Jersey Shore 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
...
in
Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
Lycoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 114,188. Its county seat is Williamsport. The county is part of the North Central region of the commonwealth.
Lycoming County compri ...
, United States. It is on the
West Branch Susquehanna River
The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the Northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is generally regarded as the ex ...
, west by south of
Williamsport. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the past, Jersey Shore held farms, railroad shops, cigar factories, a foundry, and a large silk mill. The population was 4,158 at the
2020 census.
History
Jersey Shore 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
...
on March 15, 1826. The history of Jersey Shore begins about 50 years before it was incorporated and on the opposite bank of the
West Branch Susquehanna River
The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the Northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is generally regarded as the ex ...
in what is now
Nippenose Township. Colonel John Henry Antes arrived in 1772 and established a
homestead
Homestead may refer to:
*Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
* Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...
along the banks of
Antes Creek. Antes also built a
gristmill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
and his fortified home,
Fort Antes
Fort Antes was a stockade surrounding the home of Colonel John Henry Antes, built ''circa'' 1778 in American Revolution, Revolutionary Pennsylvania in the United States. The fort was built under the direction of Colonel Antes, who was a member of ...
, provided a safe haven for the early settlers against raids conducted by
Loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
and Indian forces during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
. Settlers who had sought refuge at Fort Antes and had returned to the right bank of the West Branch to milk their
cows
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...
were among the first killed when Fort Antes was attacked just prior to the
Big Runaway
The Big Runaway was a mass evacuation in June and July 1778 of White settlers from the frontier regions of North Central Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War. It was precipitated by a series of raids against local settlements on th ...
. These pioneers on the north side of the river were counted among the
Fair Play Men
The Fair Play Men were illegal settlers (squatters) who established their own system of self-rule from 1773 to 1785 in the West Branch Susquehanna River valley of Pennsylvania in what is now the United States. Because they settled in territory clai ...
, a group of
squatters
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
who lived outside the jurisdiction of the colonial and revolutionary governments of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
. Many of the settlers did not return to the area until after
Sullivan's Expedition
The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign) was a United States military campaign under the command of General John Sullivan during the American Revoluti ...
had forced the
Lenape
The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada.
The Lenape's historica ...
and other Indians allied with the British further west.
Jersey Shore was originally named Waynesburg by the two brothers, Reuben and Jeremiah Manning, who laid out the town circa 1785.
Around the time that this was happening, a settlement arose on the eastern side of the West Branch Susquehanna River (Nippenose Township), opposite Waynesburg. A rivalry developed between the two settlements, and those on the eastern shore began referring to the settlement on the western shore as the "Jersey Shore," because the Manning family had relocated from
New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
. The
nickname
A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...
became so fixed that in 1826 the original name of Waynesburg was officially abandoned and changed to Jersey Shore.
Jersey Shore's location on the West Branch Susquehanna River, just downstream from the mouth of
Pine Creek made it an ideal location for traders and other businessmen who outfitted the pioneers who settled the westernmost portions of the
West Branch Susquehanna River Valley
The West Branch Susquehanna Valley of central Pennsylvania, United States, in the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians, is the low-lying area draining into the West Branch Susquehanna River southeast of the Allegheny Front, northeast of the Bald Eagle ...
and the Pine Creek valley.
[*] Thomas Martin was a farmer who sold his
produce
In American English, produce generally refers to wikt:fresh, fresh List of culinary fruits, fruits and Vegetable, vegetables intended to be Eating, eaten by humans, although other food products such as Dairy product, dairy products or Nut (foo ...
to the people of Jersey Shore and to the men and women who were just passing through. Mr. Martin was noted for his strong beliefs regarding the prices that he set.
For example, if he believed that his
potato
The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...
es were worth 35 cents a bushel, he would sell them for 35 cents a
bushel
A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an Imperial unit, imperial and United States customary units, US customary unit of volume, based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was used mostly for agriculture, agricultural pr ...
, no more no less. If his competitors would sell potatoes for 50 cents a bushel, Martin would not raise his price and if others lowered the price to 25 cents per bushel, he would not lower his price. This firmness and fairness allowed Thomas Martin to rise to a position of prominence in Jersey Shore and Lycoming County. His reputation for fairness and honesty was passed onto his son Lewis Martin who went on to serve as a Lycoming County
prothonotary
A prothonotary is the "principal clerk of a court," from Late Latin, L.L. ''prothonotarius'' (Wiktionary:circa, c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the Byzantine E ...
and as a deputy
U.S. Marshal
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the U.S. federal judiciary. It is an agency of the U.S. Department of Jus ...
.

The
Reverend
The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...
