Sunbury ( ; "Sunberry") is a
city in Northumberland County
, Pennsylvania
, United
States
. The city is located on the east bank of the
Susquehanna River, just downstream
of the confluence of its east and west branches. The population was
10,610 at the 2000 census.
It is the county
seat of Northumberland County .
History
Sunbury's origins date to 1772.
It was named after an English village near
London
. Located at the site of the former Fort Augusta
, Sunbury was incorporated as a borough on March 24, 1797, and as a city on December
29, 1920.
Thomas Edison installed the first
successful three-wire electric lighting system in July 1883 at what
was then known as the City Hotel. In honor of the event, the hotel
was renamed the Edison Hotel.
Geography
Sunbury is located at (40.863894, -76.789174) .
According to the
United
States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
2.2
square miles (5.6
km²), of which, 2.1 square miles
(5.5 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles
(0.1 km²) of it (1.40%) is water.
Demographics
[[Image:Sunbury-Lewisburg-Selinsgrove
CSA.png|thumb|left|300px|Location of the
Sunbury-Lewisburg-Selinsgrove CSA and its components:
]]
Sunbury is
the largest principal city of the Sunbury-Lewisburg-Selinsgrove
CSA
, a Combined
Statistical Area that includes the Sunbury (Northumberland County), Lewisburg
(Union County), and Selinsgrove
(Snyder County) micropolitan areas, which had a combined
population of 173,726 at the 2000 census.
As of the
census of 2000, there were 10,610
people, 4,540 households, and 2,637 families residing in the city.
The
population density was
4,997.1 people per square mile (1,932.3/km²). There were 5,072
housing units at an average density of 2,388.8/sq mi
(923.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.26%
White, 1.29%
African American, 0.14%
Native American, 0.26%
Asian, 0.02%
Pacific Islander, 1.91% from
other races, and 1.11%
from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 3.09% of the
population.
There were 4,540 households, of which 28.7% had children under the
age of 18 living with them, 39.2% were
married
couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no
husband present, and 41.9% were non-families. 36.3% of all
households were made up of individuals, and 16.7% had someone
living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.91.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.9% under the age
of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to
64, and 17.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
37 years. For every 100 females there were 87.6 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,893, and the
median income for a family was $33,148. Males had a median income
of $26,497 versus $18,994 for females. The
per capita income for the city was
$13,350. About 14.6% of families and 18.1% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 26.7%
of those under age 18 and 11.9% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Sunbury is a city of the third class. Pennsylvania Third Class
Cities are municipalities with a population of at least 10,000 but
less than 80,000 residents. The city operates under a commission
form of government, with a Mayor and four Councilmen. The mayor is
a member and serves as president of the council. All third class
cities are governed by the Third Class City Code. Each Councilman
and Mayor is in charge of one of the city’s major departments. The
current mayor is David Persing.
These officials and the controller and treasurer are elected
at-large for four-year terms. Appointments of all other city
officers and employees are made by the council.
The city has a police department headed by a chief of police. There
is an extensive staff including police officers, a K-9 unit and
clerical support. One method the police department uses to battle
the local drug problem is a program called DARE which is an
outreach effort in the schools. They also coordinate with state and
federal officials to stage drug sweeps of the city.
The Sunbury Municipal Authority manages the following services for
residents, businesses and industries of the City of Sunbury and
parts of Upper Augusta: drinking water, wastewater, flood control,
recycling, and the Municipal Transfer Station for large rubbish.
Residents may bring their trash there for disposal for a per bag or
by weight fee.
In July 2007 the city council voted to begin a program aimed at
dealing with blighted properties. Initially the program will
address seven properties. The properties will be demolished at the
taxpayer's expense and put to public use.
The city is located in the 108th District
Pennsylvania House of
Representatives and the 27th district of the
Pennsylvania Senate in the
Pennsylvania General Assembly.
With regards to the
U.S. House of Representatives,
residents are in
Pennsylvania's 10th
congressional district.
