Sugarloaf Township is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

that is located in

Luzerne County Luzerne County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeaste ...

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 ...

, United States. The population was 3,879 at the time of the 2020 census.

History

Present-day Sugarloaf Township was initially part of Newport Township (one of the original townships of

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. ...

Northeastern Pennsylvania Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA or Nepa) is a region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton (the area's largest city), Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Ha ...

). The first colonists established settlements close to 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 ...

and the territory that is now the Conyngham Valley remained virtually unchartered for quite some time. The world first heard of the Conyngham Valley after the Sugarloaf massacre of 1780 in which roughly ten

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

were killed by a group of Native Americans and perhaps a handful of

loyalists 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 ...

. After the skirmish, burial parties arrived in the valley to bury the slain soldiers. Settlers were attracted to the region from the stories they heard from those who visited the valley. It is believed that George Easterday was the first white settler in what is now Sugarloaf Township. Additional colonists followed in Easterday's footsteps; they were mostly from Northampton County. In 1792, Nescopeck Township was formed from a section of Newport Township. Sugarloaf Township was finally formed in 1809 from a portion of Nescopeck; it was named after Sugarloaf Mountain (a cone-shaped mountain in the valley). Sugarloaf originally included what is now

Black Creek Black Creek may refer to: Communities In Canada * Black Creek, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island * A neighborhood in Fort Erie, Ontario * Black Creek, Toronto * Black Creek Pioneer Village, a historic site in Toronto In the United States * ...

, Hazle, and

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

Townships. John Cawley built the first

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

Nescopeck Creek Nescopeck Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The creek is in the Coal Region o ...

in 1810. The first

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 ...

s were erected between 1815 and 1820 by Benjamin and George Koening. Stephen Yost built the first

steam mill A steam mill is a type of Mill (grinding), grinding mill using a stationary steam engine to power its mechanism. * Albion Mills, Southwark, Albion Flour Mills, first steam mill in London from around 1790 * Aurora Steam Grist Mill, a historic gr ...

in 1865.

Geography

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 township has a total area of , of which is land and 0.07% is water. The township is drained by the

. The municipality is in Luzerne County's Conyngham Valley.

Nescopeck Mountain Nescopeck Mountain (also known as Nescopec Mountain) is a ridge in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, Columbia County and Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County, in Pennsylvania, in the United States. Its elevation is above sea level. The ridg ...

forms its natural northern boundary, while

Buck Buck may refer to: Common meanings * A colloquialism for a United States, Canadian, or Australian dollar * An adult male animal in some species - see List of animal names - e.g.: ** Goat buck ** Deer buck ** Sheep buck * Derby shoes, nicknamed "bu ...

and Butler Mountains form its southern border. Most of the township is

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

. Its unincorporated communities include Black Ridge, Council Crest, Sybertsville, and Tomhicken.

PA 93 Pennsylvania Route 93 (PA 93) is a state route located in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, Carbon, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Luzerne, and Columbia County, Pennsylvania, Columbia counties in northeastern Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is at ...

serves the township and interchanges with

I-80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

in the northern half of the municipality.

I-81 Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Isla ...

crosses the southeastern corner of Sugarloaf, where it interchanges with PA 93 in Black Ridge.

Education

Sugarloaf Township is part of

Hazleton Area School District Hazleton Area School District is a large, rural public school district in Pennsylvania, stretching across portions of Luzerne, Schuylkill, and Carbon Counties. Its headquarters are in Hazle Township. Students in grade nine through 12 attend H ...

. Hazleton Area operates public schools, including the Valley Elementary-Middle School in Sugarloaf Township.Locate Us
"

. Retrieved on July 18, 2016.

Penn State Hazleton Penn State Hazleton is a commonwealth campus of the Pennsylvania State University located in Sugarloaf Township, Pennsylvania. It has an enrollment of 426 students as of 2021. History Penn State Hazleton's origins trace back to 1934 during ...

is located in the southeastern corner of the township (near Black Ridge).

Neighboring municipalities

* West Hazleton (south) *

Hazle Township Hazle Township is a Township (Pennsylvania), township in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 10,150 at the time of the 2020 census. The township surrounds the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Hazleton and the borough of ...

(south) * Black Creek Township (west) * Nescopeck Township (northwest) * Hollenback Township (north) * Butler Township (east) Sugarloaf Township encircles Conyngham Borough.

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 3,652 people, 1,222 households, and 944 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,302 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 98.03%

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 ...

, 0.27%

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 ...

, 0.11% Native American, 1.01% Asian, 0.22% from other races, and 0.36% 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 0.71% of the population. There were 1,222 households, out of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.3% 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, 6.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.7% were non-families. 19.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 2.98. Within the township, the population was spread out, with 19.9% under the age of 18, 17.3% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 25.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.8 males. The median income for a household in the township was $53,611, and the median income for a family was $62,256. Males had a median income of $39,911 versus $25,234 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 $22,444. Approximately 2.7% of families and 5.6% of the population were living 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 4.3% of those under age 18 and 13.8% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 41, 01, 00, N, 76, 07, 35, W, type:city_region:US-PA_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Townships in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Townships in Pennsylvania