Jenkintown is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is approximately north of Center City Philadelphia.

History

The community was named for William Jenkins, a Welsh pioneer settler. The borough was settled in about 1697 and incorporated on December 8, 1874, when approximately was taken from Abington Township. Today, the Borough is approximately and is home to 4,500 residents. Elements of the British army passed through Jenkintown en route to the Battle of White Marsh in early December 1777. From the mid-1950s until the early 1980s, Jenkintown was a major retail hub for the northern suburbs of Philadelphia.

Geography

Jenkintown is located just outside Philadelphia along the Route 611 corridor between Abington and

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

Townships. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of , all land. Jenkintown is surrounded by Abington Township to the north, west, and east, and borders Cheltenham Township to the south.

Demographics

As of the 2010 census, the borough was 87.5% White, 5.7% Black or African American, 2.0% Asian, and 1.8% were two or more races. 3.0% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 4,478 people, 2,035 households, and 1,088 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 2,085 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 93.61%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.00%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.04% Native American, 0.94% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.49% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino people of any race were 1.30% of the population. There were 2,035 households, out of which 24.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.5% were non-families. 40.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 3.08. The age distribution of the borough's population is 22.9% under the age of 18, 5.6% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 21.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 78.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.2 males. The

median income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...

for a household in the borough was $47,743, and the median income for a family was $72,902. Males had a median income of $41,970 versus $35,625 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the borough was $29,834. About 1.9% of families and 5.1% 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 ...

, including 3.6% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

The Jenkins' Town Lyceum Building, Jenkintown-Wyncote station, and Strawbridge and Clothier Store are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. WPHI-FM (103.9), the FM simulcast of all news radio station KYW (1060) in Philadelphia, is licensed to Jenkintown and does regularly cover events in the community.

Government

Jenkintown has a

city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city in the council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are referred to as the chief executive officer (CEO) or chief administ ...

form of government with a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

and a twelve-member borough council. The current mayor is Gabriel Lerman. Jay Conners is the president of the borough council, and Christian Soltysiak is vice president. The borough is part of the Fourth Congressional District, represented by Madeleine Dean. At the state level, Jenkintown is part of the Pennsylvania's 154th Representative District, represented by Napoleon Nelson, and the 4th Senatorial District, represented by Arthur L. Haywood III. All are Democrats. Jenkintown, like its surroundings of Abington and

and their included towns, votes overwhelmingly Democratic.

Education

The Jenkintown School District includes Jenkintown Elementary School and Jenkintown Middle/High School. The district has an enrollment of over 700 students.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Highways and roads

As of 2017 there were of public roads in Jenkintown, of which were maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and were maintained by the borough. PA Route 611 heads north–south through Jenkintown along Old York Road, heading south to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and north to Willow Grove, where it has an interchange with the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Doylestown. PA Route 73 passes east–west along the southern edge of Jenkintown along Washington Lane and Township Line Road, heading west to Wyncote and east to Northeast Philadelphia. Greenwood Avenue runs east–west through the center of Jenkintown, heading west to Wyncote.

Trains and buses

The Jenkintown-Wyncote station is one of

SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

's major

Regional Rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...

stops; the Lansdale/Doylestown Line, Warminster Line, and West Trenton Line regional rail services all stop there. Jenkintown-Wyncote station is the busiest SEPTA Regional Rail station outside the city of Philadelphia. The Jenkintown-Wyncote station building with its Queen Anne-style architecture was designed by famous Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer. SEPTA provides City Bus service to Jenkintown along Route 55, which follows PA 611 south to Olney Transportation Center in

North Philadelphia North Philadelphia, nicknamed North Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is immediately north of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City. Though the full extent of the region is somewhat vague, "North Philadelphia" is regarded as ...

and north to Willow Grove and Doylestown, and Route 77, which heads west to the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia and east to Northeast Philadelphia.

Fire department

The Jenkintown Fire Department consists of two fire companies founded more than 125 years ago. The Jenkintown Fire Department is a volunteer department consisting of the Pioneer Fire Company #1 and the Independent Fire Company #2. The Pioneer Company was organized in 1884 and the Independent Company was organized in 1889, an artifact of the historical split between Catholics and Protestants in the population of the borough. The two fire companies have a total membership of approximately 150, with 50 members composing the active firefighting crew.

Notable people

Friederike Baer
German-born award-winning American historian * Bryan Cohen, American-Israeli basketball player * Bradley Cooper, actor and filmmaker * Lawrence Curry, educator and politician
Elena Drozdova
Russian-born painter * Wilmot E. Fleming, politician * Adam F. Goldberg, television and film producer; creator of ''The Goldbergs'', which is set in Jenkintown * David Hungerford, cancer researcher, lived and died in Jenkintown * Mark Khaisman, Ukrainian-born visual artist * Mary Frances Lovell, writer, humanitarian, and temperance reformer * George Low Jr., professional golfer * George Low Sr., professional golfer * Carol Polis, professional boxing judge *

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

, poet and critic * Max Ritter, Olympic swimmer * Lessing J. Rosenwald, former chairman and president of

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

* Allyson Schwartz, politician * Carl J. Seiberlich, naval aviator * Jennifer Su, radio and television personality and singer * Horace Trumbauer, architect during the American Gilded Age * Glenn Wallis, author and musician * John Wanamaker, merchant and religious, civic and political figure

In popular culture

The television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

'' The Goldbergs'' is set in Jenkintown; it is based on the 1980s childhood of show creator Adam F. Goldberg, a Jenkintown native.

References

External links

Borough of Jenkintown
{{authority control 1874 establishments in Pennsylvania Boroughs in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Populated places established in 1697