Waverly Township is a township in

Lackawanna County Lackawanna County (; ) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It had a population of 215,615 in 2022. Its county seat and most populous city is Scranton. The county is part of the Northeast region of the commonwealth. The county was ...

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, United States. It is bordered by

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and Glenburn townships to the west, North Abington Township to the north, the boroughs of Clarks Summit and Clarks Green to the south, and South Abington Township to the south and southeast. Waverly Township is part of a suburban area known as "the Abingtons". The population was 1,861 at the 2020 census. Prior to 2011, the township was named Abington Township, and was originally referred to as "Ebbington" in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

's claim in 1806.

History

Originally a village in the original Abington Township, Abington Center was founded in the late 18th century by settlers from Connecticut, along the Warriors' Path. In 1854, it was incorporated as 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 ...

named Waverly after

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

's novel of the same name, popular at that time. It was renamed because there was another municipality named Abington located near

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 ...

. The borough, located within Lackawanna County, gave up its charter in 1919 due to the high cost of upgrading its main street to a state highway, and became Abington Township. Waverly Community House 2024

Due to confusion between the Montgomery County township and Lacakwanna County's

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, and

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Abington townships, township officials set up a ballot initiative to rename the municipality to Waverly based on one of its former names. On November 2, 2010, voters in the township overwhelmingly voted to change the township's name to Waverly Township, with 706 voting for the change and 115 against. The name change officially took place on January 1, 2011. The Waverly Historic District was added to the

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in 2004.

Geography

According to the

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, the township has a total area of , of which , or 0.17%, are water. The central part of the township comprises the Waverly

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

Demographics

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 2010, there were 1,743 people, 639 households, and 515 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 686 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 94.5%

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, 0.2%

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, 3.8% Asian, 0.3% some other race, and 1.1% from two or more races.

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or Latino of any race were 2.5% of the population. There were 639 households, out of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.1% 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, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.4% were non-families. 16.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.06. In the township the population was spread out, with 25.8% under the age of 18, 57.2% from 18 to 64, and 17% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45.9 years. The median income for a household in the township was $122,222, and the median income for a family was $150,221. Males had a median income of $98,036 versus $43,958 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 township was $52,653. About 2.9% of families and 3.4% 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 1.4% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

All middle school students residing in Waverly Township attend Abington Heights Middle School, and high school students attend Abington Heights High School.

References

External links