Mahanoy City ( ) 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 ...

located southwest of Wilkes-Barre and 13 miles southwest of Hazleton, in northern Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the

Coal Region The Coal Region is a region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is known for being home to the largest known deposits of anthracite, anthracite coal in the world with an estimated reserve of seven billion short tons. The region is typically defined ...

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 ...

and is surrounded by (but not part of) Mahanoy Township. The name MahanoyKnown to be pronounced or in the 21st century; known to have been pronounced both that way and by

natives in the 19th and 20th centuries, although the latter pronunciation may now be waning and may now in some cases be a hypercorrection by people who take pride in knowing it as a shibboleth. is believed to be a variation of the

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

word , or "the salt deposits".

History

Mahanoy City, originally a part of Mahanoy township, was settled in 1859 and incorporated as a borough by decree of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Schuylkill County on December 16, 1863. It was served by branches of the Lehigh Valley and the Philadelphia & Reading railways. Mahanoy City lies in a valley in the Pennsylvania Coal Region and was a major center of anthracite production; the area was embroiled in the Molly Maguires incidents. In 2010, the borough erected the Molly Maguire Historic Park, which features a Zenos Frudakis statue of a hooded miner on a gallows about to be hanged. The borough's principal industries remain the mining and shipping of coal, although the demand for it has steadily declined since its peak in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1930 the St. Nicholas Coal Breaker was built and went into operation in 1932. A controlled explosion destroyed the breaker in March 2018. Fire clay abounds locally. The manufacturing of shirts, bedding and foundry products is also fairly prominent. In 1948, Mahanoy City became the first municipality in the country to have

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

Geography

Mahanoy City is located at (40.812413, -76.140223), with PA 54 as a main thoroughfare and through road, serving as a main street named Centre Street. To the west it connects to Shenandoah thence to the Susquehanna Valley and to the east reaches through several unincorporated villages then passes through Barnesville as Pine Creek Dr. and then serves Hometown as a main road, intersecting PA 309 (N-S) before passing into Tamaqua and Nesquehoning. The borough is situated in the valley of Mahanoy Creek, approximately southeast of Shenandoah and west-northwest of Tamaqua, both of which are reached via Route 54. Mahanoy City lies at an elevation of above sea level; Broad Mountain (), a ridge extending through Schuylkill County, overlooks it on the southeast. 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. It has a warm-summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(''Dfb'') and average temperatures range from 24.3 °F in January to 69.3 °F in July. The hardiness zone is borderline between 5b and 6a, meaning that the approximate average annual absolute minimum temperature is -10 °F.

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 4,647 people, 2,113 households, and 1,210 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 2,595 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 98.79%

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 ...

, 0.22%

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 ...

, 0.09% Native American, 0.22% Asian, 0.22% from other races, and 0.47% 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 1.29% of the population. There were 2,113 households, out of which 22.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.2% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.7% were non-families. 39.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.92. In the borough the population was spread out, with 21.3% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 26.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.6 males. The median income for a household in the borough was $24,347, and the median income for a family was $32,033. Males had a median income of $29,628 versus $20,288 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 $14,369. About 12.6% of families and 17.4% 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 22.3% of those under age 18 and 20.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Mahanoy Area School District serves the borough and includes an elementary, middle school, and high school complex for students.

Notable people

* Joe Boley (1896–1962), baseball player * Joe Dugan (1897–1982), baseball player * David Huebner (born 1960), ambassador * Joseph Edward Kurtz (born 1946), archbishop * Brandi Levy (born 2001) litigant before the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

* Paul Marks (1926–2020), oncologist * Jack McCloskey (1925–2017), basketball player and coach * John P. Morris (1926–2002), trade unionist * Ron Northey (1920–1971), baseball player * James J. Rhoades (1941–2008), politician * Kevin C. Rhoades (born 1957), bishop * Mike Rhoades (born 1972), basketball coach *

Victor Schertzinger Victor L. Schertzinger (April 8, 1888 – October 26, 1941) was an American composer, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His films include ''Paramount on Parade'' (co-director, 1930 in film, 1930), ''Something to Sing About (1937 fi ...

(1890–1941), composer, film director, producer and screenwriter * George Senesky (1922–2001), basketball player and coach * John Walson, (1915–1993), inventor

Notes

References

External links

Mahanoy Area Historical Society Official Site
* {{authority control Populated places established in 1859 Municipalities of the Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania Boroughs in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Coal towns in Pennsylvania 1863 establishments in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania placenames of Native American origin