Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 27,754. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of about 114,000. Williamsport is the larger principal city of the Williamsport-Lock Haven Combined Statistical Area, which includes Lycoming and Clinton counties.

The city is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of North Central Pennsylvania. It is from Philadelphia, from Pittsburgh and from Harrisburg. It is known for its sports, arts scene and food. Williamsport was settled by Americans in the late 18th century, and began to prosper due to its lumber industry. In 1930, the city's population reached a high of 45,729 but since the Great Depression it has declined by approximately 40 percent to 27,754 in 2020.

As county seat, Williamsport has the county courthouse, county prison, sheriff's office headquarters and federal courthouse, all downtown. It is also home to two institutions of higher learning, the Pennsylvania College of Technology, also known as Penn College, and Lycoming College. Williamsport is the birthplace of Little League Baseball. South Williamsport, a town across the West Branch Susquehanna River, is the headquarters of Little League Baseball and annually hosts the Little League World Series in late summer. Other points of interest include the Hiawatha riverboat, Millionaires' Row, Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum, the Community Arts Center, the Genetti Hotel, the Susquehanna Riverwalk, and The Gallery at Penn College.

Williamsport is located northwest of Allentown and north of Harrisburg.

History

Early history

thumb|upright=1.1|Aerial view of Williamsport from the early 20th century

thumb|upright=1.1|West Third Street looking west, c. 1910

thumb|upright=1.1|Williamsport Home for the Friendless, c. 1910

In 1763, the Battle of Muncy Hills took place during the French and Indian War. It was a clash between the Native Americans and colonists seeking homestead sites in Native American territory. In 1768, at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the British purchased the land that became Lycoming County from the Iroquois Nation who controlled the lands. On April 13, 1795, Lycoming County was formed from Northumberland County. It encompassed all the lands of Northumberland County situated west of Muncy Hills and was a domain of , comprising most of north central Pennsylvania. From 1830 until 1865, the underground railroad, a system of safe houses and routes for slaves escaping to freedom, operated in Lycoming County; many local abolitionists, including Daniel Hughes, served as conductors and agents. During his trips transporting logs to Maryland, he brought escaped slaves back on foot from Baltimore, over Bald Eagle Mountain and hid them at his home and in the caves on Freedom Road.

Mamie's grandfather, Robert, helped his father, Daniel Hughes, hide escaped slaves in the caves behind their home on Freedom Road. They fed them, nursed the sick back to health and delivered them safely to the next "station", The Apker House in Trout Run.

Williamsport was the birthplace of the national newspaper Grit in 1882. Williamsport purportedly once had more millionaires per-capita than anywhere else in the world. For this reason, the area's local high school, the Williamsport Area High School, uses "Millionaires" as its team mascot.

Modern history

thumb|upright=1.1|Downtown Williamsport

The Flood of March 17–18, 1936 caused the river to crest at 33.9'. Flood waters reached High Street. It was known locally as the Hello, Al flood because Al Glaes, operating a short-wave radio station from his home on High Street, kept the city in touch with the rest of the world after the flood disrupted electricity and telephone service. and is bordered by the West Branch Susquehanna River to the south (with Armstrong Township, South Williamsport, Duboistown and Susquehanna Township south of the river), Loyalsock Township to the east and north, Old Lycoming Township to the north and Woodward Township to the west. As the crow flies, Lycoming County is about northwest of Philadelphia and east-northeast of Pittsburgh.

Historical places and neighborhoods

thumb|upright=1.1|The historic Pajama Factory seen from Wildwood cemetery in February 2018

The Peter Herdic House, Hart Building, Millionaire's Row Historic District, City Hall, Williamsport Armory, and Old City Hall are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Neighborhoods of Williamsport include:

Downtown, between Hepburn Street and Basin Street, south of Little League Blvd
Grampian Hills, the area around and north of Grampian Blvd.
Millionaire's Row, along W. 4th Street
Newberry, west of Lycoming Creek
Park Avenue, south of Williamsport Hospital
Vallamont, the area north of Rural Ave and west of Market St.
East End, the area south of Grampian Blvd. and east of Market St.
West Hills, the hillside and hilltop north of Dewey and west of Round Hill Road.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (6.92%) is water. Winters are cold and comparatively dry but typically bring a mix of rain, sleet, and snow with occasional heavy snowfall and icing. January is the coldest month with an average mean temperature of ,

Demographics

[[Image:Williamsport-Lock Haven CSA.png|thumb|upright=1.1|Location of the Williamsport–Lock Haven CSA and its components:

The black dot shows the location of Williamsport]]

thumb|upright=1.1|Williamsport City Hall, a former U.S. Post Office

Williamsport is the larger principal city of the Williamsport–Lock Haven, PA Combined Statistical Area, which includes the Williamsport metropolitan area (Lycoming County) and the Lock Haven micropolitan area (Clinton County) and had a combined population of 157,958 at the 2000 census.

