Cresson 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 ...

Cambria County, Pennsylvania Cambria County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 133,472. Its county seat is Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, Ebensb ...

, United States. Cresson is east of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. It is above in elevation. Lumber, coal, and coke yards were industries that had supported the population, which numbered 1,470 in 1910. The borough is part of the Johnstown Metropolitan Statistical Area, although state and local sources list it as part of the Altoona area due to being much closer to that city. The population of Cresson at the 2010 census was 1,711. The location was named in 1854 as a memorial to philanthropist Elliott Cresson. Railroads, beginning with the

Allegheny Portage Railroad The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania. It operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny that connecte ...

, fueled the growth of the area. Many famous Pittsburgh businessmen, including Charles M. Schwab,

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

, and

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company and played a major ...

, maintained summer residences in the area. The borough was incorporated in 1906, along with neighboring Sankertown.

Geography

Cresson is located in eastern Cambria County at (40.462631, -78.586319), atop the

Eastern Continental Divide The Eastern Continental Divide, Eastern Divide or Appalachian Divide is a drainage divide, hydrological divide in eastern North America that separates the easterly Atlantic Seaboard drainage basin, watershed from the westerly Gulf of Mexico wat ...

, the height of land between the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

valley. The Little Conemaugh River rises in Cresson, flowing southwest to form the

Conemaugh River The Conemaugh River is a tributary of the Kiskiminetas River in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Cambria counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The ...

, which in turn flows to the Kiskiminetas River, then the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ; ; ) is a tributary of the Ohio River that is located in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. It runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border, nor ...

, the

, and finally the

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. The north side of Cresson, meanwhile, drains north to Clearfield Creek, a tributary of the West Branch of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

, leading to

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

. Blair Gap, at the eastern edge of the

Allegheny Plateau The Allegheny Plateau ( ) is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio. It is divided into the unglacia ...

and east of town, is the location of the

National Historic Site, where the first railroad (a portage railway) crossed the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...

. Cresson is bypassed to the south and east by U.S. Route 22, a four-lane expressway, with access from two exits:

Pennsylvania Route 53 Pennsylvania Route 53 (PA 53) is an state highway located in central Pennsylvania. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 219 (Pennsylvania), U.S. Route 219 (US 219) near the borough of Summerhill, Pennsylvania, Summerhill. Th ...

(Second Street) on the south, and the Admiral Peary Highway (former US 22) on the east. Altoona is to the northeast via US 22 and Interstate 99, while Ebensburg, the Cambria County seat, is to the west. 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 borough has a total area of , all land.

History

Mountainhouse era

One of the first buildings in the area which would become Cresson was the Mountainhouse Hotel. The Queen Anne style structure was opened by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

in 1881, sold to the Cresson Springs Co., and demolished in 1916. It was hoped to attract visitors from Pittsburgh and Johnstown looking for clean air and "therapeutic" mineral springs. Although itself unsuccessful, it led to the development of several other hotels, companies, and the town itself. The area is currently known as the "Mountainhouse Grounds" to local residents and is in the midst of development. Several of the original cottages still stand, including those of

and Benjamin Jones.Anne Francis Pulling. ''Around Cresson and the Alleghenies''.

Stereographs of R.A. Bonine

Photographer R.A. Bonine of Altoona took several stereographs of the Cresson area, including the Mountainhouse during the 1870-1880s. The following were included in his series "Views Among the Alleghenies". File:Cresson, a summer resort on the P. R. R. among the wilds of the Alleghenies, by R. A. Bonine 4.jpg, Mountainhouse Hotel File:Winter at Cresson, summer resort, on the P. R. R. among the wilds of the Alleghenies, by R. A. Bonine 10.jpg, Cresson Springs Co. Building File:Cresson, a summer resort on the P. R. R. among the wilds of the Alleghenies, by R. A. Bonine 8.jpg, Hotel from Railroad Station File:P. R. R. Depot at Cresson, looking east, by R. A. Bonine 2.jpg, Railroad Depot (looking east) File:Cresson, a summer resort on the P. R. R. among the wilds of the Alleghenies, by R. A. Bonine 10.jpg, Muller Cottage

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 1,631 people, 726 households, and 426 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 786 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 98.90%

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 ...

, 0.12%

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 ...

, 0.37% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 0.37% 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 0.74% of the population. There were 726 households, out of which 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.9% 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, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.3% were non-families. 36.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.9% 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 2.94. In the borough, the population was spread out, with 21.0% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 19.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.8 males. The median income for a household in the borough was $26,293, and the median income for a family was $34,900. Males had a median income of $30,972 versus $21,853 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 $15,562. About 13.7% of families and 16.8% 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 16.4% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

Education

* Mount Aloysius College, a four-year Roman Catholic institution, is located in Cresson. * Penn Cambria School District, a K-12 public school district, has administrative offices in Cresson; the district covers neighboring areas as well as Cresson. Penn Cambria Pre-Primary and Penn Cambria High School are located in Cresson.

Notable people

Robert Edwin Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was long credited as being ...

, Sr - American Explorer

References

External links

Cresson Area Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Populated places established in 1902 Boroughs in Cambria County, Pennsylvania