Lansford is a
county-border borough
A borough is an administrative division in various 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 the Middle Ag ...
(town) in
Carbon 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, ...
. It is part of
Northeastern Pennsylvania
Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) is a geographic region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton, Nanticoke, and Carbon ...
. It is located northwest of
Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them:
*Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California
*Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County
*Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Taze ...
and 19 miles south of
Hazleton Hazleton may refer to:
Places
* Hazleton, British Columbia, Canada
* Hazleton, Gloucestershire, a village in Gloucestershire, England
** Hazleton long barrows, Neolithic burial mounds at Hazleton, Gloucestershire, England
** Hazleton Abbey, a medi ...
in the
Panther Creek Valley
In Eastern Pennsylvania, the valley of the Panther Creek tributary of the Little Schuylkill River, a very small and relatively short mountain creek, was historically important due to its stranglehold on energy production, a key region central to ...
about from
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
and abutting the cross-county sister-city of
Coaldale in
Schuylkill County.
The whole valley was owned and subdivided into separate lots by the historically important
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company
The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and i ...
, locally called the Old Company, which likely settled some structures on the lands by 1827.
Lansford grew with the development of local
anthracite
Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
s and was named after
Asa Lansford Foster
Asa Lansford Foster (August 19, 1798 – January 9, 1868) was a Pennsylvanian geologist, merchant, and coal mine owner. He was also a geologist, mining engineer, and publisher and was one of the pioneers of the anthracite industry. He was a nati ...
, who was an advocate for merging the small patch towns that developed in the area surrounding the anthracite coal mines.
The population was 3,941 at the
2010 census, a steep decline from a high of 9,632 at the
1930 census common to many mining towns in
Northeastern Pennsylvania
Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) is a geographic region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton, Nanticoke, and Carbon ...
.
History
Lansford's first school was opened in 1847 on Abbott Street. Lansford's first church, the Welsh Congregational, was built in 1850 and still stands today on West Abbott Street.
The old No. 9 Mine and Museum in Lansford, a deep mine which operated from 1855 to 1972, is now open as a
tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Types
Places of natural b ...
offering tours of the mine and a wealth of information on local mining history. A
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
occupying the mine's former Wash Shanty building on the site displays a large collection of mining artifacts.
One of the local mine bosses, John P. Jones, was murdered in Lansford, reportedly in connection with labor union strife, attributed to members of a secret society known as the
Molly Maguires
The Molly Maguires were an Irish 19th-century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and parts of the Eastern United States, best known for their activism among Irish-American and Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania. After a seri ...
, many of whom were put on trial and hanged in Carbon and Schuylkill Counties during the mid- to late 1870s.
Lansford was the home of the first
Commercial Cable Television system in the United States.
The
Lansford Historic District was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2012.
Geography
According to the
U.S. 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 the ...
, the borough has a total area of , all of it land. The town shares the border of Carbon and Schuylkill County with the abutting neighboring community of Coaldale, which is ''de facto'', a suburban bedroom neighborhood. Lansford is 1 mile north of
Summit Hill (where the first anthracite deposits mined by the
Lehigh Coal Company
Lehigh may refer to:
Places United States
* Lehigh, Iowa
*Lehigh, Kansas
* Lehigh, Oklahoma
* Lehigh, Barbour County, West Virginia
*Lehigh, Wisconsin
*Lehigh Acres, Florida
*Lehigh Township (disambiguation)
*Lehigh Valley, a region in eastern Pe ...
were discovered in the 1780s); 10 miles west of
Lehighton, and 6 miles northeast of
Tamaqua. Lansford's elevation is 1145 feet above sea level. It is also 27 miles northwest of
Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them:
*Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California
*Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County
*Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Taze ...
and 9 miles south of
Hazleton Hazleton may refer to:
Places
* Hazleton, British Columbia, Canada
* Hazleton, Gloucestershire, a village in Gloucestershire, England
** Hazleton long barrows, Neolithic burial mounds at Hazleton, Gloucestershire, England
** Hazleton Abbey, a medi ...
. It is located on the northwestern fringe of the
Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...
and is at the southern end of the
Coal Region
The Coal Region is a region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is known for being home to the largest known deposits of anthracite, anthracite coal in the world with an estimated reserve of seven billion short tons.