There were 11,193 households in Williamsport, of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 27.5% were married-couple households, 25.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 36.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 39.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

! Race !! Number !! Percent

| White || 20,150 || 72.6%

| Black or African American || 4,489 || 16.2%

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 69 || 0.2%

| Asian || 299 || 1.1%

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 12 || 0.0%

| Some other race || 482 || 1.7%

| Two or more races || 2,253 || 8.1%

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 1,166 || 4.2%

2000 census

As of the 2000 census

Government

right|thumb|upright=1.1|Lycoming County Prison was built between 1799 and 1801; today it is a night club.

Williamsport operates on a "Strong Mayor" form of government, meaning the mayor is given almost total administrative authority and a clear, wide range of political independence with the power to appoint and dismiss department heads without council approval and little need for public input. The mayor is Derek Slaughter.

Williamsport is located in Pennsylvania's 23rd senatorial District, Pennsylvania's 83rd House District, Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district, and Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district.

Fire protection

Williamsport Bureau of Fire was established in 1874 after a devastating fire that destroyed much of the city's downtown in 1871. It has a cooperative agreement with the Old Lycoming Volunteer Fire Department. Since the late 1980s, it contracts with Susquehanna Regional EMS for ambulance service.

Economy

Williamsport's top ten employers are UPMC Susquehanna, the Pennsylvania State Government, the Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport Area School District, Brodart Company, Springs Window Fashions, Weis Markets, West Pharmaceuticals, and Textron Lycoming Engines.

Williamsport is noted for the Lycoming aircraft engines which is a division of Avco Corporation and a subsidiary of Textron. Brodart, a library supplies company, is also based in Williamsport. Overhead Garage Door is also located in Newberry. Bethlehem Wire Rope, a manufacturing complex in Williamsport, with over under roof, is the single largest wire rope manufacturing facility in North America.

Recently, interest has grown in extracting natural gas in the Williamsport area. Williamsport has become a key area in the Marcellus Shale drilling.

Lonza Group, a Swiss biotechnology and pharmaceutical company, has a large manufacturing site on the western fringes of the city, where a number of specialty chemicals are made that go into a wide array of oilfield, nutritional, personal care, and industrial applications.

The Williamsport Downtown Gateway Revitalization Project began in 2004 in order to attract more people (both citizens of the Williamsport community and visitors) to the downtown Williamsport area. The construction on the Carl E. Stotz Memorial Little League Bridge, the first of many projects, began in June 2004 and was completed in 2008.

Education

Williamsport is the home of Lycoming College and Pennsylvania College of Technology, and The Commonwealth Medical College. There is also a continuing education center of Pennsylvania State University located in Williamsport.

Williamsport Area School District consists of:

Cochran Primary School
Hepburn Lycoming Primary School
Jackson Primary School
Curtin Intermediate School
Lycoming Valley Intermediate School
Williamsport Area Middle School
Williamsport Area High School

Stevens Primary School was closed in 2022.

Williamsport Area School District has a renowned music program, frequently ranked in the top schools in the country each year according to the NAMM Foundation.

Private schools in the area include West Branch School, Mountain View Christian School and Williamsport Christian School and several Catholic schools in Lycoming County are run by Saint John Neumann Regional Academy.

Libraries

thumb|upright=1.1|The James V. Brown Library in 2014

The James V. Brown Library is Williamsport's public library. The library has a staff of nearly 50 full and part-time employees, and offers volunteer opportunities for youth and adults. With a collection of nearly 150,000 units it offers books, DVDs, CDs, and other resources, while the library offers wireless Internet access, local history archives, and premium online reference resources. As the headquarters for the county library system, the Brown Library serves almost 87,000 patrons, some years circulating upwards of 550,000 books both in-house and through its traveling Storymobile.

Transportation

thumb|upright=1.1|Williamsport station, c. 1910

Williamsport Regional Airport (IPT), located several miles east of the city in the borough of Montoursville, is served by Southern Airways Express with passenger flights to and from Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., which began in 2024. Fullington Trailways provides daily long-distance bus service from a station in the downtown to Elmira, New York, Harrisburg, New York City, and Philadelphia. Local bus service within Williamsport and to other places in Lycoming County is offered by River Valley Transit.

Williamsport is served by several major highways, including Interstate 180, U.S. Route 15, and U.S. Route 220. I-180 and US 220 run together northeast–southwest through Williamsport, and US 15 joins (in the opposite direction) for two miles. Once completed, Interstate 99 will enter Williamsport from the southwest on US 220 and continue north on US 15, joining only one at a time.

