Fell Township is a township in

Lackawanna County Lackawanna County (; unm, Lèkaohane) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania and had a population of 215,896 as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is Scranton. The county ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States. The population was 2,345 at the 2020 census.

Pattern of settlement

Fell Township's principal settlement is

Simpson Simpson most often refers to: * Simpson (name), a British surname *''The Simpsons'', an animated American sitcom **The Simpson family, central characters of the series ''The Simpsons'' Simpson may also refer to: Organizations Schools *Simpso ...

, as of 2010 home to 1,275 people, mostly middle age and elderly. Although not usually considered by the locals, the upper part of Carbondale's West Side is actually in the southwestern corner of the township. This area is home to a few hundred people, and is geographically separate from other settlements in Fell Township. The other settlements in Fell Township are the residential communities of Crystal Lake and Richmondale. Richmondale is currently home to 190 people. The original house in Simpson was the Morss Mansion on Lord Avenue, built in 1887. The house inspired Hank Williams' song "Mansion on the Hill". By 1974, the mansion was empty, and title of it and the surrounding property fell in the hands of the local volunteer fire company. Due to lack of maintenance, the mansion was in disrepair by the 1990s, and despite public outcry, the mansion was, tragically, torn down in the summer of 1998. The Grattan-Singer Hose Company then built a new fire house in the property.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, the township has a total area of , of which is land and (0.52%) is water. Fell Township also features the

Lackawanna River The Lackawanna River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It flows through a region of th ...

, Panther's Creek, and many abandoned pits from

strip mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, there were 2,178 people, 925 households, and 586 families residing in the township. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 142.4 people per square mile (55/km²). There were 1,045 housing units at an average density of 68.3/sq mi (26.7/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 96.6%

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, 0.7%

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, 0.2% Native American, 0.3%

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, 0.7% from

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, and 1.4% from two or more races.

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of any race were 3% of the population. There were 925 households, out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.6% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.94. In the township the population was spread out, with 20.9% under the age of 18, 61% from 18 to 64, and 18.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.7 years. The median income for a household in the township was $37,727, and the median income for a family was $50,100. Males had a median income of $42,232 versus $29,250 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the township was $21,772. About 6.7% of families and 11% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 11.7% of those under age 18 and 7.5% of those age 65 or over.

References

{{Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Townships in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania