Corry is a city in northwestern Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 6,217 at the 2020 United States Census, it is the second largest city in Erie County. Corry is a part of the Erie, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city became famous in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for being the manufacturer of Climax locomotives.

History

Erie County was formed from parts of Allegheny County on March 12, 1800. On May 27, 1861, tracks owned by the

Atlantic and Great Western Railroad The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad began as three separate railroads: the Erie and New York City Railroad based in Jamestown, New York; the Meadville Railroad based in Meadville, Pennsylvania (renamed A&GW in April 1858); and the Franklin ...

intersected with those of the Sunbury and Erie Railroad and was called the "Atlantic and Erie Junction". Land at the junction was owned by Hiram Cory, who sold a portion to the Atlantic and Great Western in October 1861. The railroad built a ticket office at the junction and named it for Cory, but through a misspelling it became Corry. The combination of railroad growth and the first national oil wells developed by Edwin Drake for the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company in nearby Titusville contributed greatly to Corry's development. This boomtown was chartered as a borough in 1863 and designated as a city in 1866. Industry has played a big part in Corry's growth, and th
Corry Area Historical Society, Inc.
maintains a museum where one of the Climax locomotives (the steam engine used in logging operations that brought fame to Corry) is on display. Since 2020 a "Class A" Climax locomotive is being restored at a location near the original locomotive works by a local non-profit organization set up for this project. Corry has been named a

Tree City USA The Arbor Day Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Arbor Day Foundation has more than one million members and has planted more than 500 million trees in neighborhoods, communitie ...

for seven consecutive years. The Corry Armory was 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 ...

in 1991.

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 2000, there were 6,834 people, 2,660 households, and 1,763 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 2,868 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 98.19%

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 ...

, 0.29%

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 ...

, 0.29% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.01%

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 ...

, 0.09% from other races, and 0.97% 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 of any race were 0.91% of the population. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated Corry's population at 6,331 in 2009. There were 2,660 households, out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% 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, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.07. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.3% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $30,967, and the median income for a family was $35,375. Males had a median income of $30,220 versus $22,127 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 city was $15,143. About 14.2% of families and 16.4% 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 21.4% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.

Geography and climate

Corry is located at (41.924947, -79.640511). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , all land.

Government

The city of Corry is incorporated as a 3rd-class city under Pennsylvania law.''The Pennsylvania Manual'', p. 6-5. Third-class cities are governed by a commission, in which the mayor and four other members of the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

constitute the commission. The mayor serves as the president of the council. Michael Baker is the mayor of the city of Corry. The Corry City Council's other members are Steven Drake, Bill Roche, Taree Hamilton and Andrew Sproveri. Donna Huffman is city treasurer and Diane L. Cowles is city controller. Corry is in

Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district Pennsylvania's fifth congressional district encompasses all of Delaware County, an exclave of Chester County, a small portion of southern Montgomery County and a section of southern Philadelphia. Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon represents the distri ...

and is represented in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

by Republican Glenn Thompson, who was elected in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. Republican Scott Hutchinson of the 21st District has represented Corry in the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...

since 2013. Corry is contained by the

4th District Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

and is represented by Republican

Curt Sonney Curtis G. Sonney (born July 31, 1957) is an American politician. A Republican, he served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 4th District from 2005 through 2022. Early life Sonney was born on July 31, 1957, in Eri ...

Education

Corry is within the Corry Area School District, which operates a middle school, high school, one elementary school, but two abandoned elementary schools, and a career and technical center. Higher education is locally available through the Corry branch of

Mercyhurst College Mercyhurst University is a private Catholic university in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. History On September 20, 1926, Mercyhurst College opened its doors just a few blocks away from the city's southern boundary. It was founded by the Si ...

, which offers advanced college credits for high school students and an associate degree in business administration. Adult education and training are offered through the Corry Higher Education Council.

Notable people

* Emery Bopp (1924–2007), artist * William Wallace Brown (1836–1926), member of the

* Ryan Buell (1982−),

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

investigator *

Carmen Hill Carmen Proctor Hill (October 1, 1895 – January 1, 1990), born in Royalton, Minnesota, was a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1915–16, 1918–19 and 1926–29), New York Giants (1922) and St. Louis Cardinals (1929–30). He helped the Gia ...

(1895–1990), Major League Baseball player, Corry HS * Fred Marsh (1924–2006), Major League Baseball player * Peter McLaughlin, Minnesota state legislator * Norman T. Newton (1898–1992), Landscape Architect, Scholar * Linda Kay Olson, Miss America 2nd Runner-up, 1972 * Charles F. Ritchel (1840–1911), inventor *

James Alexander Robertson James Alexander Robertson (August 19, 1873 – March 20, 1939) was an American academic historian, archivist, translator and bibliographer. He is most noted for his contributions to the history and historiography of the Philippines and othe ...

(1873−1939), academic historian, archivist and bibliographer *

Karen Smyers Karen Smyers (born September 1, 1961) is a triathlete from the United States. She was the 1990 and 1995 ITU World Triathlon Series, ITU Triathlon World Champion, and was also the 1995 Ironman World Championship, Ironman World Champion. She was i ...

(1961−), triathlete

References

Sources

* * *

External links

City of CorryCorry Chamber of CommerceCorry Area Historical Society & Museum''The Corry Journal''Corry Area School District
{{authority control Cities in Pennsylvania Populated places established in 1861 Cities in Erie County, Pennsylvania 1861 establishments in Pennsylvania