Until the mid-20th century, Williamsport was a major transfer point between the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and Reading Railroad to Jersey City, New Jersey and Philadelphia, and on New York Central Railroad to Lyons, New York via Corning, New York.

The longest enduring trains service was the Buffalo Day Express to New York City, Buffalo, Harrisburg, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, the Dominion Express to the north, the Washington Express and Dominion Express to the south, and to the Northern Express to Erie and west, and the Southern Express, which reached southern destinations.

Freight rail service west to Avis and east to Muncy is provided by the Lycoming Valley Railroad, which has its main yard in the Newberry section of Williamsport, and offers connections to the Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific railroads.

The West Branch Susquehanna River is not navigable, but a dam at Hepburn Street provides a large lake for recreational boating, including outings on the mock paddlewheeler Hiawatha from Susquehanna State Park.

Sports

thumb|upright=1.1|The [[Little League World Series is held annually at Lamade Stadium]]

The Williamsport Crosscutters, a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League, play their home games at Bowman Field. Each year, the field also hosts the MLB Little League Classic.

The Little League World Series is held annually on the south side of the West Branch Susquehanna River in South Williamsport, where Little League Baseball now has its headquarters.

The Williamsport Country Club, an 18-hole A. W. Tillinghast designed course, is located in nearby Loyalsock Township. Its premier event—the WCC Invitational—features golfers from the local area and further afield in an annual tournament dating to 1928.

The Susquehanna 500 Mini Indy Gokart Racing Series was held annually in Brandon Park. During the 2014 race, a fatal crash involving one of the go-kart operators marked the end to the yearly tradition.

Media

Local newspapers include the Williamsport Sun Gazette, Webb Weekly and The Williamsport Guardian.

The local news/talk radio stations are WRAK/WRKK (1400/1200 kHz), WWPA 1340 kHz and WXPI Community Radio 88.5 FM. Williamsport has an all-sports station, ESPN (AM) (1500 kHz). Williamsport is ranked #260 by Arbitron in terms of its radio market.

TV stations in Williamsport are served by the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market.

A multiplex movie theater on West 4th Street opened May 2, 2008.

Points of interest

Clyde Peeling's Reptiland
Little League Museum
Genetti Hotel
Historic Bowman Field
Thomas T. Taber Museum & Lycoming County Historical Society
Lycoming Mall
Millionaires Row
Candy Cane Lane
Downtown Williamsport
River Walk

Notable people

Butch Alberts, former designated hitter in Major League Baseball, played for the Toronto Blue Jays
James Milton Black, composer of hymns, choir leader and Sunday school teacher
Ruth Blair, silent film actress, born in Williamsport
Gary Brown, football player and coach
Henry Bubb, president of Capitol Federal Savings Bank
Ernest Callenbach, writer
Michael Capuzzo, journalist and author
Edgar T. Collins, U.S. Army major general
Julia C. Collins, one of the earliest published Black female novelists
Henry Cosgrove, Roman Catholic bishop
Alexander Cummings, third governor of the Territory of Colorado
Allen Ertel, U.S. congressman
Joanna Hayes, athlete, Olympic gold medalist
Daniel Hughes, abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad
James Hall Huling, U.S. congressman
Alize Johnson, basketball player
Larry Kelley, 1936 Heisman Trophy winner
Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
Harry J. Lincoln, early 1900s music publisher and composer
Joseph Lockard (October 30, 1922 - November 2, 2012), U.S. soldier and SCR-270 radar staffer/initial, primary source of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's impending attack on Pearl Harbor
Jack Losch, football player
George Luks, Ashcan School painter
Henry J. Lutcher, businessman
Tom Marino, U.S. congressman, U.S. Attorney, District Attorney
Jamie McAndrew, MLB player for the Milwaukee Brewers
Henry J. Messing, rabbi
Malcolm Muir, United States district judge noted for the R. Budd Dwyer case
Mike Mussina, member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Bob Pellegrini, American football player
H. Beam Piper, science fiction author
Bill Reifsnyder, two-time U.S. national marathon champion
Severin Roesen (1815? – 1872), still-life painter
Sal Rosato, football player
William Schreyer, financier
H. Paul Shuch, SETI scientist
Trisha Rae Stahl, actress
Carl Stotz, founder of Little League Baseball
Mary Szybist, poet, winner of the National Book Award for Poetry, 2013
Mike Taylor, basketball coach
Martha Dewing Woodward, artist and art teacher in Paris, Miami, and New York
Weldon Wyckoff, baseball player