John Hays Grier arrived in Jersey Shore in 1814. He was a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...
who originally set out from his home of
Doylestown Pennsylvania with the intention of serving the pioneers of the west. He stopped one Sunday in Jersey Shore and for the most part never left. He built a strong
congregation
Congregation may refer to:
Religion
*Church (congregation), a religious organization that meets in a particular location
*Congregation (Roman Curia), an administrative body of the Catholic Church
*Religious congregation, a type of religious instit ...
at Jersey Shore and another upstream on the West Branch in
Lock Haven. Grier served the churches in Lock Haven and Jersey Shore for 14 years before serving the church in Jersey Shore, alone, for an additional 23 years. Rev. Grier was also elected
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...
of Lycoming County in 1822.
Jersey Shore was once a major player in the
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
industry. In 1901, the
New York Central and Hudson River Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...
announced it would build large rail car shops near
Avis, west of Jersey Shore, on the far side of Pine Creek. To induce workers and businesses to favor Jersey Shore over competing towns, entrepreneurs acquired land and built the Jersey Shore Electric Street Railway, a
trolley line running from the city to the New York Central shops. In 1905, a second trolley line, the Jersey Shore and Antes Fort Railway, was put into service between the city and 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 ...
station in Antes Fort, to the southeast. These two trolley lines changed Jersey Shore from a city with no railroad connection to a city with two. What had formerly been a minor stop on the
West Branch Canal and
stagecoach
A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
lines was transformed into an industrial boomtown. Over 1,000 skilled mechanics were employed at the car shops. They were able to earn wages that far exceeded the normal income of the average worker in Lycoming County at the time.
Other early industrial ventures in Jersey Shore included the American Balance Valve and Machine Works (a maker of railroad valves), the Susquehanna Silk Mill and the Jersey Shore
Creamery
A creamery or cheese factory is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has ...
Company.
On October 10, 1911, Jersey Shore Hospital was founded by four physicians. At that time, the hospital consisted of 14 beds in the rebuilt home of the L.D. Herrit family. Over the next few years, x-ray services, a maternity ward, and nurses’ residence were added. It was not until 1922 that Jersey Shore Hospital was recognized as a community hospital by the borough and became a not-for-profit institution, which the hospital still maintains.
Jersey Shore Steel Company was founded in 1938, near the end of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
by John A. Schultz. The company began manufacturing steel rails for the railroad industry. In its first year of business Jersey Shore Steel was able to produce 15,000 tons of rail steel.
When John A. Schultz died in 1943, the business was passed onto his sons Charles and John A. Jr. The brothers oversaw expansion and devastation. A massive fire nearly destroyed the
steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...
in 1963, and the
Agnes Flood of 1972 caused tremendous damage. The company, which is owned by a third generation of the Schultz family, operates two mills, the original mill in Jersey Shore and a second mill downstream in
Montoursville. It is capable of producing 170,000 tons of rail steel annually.
The
Jersey Shore Historic District was added to 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 1975.
Industry
In the past, Jersey Shore held farms, railroad shops, cigar factories, a foundry, and a large silk mill.
Woolrich, Inc. had a mill in Jersey Shore, in addition to ones in the neighbouring towns of
Woolrich and
Avis, which closed in 2008.
Geography
Jersey Shore is located at (41.202587, -77.266715).
It is just east of the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...
of
Pine Creek with the Susquehanna, surrounded to the north, west, and south by
Porter Township and to the east (across the Susquehanna) by
Nippenose Township.
As the crow flies
The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points.
Etymology
The meaning of the expression is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist'' (1838):
...
, Lycoming County is approximately northwest of
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 ...
and east-northeast 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 ...
.
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.
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 4,482 people, 1,771 households, and 1,190 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 1,904 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 98.75%
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 ...
, 0.38%
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 ...
, 0.13%
Native American, 0.29%
Asian, 0.07%
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 ...
, 0.11% from
other races, and 0.27% 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 0.13% of the population.
There were 1,771 households, out of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% 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, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.8% were non-families. 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the borough the population was spread out, with 26.0% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 18.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.4 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $30,594, and the median income for a family was $39,261. Males had a median income of $27,045 versus $18,220 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 $15,343. About 6.5% of families and 9.0% 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 12.7% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.
Attractions
Jersey Shore is the southern terminus of the long
Pine Creek Rail Trail.
Media
*
WEJS
*
WJSA-FM
WJSA-FM (96.3 MHz) is a radio station
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radi ...
*
WXPI
Notable people
*
Robbie Gould
Robert Paul Gould III ( ; born December 6, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Bears, New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers. He p ...
, professional football player
*
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author, regarded as a pioneer of New Journalism along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, and Tom Wolfe. He rose to prom ...
, author, journalist
* Gabrielle Chappel, winner
Next Level Chef television show Season 3
See also
*
History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
*
Jersey Shore Steel
References
External links
Borough websiteOfficial Lycoming County Map showing all townships, villages, boroughs, cities, county roads, rivers, creeks, and some streams
{{authority control
Boroughs in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
Populated places established in 1800
Pennsylvania populated places on the Susquehanna River
1826 establishments in Pennsylvania