Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania
Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania | |
---|---|
570 | |
FIPS code | 42-04816 |
Website | beavermeadowspa |
Beaver Meadows is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 897 at the 2020 U.S. census.[4]
Geography
Beaver Meadows is located in northwestern
Beaver Meadow is at an elevation of 1,598 feet (487 m) above sea level in the valley of Beaver Creek, north of Spring Mountain, part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians. According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.26 square miles (0.67 km2), all of it land.[4]
History
18th century
Beaver Meadows began as a recognizable and describable landmar, a meadow where beaver dams dotted the landscape, along a well-known Amerindian Trail, known as the "Warriors' Path",
In the 1790s, a large tract of land was registered in the name of tbdl and a few farm houses dotted the valley until in 1812, anthracite coal was discovered in the vicinity of Junedale,[6] a bedroom suburb neighborhood a 1.33 miles (2.14 km)[7] west of Beaver Meadows proper.
In 1752, the lands of Carbon County and Beaver Meadows area were part of Northampton County, one of the three original counties of Pennsylvania, a county as big as New Jersey.[8] the 1790s Warrior's Path was widened into a cart road some called the Lausanne-Nescopeck Road as Moravians increased their connections with the St. John's settlement in the Nescopeck Creek valley.
In 1804, business interests desiring to ship timber to energy-hungry settlements raised money for a
19th century
In 1800,
In 1826, Mauch Chunk, which is present-day Jim Thorpe, and other townships were split out of Lausanne and the center of that township was moved northwards. In 1843, Banks Township was organized, and incorporated the small settlement of Beaver Meadows within its larger girth.[8]
In 1812, the secrets of burning anthracite were mostly yet to be discovered, revealed, and promoted (widely publicized) by Josiah White and Erskine Hazard but blacksmiths were several decades into knowing how to use it as an auxiliary fuel to complement bituminous or charcoal in forge fires, so by 1813 a modest pit mine was opened to provide coal for Berwick and Bloomington. The settlement's first dwelling was built in 1804 of logs. The first houses were built along the main thoroughfare, today's Broad Street east of the junction between Berwick St. (the continuation of the turnpike and Rt-93 to Hazelton) and Main St. westwards to Junedale, Tresckow, and Tamaqua.
Nathan Beach discovered
In 1817, stymied by the slow movements of the Schuylkill Canal board of directors, White and Hazard began the improvements making the one-way Lehigh Navigations in 1818, and travel Lehigh River downstream grew steadily safer. By the end of 1820, the new Lehigh Canal, still rough and unfinished, nonetheless enabled a record 365 long-tons to be shipped to Philadelphia.
By 1823, steady shipments allowed self-funding and the canal was being re-engineered and a gradual conversion begun into a system with two-way locks; its success in providing the affordable fuel to meet the young nation's energy demands, the Erie Canal opening, followed by the news of railroad events in Britain in 1825 began whole chains of events spurring industrial production and railroads.[9]
In 1826, Colonel William H. Wilson moved to the town and built a tavern. In 1831 James Lamison became citizen No. 3 and also opened a tavern.[8] By that time the Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company had been formed and was subscribing stock. It was chartered on April 13, 1830, and the industrial revolution was about to begin using Beaver Meadows as a center. The company laid tracks down the valleys from Beaver and Black Creeks, the tributaries dumped into the Lehigh below and near Penn Haven Junction where the railroad expected to ship to the Lehigh Canal.
The earliest settlement in Banks Township [of 1886] was made in that portion which was in 1897 set off to form the borough of Beaver Meadow. The township was contained within the territory of
Lausanneuntil January, 1842, when it was separately organized, being named in honor of Judge Banks, then on the bench of Northampton county, of which Carbon formed a part until 1843.— Brenckman, History of Carbon County, Chapter XIII. 1884, 1913 ed.
The Beaver Meadow Railroad & Coal Company bought 200 acres (81 ha) and subcontracted coal operations to A.H. VanCleve and Co. opening their own mines.
By 1833, they began local operations and construction of the railway along the surveyed right of way. Strong-armed by LC&N Co., the company got a change in charter and continued downstream along the Lehigh until LC&N Co. blinked and granted acceptable shipping rate terms.[6] In 1835 they contracted for the first wood-burning steam locomotives to operate in Northampton and Carbon counties, which began operations in 1836. They also demonstrated that a railroad could be built over 30 miles through mountainous country. The Beaver Meadow Railroad became an operational success, and an inspiration.
In 1846, investors began the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company to link New York Harbor at Jersey City via New Jersey to the Susquehanna River and then the great lakes via a line across the Delaware and up the Lehigh Rivers. They were successful, and represented the beginning of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, whose oldest parts, the Beaver Meadows Railroad, were absorbed in 1866.
Demographics
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1880 | 502 | — | |
1900 | 1,378 | — | |
1910 | 1,530 | 11.0% | |
1920 | 1,709 | 11.7% | |
1930 | 1,890 | 10.6% | |
1940 | 2,030 | 7.4% | |
1950 | 1,723 | −15.1% | |
1960 | 1,392 | −19.2% | |
1970 | 1,274 | −8.5% | |
1980 | 1,078 | −15.4% | |
1990 | 985 | −8.6% | |
2000 | 968 | −1.7% | |
2010 | 869 | −10.2% | |
2020 | 897 | 3.2% | |
Sources:[10][11][12][3] |
2000 census
As of the
There were 404 households, out of which 24.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.0% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.1% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.04.
The borough population contained 22.3% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 22.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.7 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $31,058, and the median income for a family was $42,500. Males had a median income of $30,000 versus $20,417 for females. The
Transportation
As of 2013, there were 3.63 miles (5.84 km) of public roads in Beaver Meadows, of which 1.03 miles (1.66 km) were maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and 2.60 miles (4.18 km) were maintained by the borough.[13]
Pennsylvania Route 93 is the only numbered highway serving Beaver Meadows. It follows Berwick Street and Broad Street along a northwest-southeast alignment through the western and southern portions of the borough.
Notable people
- Norm Larker, former professional baseball player
References
- ^ "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
- ^ "Borough of Beaver Meadows". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. 2 August 1979. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
- ^ a b "Census Population API". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved Oct 12, 2022.
- ^ a b "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Beaver Meadows borough, Pennsylvania". US Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
- ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". US Census Bureau. 12 February 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
- ^ a b c Fred Brenckman, Official Commonwealth Historian (1884). HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA Also Containing a Separate Account of the Several Boroughs and Townships in the County (2nd (1913) ed.). J. Nungesser, Harrisburg PA - Archive.org project 1913 ed., pdf e-reprint.
- ^ Ruler tool measurement, GoogleMaps
- ^ a b c d Hazleton, PA Plain Speaker, 3 September 3, 1937 "History of Beaver Meadow, Carbon Co., Pa"Speaker Timeline
- ^ See for example, the Main Line of Public Works with ambitions to link Philadelphia by canal to Pittsburgh and Lake Erie.
- ^ "Census of Population and Housing". US Census Bureau. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- ^ "U.S. Census website". US Census Bureau. Retrieved 31 January 2008.
- ^ "Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions Datasets: Subcounty Resident Population Estimates: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012". Population Estimates. US Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- ^ "Beaver Meadows Borough map" (PDF). PennDOT. Retrieved March 17, 2023.