Duryea, Pennsylvania

Duryea is a borough in the

The Dutch, while buying the lands for their settlements on the Hudson and Delaware in Lenape lands, soon developed frictions with their hosts and eventually formed an alliance with the more warlike and fierce Susquehannocks. In the 1630s, the Susquehannocks and the Lenape people warred. In 1642, the British Province of Maryland declared war on the Susquehannocks and over eight mostly inconsequential years of warfare, while the Dutch allied themselves with the Susquehannocks, lost it to the Dutch and the Indians.

A few years later, the English Sea Power defeated the Dutch ending their continued influence in North America. The Conestoga continued to grow in strength. In the 1660s, the area supported a military conquest which greatly weakened two of the western Iroquois tribes: the Seneca and Catagua. They were also struck by three years of plague (around 1670) in which 9 out of 10 Susquehannocks died. In the next few years, renewed war with the Iroquois kept the tribe from recovering and only a pale remnant of its strength relocated to the plains area now between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, where they came to deal with William Penn and the new colonial Province of Pennsylvania.

Establishment

Forty original settlers arrived from Connecticut on February 8, 1769, and set up temporary cabins near the confluence of the Lackawanna and Susquehanna rivers, the area now at the southern end of Duryea Borough. One of the first settlers was Zebulon Marcy, from whom Marcy Township got its name. He built the first log cabin in 1770 on the west side of Duryea's present-day Main Street (not far from the Old Forge line). As more settlers located in the area, the development of mining caused the citizenry to petition for township status. Marcy Township was founded in 1880 with a population of 1,159. A census of the township in 1894 noted a population of 2,396 and 475 dwellings in a 400-acre (160 ha) settlement. By the 1890s, the area was called Duryea.

Duryea grew in population and listed 1,005 registered voters in 1901, when it petitioned for reorganization as a Pennsylvania borough. The Borough of Duryea was incorporated on May 28, 1901; it was named in honor of Hiram Duryea, an American Civil War general and owner of extensive tracts of land in sections of the country. He was a prominent figure in the starch industry, a coal operator, and an official of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. It was the practice of this railroad to name its section stops after officials of the line, hence the name of Duryea. In one sense, like many communities in the country, the town is named after its railroad station.

Coal mining

Farming was the principal occupation in the early days. Pioneer settlers found many portions of the land suitable for raising food that they needed for existence. Shortly after, mining would become the area's greatest source of prosperity, along with silk mills and stone quarries.

Three large

After the death of coal and the loss of the silk mill, the town encouraged the likes of Schott Optical and Topps Bubble Gum to establish medium-sized plants in the town. However, these would never replace the jobs and revenue provided by coal. The borough witnessed a declining population along with a shrinking enrollment within its schools. This resulted in the takeover of the town's schools by the Pittston Area School District. The remaining neighborhood schools were eventually phased out and shut down with Duryea Elementary being shut down in 1981.

Early 21st century

The

Also in 2011, the borough received national attention for its role in the landmark Supreme Court case Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri, in which the court stated that "a government employer's allegedly retaliatory actions against an employee do not give rise to liability under the Petition Clause unless the employee's petition relates to a matter of public concern."

Geography

The Borough of Duryea is located at 41°20′52″N 75°45′30″W / 41.34778°N 75.75833°W / 41.34778; -75.75833 (41.347729, -75.758302).^[5] The borough is located on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna River in northern Luzerne County. The Lackawanna River, which flows through the middle of Duryea, joins the Susquehanna on its eastern bank. Most of the borough's homes and businesses are located just south of the Lackawanna, while most of the land north of the river is forested mountains (e.g., Campbell's Ledge). Interstate 81 and U.S. Route 11 run through the easternmost section of Duryea. The borough is also part of Pittston Area School District.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 5.7 square miles (15 km²), of which 5.5 square miles (14 km²) is land and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km²) (3.84%) is water.

Campbell's Ledge in northern Duryea

Demographics

At the 2000

There were 1,984 households, of which 24.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were married couples living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.94.

Age distribution was 19.1% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 26.5% from 45 to 64, and 20.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 86.4 males.

The

Government

The following is a list of government officials from Duryea Borough.^[9]

Officers

• Mayor: Jeffery Jef Bauman
• Council President: Stephanie Shupp
• Council Vice-President: Michael McGlynn

Councilors

• Eugene “Gino” Marriggi
• James "Munda" Gromelski
• Allison Brudzinski
• Justin Tonte
• Jeanne Zinkavich

Notable people

• Gene Guarilia, Boston Celtics
• Albert K. Bender, UFO writer

References

External links

• Official website
• Duryea Pennsylvania Historical Homepage