Crime
2006
In 2006 the following crime statistics were reported to the
Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting System by the city police
department:
Sex related offenses - 20
Robbery - 7
Assaults - 178
Property Offenses - 460
Arson - 4
Drug Violations - 54
Total Alcohol Crimes - 36
Are You Aware? Pennsylvania State Police Focus Report
2006.
Nineteen registered sex offenders live within the city in 2006 as
reported by the Pennsylvania Megan's Law website.
2007
In 2007 the following crime statistics were reported to the
Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting System by the city police
department:
Sex related offenses - 18
Robbery - 2
Assaults - 185
Property Offenses - 419
Arson - 8
Drug Violations - 46
Total Alcohol Crimes - 56
Are You Aware? Pennsylvania State Police Focus Report
2007.
Twenty registered sex offenders either live or work within the city
in 2007-2008 as reported by the Pennsylvania Megan's Law
website.
Notable businesses
Great Coasters
International is a world-known roller coaster design and
manufacturing firm and lists its contact address in Sunbury, though
it is actually located outside of the city limits.
Weis Markets, a regional supermarket
chain operating in five states, is headquartered in Sunbury. The
company is a significant employer in the city and the region.
Education
200 px
The local public school system is the
Shikellamy School District. The
administrative offices are located at Administration Center, 200
Island Blvd, Sunbury, PA 17801.
Shikellamy High School
has a 78% graduation rate according to the district
report card 2005-2006. In 11th grade, 49% were proficient in
math. For reading 62% were proficient in
2005-2006. The high school is ranked
384th out of 606 public high schools in
Pennsylvania.
In 2007, the
Pittsburgh
Business Times ranked the district 434th out of 499
Pennsylvania school districts based on three years of Pennsylvania
System of Student Assessment test scores.
The Shikellamy School Board set the budget at $34.62 million for
2007-2008. The board levies a variety of taxes to support its
programs. Taxes include 62.5 mills real estate tax in 2007. Per
capita taxes are $5 per resident. An earned income taxes of
one-half of 1 percent of income yields a revenue of approximately
$1.8 million. Additionally, the real estate transfer tax of
one-half percent (Nothumberland borough, Point Township,
Rockefeller Township) and one percent (Snydertown borough) is
levied on real estate transfers.
Voters rejected a tax referendum in May 2007 which would have
increased local earned income tax by 0.5 percent to reduce property
taxes for homeowners and farmers by $176.
SUN Area Career
& Technology Center is a regional vocational school,
offering adult education classes, vocational education, and
technical career training. SUN Tech serves over 1500 people
annually. ISO9001 and Middle States Accredited. SUN Tech was
presented with the Significant Achievement Award in Education for
raising their
Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Program criteria score to 648 points, a 345
point increase from 303 points in August, 2000.
Residents also have a wide selection of alternative schools. By
law, the local public school must provide transportation to schools
within of the borders of the school district at no charge to the
student.
Parochial schools
- St. Monica's School is a Catholic Pre-K through 8th
grade parish elementary school in the Harrisburg Diocese and is
affliated with IU 16. Students are enrolled from Saint Monica, St.
Pius X, Sacred Heart, and other central Pennsylvania parishes.
Noncatholics are also enrolled from various local school
districts.
- Sunbury Christian Academy offers pre-kindergarten
through 12th grade. The campus is located just north of the borough
of Northumberland. The student population is nearing 160. Programs
and student accomplishments are noted regularly in local
media.
- Northumberland Christian School was founded in
1972 and is a ministry of the First Regular Baptist Church of
Northumberland, Pa. The school offers an educational program for
students from preschool through high school.
Charter schools
- Connections Academy provides a form of public school that
students can attend from home. This is a unique program that
combines strong parental involvement, the expertise and
accountability of publicly funded education, and the flexibility of
online classes. Centered on meeting students needs and goals. Has a
K-11th program. Students are required to take all state mandated,
standardized tests in person at locations designated by the
school.
- SusQ-Cyber
Charter School provides students in grades 9-12 with an
electronically delivered accredited high school curriculum.