The region is typically define ...
and the
Pocono Mountains
The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos , are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, W ...
.
Lansford sits on the north slope of
Pisgah Mountain
Pisgah Mountain or Pisgah Ridge (on older USGS maps) is a ridgeline running from Tamaqua to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (from the Little Schuylkill River water gap to the Lehigh River water gap). It is oriented north-northeast to south-southwe ...
above and along the south bank of the
Panther Creek tributary of the
Little Schuylkill River
The Little Schuylkill River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Schuylkill River in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
It rises south of McAdoo He ...
, athwart
US-209 west of
Jim Thorpe
James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...
,
Nesquehoning, and the eastern extent of the
Lehigh-Schuylkill drainage divide, down slope and below historic
Summit Hill and east of abutting
Coaldale and
Tamaqua, Pennsylvania
Tamaqua (pronounced tuh-MAH-qwah, del, tëmakwe) is a borough in eastern Schuylkill County in the Coal Region of Pennsylvania, United States. It had a population of 6,934 as of the 2020 U.S. census.
Tamaqua was established from territory from ...
, both farther downstream and west.
dominates the north bank across the Panther Creek and the rich coal mines of the valley shipped coal through the long
Hauto Tunnel
The Hauto Tunnel, dug in 1871–72, was a single-track railway tunnel crossing under the barrier ridge of Nesquehoning Mountain between Lansford, Pennsylvania, in the Panther Creek Valley and the Central Railroad of New Jersey trackage near the ...
of the
Central Railroad of New Jersey
The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...
(CNJ) competing for the rich trade with New York City and Philadelphia.
Hugh Vrablic is the Mayor of Lansford and is assisted by a council. The town also has a fire department and a police force.
Lansford is part of the Panther Valley School District and is the home of their newly remodeled football stadium and walking track.
Demographics
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 incl ...
of 2000, there were 4,230 people, 1,878 households, and 1,098 families residing in the borough. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: 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 term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was 2,710.0 people per square mile (1,046.9/km²). There were 2,228 housing units at an average density of 1,427.4 per square mile (551.4/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 98.18%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 0.35%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.07%
Native American, 0.31%
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 ...
, 0.07%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, 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 the original p ...
, 0.28% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 0.73% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
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 ...
people of any race were 1.42% of the population.
There were 1,878 households, out of which 24.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.4% 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, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.5% were non-families. 37.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 23.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.92.
In the borough the population was spread out, with 22.5% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 25.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.2 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $27,478, and the median income for a family was $37,773. Males had a median income of $30,405 versus $22,255 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 borough was $14,347. About 10.9% of families and 14.3% 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 20.5% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over.
Media
WLSH
WLSH (1410 AM) is a radio station broadcasting an adult standards music format. Licensed to Lansford, Pennsylvania, the station is owned by CC Broadcasting, LLC and features programming from USA Radio Network and Westwood One
Westwood One ...
is a locally-owned 5,000-watt station at 1410 on the AM dial which signed-on December 24, 1952. The call letters stand for Lansford and neighboring
Summit Hill.
Notes
References
External links
Official borough website*
*
*
Benjamin Bloom
Benjamin Samuel Bloom (February 21, 1913 – September 13, 1999) was an American educational psychologist who made contributions to the classification of educational objectives and to the theory of mastery learning. He is particularly noted ...
(1913–99), American educational theorist and professor of education
{{authority control
1845 establishments in Pennsylvania
Boroughs in Carbon County, Pennsylvania
Municipalities of the Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania
Populated places established in 1845