Sullivan County, Pennsylvania
Sullivan County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,840, making it the second-least populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Laporte ...
, United States, is divided into 13
incorporated municipalities
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local government, local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) city, cities, county, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be use ...
. State law defines the two kinds of municipalities present in the county: four
boroughs
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 ...
and nine
townships
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
. In the
2010 census, the population of Sullivan County was 6,428,
making it an "Eighth Class County", defined by Pennsylvania law as "having a population of less than 20,000 inhabitants".
Its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
is
Laporte, which was the smallest county seat in Pennsylvania by population, as of 2001.
Sullivan County is located in north central Pennsylvania, about northwest of
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 east-northeast of
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
.
The county covers , of which is land and (0.53%) is water. Its municipalities range in size from the borough of
Dushore with to
Davidson Township with .
Cherry Township has the highest population of any municipality (1,705 or 26.5% of the county total as of 2010), while the borough of
Eagles Mere has the lowest population (120 or 1.9%).
Although Sullivan County has boroughs and townships, it has no
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
. Any municipality in Pennsylvania with more than 10 persons can incorporate as a borough. Any township or borough with a population of at least 10,000 can ask the
state legislature to become chartered as a city. However, as Sullivan County has a population of only 6,428, it has no cities. There are no unincorporated areas in the county, since all territory in Pennsylvania is incorporated.
History
The land which became Sullivan County was purchased from the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
by the
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...
in 1768, as part of the first
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a treaty signed between representatives from the Iroquois and Great Britain (accompanied by negotiators from New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania) in 1768 at Fort Stanwix. It was negotiated between Sir William J ...
. It was part of
Northumberland County, then became part of
Lycoming County
Lycoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 114,188. Its county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. ...
when it was formed in 1795.
Sullivan County itself was formed from the northeastern part of Lycoming County on March 15, 1847. It was the thirteenth and last county formed at least partly from Lycoming County, and the fifth entirely formed from it.
According to the official state publication ''
The Pennsylvania Manual
''The Pennsylvania Manual'' is a biennial guide to the Government of Pennsylvania produced by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services
The Pennsylvania Department of General Services (DGS) is an agency of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania t ...
'' (2011), Sullivan County was named for Pennsylvania state senator Charles C. Sullivan, who "took an active part in procuring passage of the bill" establishing the county.
However, according to former Pennsylvania state librarian
Frederic A. Godcharles (1933) and oliver P. Williams' ''County Courthouses of Pennsylvania: A Guide'' (2001), the county is named for General
John Sullivan, who led the
Sullivan Expedition
The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Genocide) was a United States military campaign during the American Revolutionary War, lasting from June to October 1779 ...
against the Iroquois in 1779.
While all four boroughs were formed after Sullivan County was established, seven of the nine townships were formed while still part of Lycoming County. The first of these was Shrewsbury Township, which encompassed all of modern Sullivan County when it was formed in 1803. Elkland Township was formed from Shrewsbury in 1804, as were Cherry (1824), Davidson (1833), and Forks Townships (1833). Plunketts Creek Township was formed from
Franklin
Franklin may refer to:
People
* Franklin (given name)
* Franklin (surname)
* Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class
Places Australia
* Franklin, Tasmania, a township
* Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...
and Davidson Townships in 1838, and Fox Township was formed from Elkland in 1839. When Sullivan County was formed in 1847, both Shrewsbury and
Plunketts Creek Townships were split, with each county having a township of that name. Plunketts Creek Township in Sullivan County changed its name to Hillsgrove Township in 1856.
Sullivan County has no former townships, and no counties have been formed from it.
When formed in 1847, Sullivan County had no boroughs. The unincorporated village of Cherry Hill in Cherry Township served as the first county seat until 1850, when Laporte was founded in the geographic center of the county, and became its new county seat.
In 1850 the population of the county was 3,694 and it grew steadily to a peak of 12,134 in 1900. This was just after the borough of Eagles Mere was incorporated as the last of the county's municipalities, in 1899. Much of this growth was fueled by
lumber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
-based industry, but the
virgin forests were almost all gone by 1900 and the population declined in eight of eleven decades since then, decreasing by a total of 47% between 1900 and 2010.
File:Sullivan County Courthouse.jpg, Sullivan County Courthouse, Laporte
File:Worlds End State Park Far View.jpg, Worlds End State Park
Worlds End State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. The park, nearly surrounded by Loyalsock State Forest, is in the Loyalsock Creek valley on Pennsylvania Route 154 in Forks and Shrewsbury Townships southeast ...
, Forks Township
File:Forksville Covered Bridge.jpg, Forksville Covered Bridge in Forksville
File:Loyalsock State Forest.jpg, Loyalsock State Forest
Loyalsock State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #20. The forest spans across the northern tier's "Endless Mountains" and is a total of . The Loyalsock is a “working forest” and is managed for ...
, Hillsgrove Township
Municipalities
Clickable map
The map shown below is clickable; click on any municipality name to be redirected to the article for that borough or township.
See also
*
Loyalsock State Forest
Loyalsock State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #20. The forest spans across the northern tier's "Endless Mountains" and is a total of . The Loyalsock is a “working forest” and is managed for ...
*
Worlds End State Park
Worlds End State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. The park, nearly surrounded by Loyalsock State Forest, is in the Loyalsock Creek valley on Pennsylvania Route 154 in Forks and Shrewsbury Townships southeast ...
*
Ricketts Glen State Park
Ricketts Glen State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 13,193 acres (5,280 ha) in Columbia, Luzerne, and Sullivan counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. Ricketts Glen is a National Natural Landmark known for its old-growth fore ...
References
''Unless otherwise noted, all information on area and population comes from 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 ...
.''
External links
* ''Official Sullivan County Website''
*
{{featured list
Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, Municipalities
Municipalities in Sullivan 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, ...