- 21st
Century Cyber Charter School is a state accredited, diploma
granting school serving Pennsylvania students in grades 6 through
12. Modifications are made to suit individual student learning
styles, varying academic levels and scheduling needs. Most classes
are offered in honors, college prep, and career paths. All of the
classes are designed to prepare the student for standardized tests
such as the PSSAs. A specialized program meets the individual needs
of Gifted students permitting them to escape the constraints of the
local education entities.
- Pennsylvania
Virtual Charter School provides a structured yet flexible,
interactive environment in a program for Kindergarten through 10th
grade. The rigorous instruction, high standards, informed guidance,
and individual attention provide each student with the opportunity
to be highly successful. Teachers interact with students via email.
Additionally the Elluminate classroom gives the student access to
their teachers during the teacher’s office hours to ask questions
related to content of a subject. "An independent audit of
cyber-charter schools by KPMG Consulting, which was commissioned by
the Pennsylvania Department of Education, praised PAVCS for
offering a well-researched program and an appropriate assessment
plan."
The Central Susquehanna LPN Career Center, located in Sunbury,
provides a one year full time program to prepare the indidivual to
enter a career in licensed practical nursing. Classroom instruction
and laboratory experience are offered in Sunbury. Affiliated
hospitals, nursing care facilities, doctors' offices and childcare
settings provide clinical experience.
Library
The Degenstein Community Library is located at 40 South Fifth
Street. It provides a wide variety of print, video, microfilm and
online resources. Programs promote reading for all age
levels.
The Northumberland County Historical Society maintains the
Charlotte Darrah Walter Genealogical Library. It contains material
on local history along with thousands of records of early
familiesfrom Northumberland County and surrounding counties. Access
to records is on a fee basis. There are also permanent exhibits
dealing with the site in prehistoric times, at the time of the
Moravian Mission and blacksmith shop, and Fort Augusta during the
French and Indian War and later under the Americans, during the
Revolutionary War.
The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way in 2006 commissioned a
study regarding what matters most in area communities. They found
that some major concerns were: alcohol and drug use among all age
groups and its effects on the community, the dependency on social
services and assistance across generations, and a lack of public
transportation. It is the intention of the organization to focus
spending on these issues.
Media
The local newspaper is
The
Daily Item, and there are a variety of local radio
stations, including the All News/Sports channel WKOK 1070 kHz
AM, the Big Country Radio Network (WLGL 92.3 FM, WYGL 100.5 FM, and
WWBE 98.3 FM) and WFYY Y106.5 FM and 94.1 WQKX.
Notable people
Parks and recreation
The extensive
Sunbury Riverfront Park Project is in the planning and
implementation stages in Sunbury. Major sections of the flood wall
will be removed to allow access to an amphitheatre that is to be
built in the flood plain, along the
Susquehanna River. Concerns have been
raised about opening the flood wall. As a result of several
devastating floods that resulted in substantial property damage and
loss of life, the extensive floodwall protection system was
designed and built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1951.
Additional height was added to the wall in 2003. The system has
provided protection from 15 major flood events over the past 50
years. In 1972, flood waters from Hurricane Agnes crested at at
Sunbury, two feet higher than the crest in 1936. The wall held back
the water and residents showed their gratitude in messages they
wrote on the wall.
Hurricane Agnes in late June 1972 was blamed for 10 deaths in
Lancaster County, eight in Dauphin County, five in York County and
four in both Northumberland and Luzerne counties, according to the
Susquehanna River
Basin Commission.
Additionally, a multimillion dollar fish ladder is being built to
mitigate the impediment of the shad migration up the Susquehanna
River that the annual inflation of the Adam T. Bower Fabri Dam
causes.
The
Adam
T.
Bower Memorial Dam, an inflatable fabric-tube dam barrage impounding
the Susquehanna River, creates a
3,000 acre (12 km²) Augusta Lake for recreation. It is
inflated in May and deflated in the fall.
The city offers baseball fields, a skating park, tennis courts,
playgrounds, a community pool and a small park that is located next
to the county courthouse, in the downtown area.
