michael Lezzer and his cousins, Louie and Charlie Sandri. They specialized in building materials and farm equipment sales and repair. The company has been a source of lumber in the area since, though the original store burnt down in 1971. Lezzer Lumber has been expanding throughout Pennsylvania since, even opening a truss plant in 1999 to manufacture trusses to be shipped ready to install. Lezzer Lumber's main headquarters is still located in Curwensville.

Geography

Curwensville is located near the center of Clearfield County at (40.973408, -78.522318), along the banks of the West Branch Susquehanna River.

Curwensville Lake Curwensville Lake is a reservoirhttp://curwensvillelake.com/ located just to the south of the town of Curwensville, Pennsylvania. The lake was formed due to the construction of the Curwensville Dam to the north of the lake. Before the dam was ...

on the West Branch is impounded south of the borough and extends southwest to Lumber City.

Pennsylvania Route 879 Pennsylvania Route 879 (PA 879) is a state highway located in Clearfield and Centre Counties in Pennsylvania. The western terminus is at U.S. Route 219 (US 219) and PA 729 in Grampian. The eastern terminus is at PA 144 in Snow Shoe T ...

passes through Curwensville, leading northeast (downstream) to Clearfield, the county seat, and west to Grampian. According to the United States Census Bureau, Curwensville has a total area of , of which is land and , or 4.49%, is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,650 people, 1,144

households A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is impo ...

, and 758 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 1,254 housing units at an average density of . The ethnic composition of the borough was 99.02% White, 0.34% African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.08%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.04% from other races, and 0.30% from two or more races. 0.30% of the population were Hispanic or

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race. There were 1,144

of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were not nuclear families. 30.6% of all households were made up of solitary dwellers of varying ages with 15.9% of those being a person who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 people and the average family size was 2.84 people. The ages of persons living in the Curwensville borough were widely varied with 22.8% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 19.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The

median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...

age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 82.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.0 males. The median income for a household in the borough was $27,281, and the median income for a family was $36,197. Males had a median income of $28,145 versus $18,598 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $14,829. 16.0% of the population and 12.8% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 29.0% of those under the age of 18 and 12.7% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Notable people

Charles Emory Patton Charles Emory Patton (July 5, 1859 – December 15, 1937) was a U.S. Representative from the state of Pennsylvania. He was the son of John Patton and the brother of John Patton, Jr. Patton was born in Curwensville, Pennsylvania and attend ...

(1859–1937), Republican member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1911 to 1915 * John Patton (January 6, 1823 – December 23, 1897) was a U.S. Representative from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. *

John Patton Jr. John Patton Jr. (October 30, 1850 – May 24, 1907) was a U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan. Patton, the son of John Patton and the brother of Charles Emory Patton, was born in Curwensville, Pennsylvania. He prepared for college at Phil ...

(October 30, 1850 – May 24, 1907) was a U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan. *

Charles Wall Charles Cecil Wall (June 21, 1903 – May 1, 1995) was an American self-taught historian and preservationist, who spent nearly 40 years as resident director of George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon on the banks of the Potomac River, wher ...

(c. 1903-1995), resident superintendent of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

's estate at Mount Vernon for 39 years, starting in 1937. Thomas, Robert McG., Jr
"Charles Wall, 91, Long Director of George Washington's Home"
'' The New York Times'', May 5, 1995. Accessed July 23, 2010.

References

External links

Curwensville Borough official websiteCurwensville Development CorporationCurwensville Lake (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
{{authority control Populated places established in 1799 Pennsylvania populated places on the Susquehanna River Boroughs in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania 1851 establishments in Pennsylvania