Parryville, Pennsylvania Explained

Parryville, Pennsylvania
Seal Type:Symbol
Pushpin Map:Pennsylvania#USA
Pushpin Label:Parryville
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of Parryville in Pennsylvania
Coordinates:40.8244°N -75.6692°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Pennsylvania
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Carbon
Subdivision Type3:District
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Title1:Leader
Leader Title2:Leader 1
Leader Title3:Leader 2
Leader Title4:Leader 3
Unit Pref:Imperial
Area Footnotes:[1]
Area Total Sq Mi:1.63
Area Land Sq Mi:1.61
Area Water Sq Mi:0.02
Elevation Ft:450
Population Total:416
Population As Of:2020
Population Density Sq Mi:258.22
Timezone1:EST
Utc Offset1:-5
Timezone1 Dst:EDT
Utc Offset1 Dst:-4
Postal Code Type:ZIP Code
Postal Code:18244
Area Codes:610
Website:parryville.org
Blank Name:FIPS code
Blank Info:42-58304
Area Total Km2:4.22
Area Land Km2:4.17
Area Water Km2:0.04
Population Density Km2:99.70

Parryville is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and is located 3miles southeast of Lehighton and north of Bowmanstown, off Route 248 and 4miles northwest of Palmerton.

Parryville's elevation is above sea level. The population was 416 at the time of the 2020 census.[2]

History

Located roughly six miles south of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, the history of the borough of Parryville can be traced back to the late eighteenth century, when Peter Frantz arrived on this land in 1780, and became the first man to settle there. Leonard Beltz and Frederick Scheckler then arrived in 1781, and built a stone gristmill adjacent to the Pohopoco Creek. Beltz, a native of Franklin County, had married Elizabeth Boyer, a daughter of Frederick and Susan Boyer. They raised twelve children on the property. Mrs. Beltz lived to be 105 years old.[3]

In 1815, Beltz and Scheckler sold the mill and its related property to Jacob and Peter Stein, who improved the property by building a new hotel there.[4]

In 1836, the Pine Forest Lumber Company, which owned extensive tracts of rich timber land in the northern part of the county and in the southern portion of Luzerne County, established its headquarters in this growing community, and built new sawmills, a lathe machining facility and paling mills adjacent to the creek. Its president was Daniel Parry, for whom the town was named, first as Parrysville and then Parryville.[5]

In 1836, the Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company installed a line, which enabled travelers to cross the river from this place, making Parryville a terminus and shipping point. Among the companies doing business there during this time was the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, which took advantage of the creek's access to the Lehigh River to move its coal-laden canal boats to other parts of the region. These operations were interrupted in early 1841 when a freshet on January 7 and 8 swept away the railroad track between Parryville and Penn Haven Junction, as well as boat wharves and related shipping structures. That railroad segment was never rebuilt.[6]

New life was injected into the village when, sometime around 1855, Dennis Bauman, his brother Henry, and others, established an anthracite blast furnace there. This furnace was powered by water furnished by the Pohopoco Creek for two years, at which point company executives sold their plant to the Carbon Iron Company, which introduced steam as the company's new power source.[7]

Parryville became an independent school district in 1867 and was subsequently incorporated as a borough early in 1875, with Dennis Bauman serving as its first chief burgess. By 1880, the town had 657 inhabitants.[8]

Geography

Parryville is located in southern Carbon County at (40.824403, -75.669246),[9] along Pohopoco Creek just north of its confluence with the Lehigh River.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Parryville has a total area of 4.22km2, of which 4.17km2 is land and 0.04km2, or 1.03%, is water.[2]

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 478 people, 189 households, and 140 families residing in the borough. The population density was 293.2sp=usNaNsp=us. There were 222 housing units at an average density of 136.2sp=usNaNsp=us.

The racial makeup of the borough was 98.74% White, 0.21% African American, 0.42% Native American, 0.21% from other races, and 0.42% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.21% of the population.

There were 189 households, out of which 23.8% had children under the age of eighteen living with them; 62.4% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.9% were non-families. 19.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who was sixty-five years of age or older.

The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the borough the population was spread out, with 18.8% under the age of eighteen, 7.9% from eighteen to twenty-four, 29.5% from twenty-five to forty-four, 28.9% from forty-five to sixty-four, and 14.9% who were sixty-five years of age or older. The median age was forty-one years.

For every one hundred females there were 108.7 males. For every one hundred females age eighteen and over, there were 112.0 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $33,958, and the median income for a family was $37,917. Males had a median income of $28,409 versus $19,688 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $15,409.

Roughly 1.6% of families and 6.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.3% of those who were aged sixty-five or over. None were under the age of eighteen.

Transportation

As of 2007, there were of public roads in Parryville, of which were maintained by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC), were maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and were maintained by the borough.[10]

Interstate 476, the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension, passes through the western part of Parryville, with access from Exit 74 (U.S. Route 209) just north of the borough limits. I-476 leads south to the Allentown area and north to Scranton.

Pennsylvania Route 248 also passes through the borough, following a northwest-southeast alignment across the southwestern portion of the borough, parallel to the Lehigh River.

References

  1. Web site: ArcGIS REST Services Directory. United States Census Bureau. October 12, 2022.
  2. Web site: Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Parryville borough, Pennsylvania. U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. April 3, 2015. https://archive.today/20150404113930/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/1600000US4258304. April 4, 2015. dead.
  3. Book: Alfred Mathews. Austin N. Hungerford. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1884. Everts & Richards.
  4. Book: Alfred Mathews. Austin N. Hungerford. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1884. Everts & Richards.
  5. Book: Alfred Mathews. Austin N. Hungerford. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1884. Everts & Richards.
  6. Book: Alfred Mathews. Austin N. Hungerford. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1884. Everts & Richards.
  7. Book: Alfred Mathews. Austin N. Hungerford. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1884. Everts & Richards.
  8. Book: Alfred Mathews. Austin N. Hungerford. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1884. Everts & Richards.
  9. Web site: US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990. United States Census Bureau. 2011-04-23. 2011-02-12.
  10. Web site: Parryville Borough map. PennDOT. March 17, 2023.