A vacant building in the Shikellamy State Park along the river is
under consideration for redevelopment as an environmental research
and education center. Designed in the 1960s, the facility was
originally the Basse Beck Environmental Center. It has been vacant
for several years. Several restaurants have failed at the
site.
Development
The city and state struggle economically, part of America's
"
Rust Belt". A
Brookings Institute publication has
cited reasons including a lack of inter-municipal coordination and
cooperation, a changing employment base and a dearth of jobs paying
a living wage, out-migration of young people, an aging population,
the need for workforce development, and an inequitable local tax
structure.
The Susquehanna Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO) received
$173,500 in planning grant funding (2005) to support the
redevelopment of the Wilhold Manufacturing facility located in
Sunbury. The BOS funding paid for a market study, phase II
environmental study, wetland review, traffic impact study and title
survey. The site, an former rail yard and plastic manufacturing
plant, is to be developed into four, shovel-ready sites. It was
suggested that the redevelopment of this facility will result in
the creation of 120 jobs. The site was purchased by Moran
Industries, based in Watsontown, for $200,000. Moran is using the
space for food grade storage.
External links
Notes and references
- History of the Edison Hotel
- MICROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS AND COMPONENTS,
Office of Management and
Budget, 2007-05-11. Accessed 2008-08-01.
- COMBINED STATISTICAL AREAS AND COMPONENT CORE BASED
STATISTICAL AREAS, Office of Management and
Budget, 2007-05-11. Accessed 2008-08-01.
- Scott, Rob, " City to take over 7 vacant houses." The Daily
Item, July 24, 2007.
- Megan's Law Website
http://www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us/SearchResults.aspx?Search=County&CountyCode=49&CountyName=Northumberland&dt=KCKCFDDK4INHGNIF4Ua
- Valley schools all over the chart, Daily Item June 6, 2007
http://www.dailyitem.com/archivesearch/local_story_163000144.html
- Shikellamy school board adopts $34.6M budget, Daily Item, June
20, 2007
http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/local_story_171003120.html
- Shikellamy budget approved Daily Item, May 19, 2007
http://www.dailyitem.com/archivesearch/local_story_139001649.html
- Tax reform proposal falls in all Valley school districts, Daily
Item, May 19, 2007.
http://www.dailyitem.com/archivesearch/local_story_139203055.html
- 24 PS 17-1726-A Transportation to charter schools
http://www.pde.state.pa.us/transportation/lib/transportation/SchoolCode_Transportation_7-17-06.pdf
- http://www.connectionsacademy.com/state/home.asp?schoolCode=CCA
Connections Academy
- Boss, Shira, "Virtual charters: public schooling, at home",
Christian Science Monitor, January 2002.
- Northumberland County Historical Society web site.
http://www.northumberlandcountyhistoricalsociety.org/information.htm
- "Group works to define quality of life issues." The Daily Item,
July 15, 2007.
- Background Information and Data, Sunbury Riverfront Park
Project
http://www.seda-cog.org/nor-sunbury/lib/nor-sunbury/riverfrontproject/finalmsp/01_background.pdf
- History of Sunbury The flood wall SEDA-COG,
Oct. 12, 2005.
- Tropical Storm Agnes in the Susquehanna River Basin June 21 -
24, 1972, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, Information
Sheet
- DCNR to Remove Last Impediment to Shad on Susquehanna,
http://www.dep.state.pa.us/newsletter/default.asp?NewsletterArticleID=3840&SubjectID=
- Public parks of Sunbury
http://www.seda-cog.org/nor-sunbury/cwp/view.asp?a=853&q=428179
- Education center planned for vacant marina building, Daily
Item. June 1, 2007.
http://www.dailyitem.com/archivesearch/local_story_152233016.html
- Alter, Theodore R. "Strenghtening Rural Pennsylvania" Brookings
Institute. March 2007.
- Business in our Sites award
- Finnerty, John, "Moran buys Wilhold site", The Daily Item, Jan 13,
2006.
.
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
