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Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County , Pennsylvania , United States . The population was 23,329 at the 2000 census. HISTORY Sugarloaf Massacre During the height of the American Revolution in the summer of 1780, British sympathizers, also known as Tories , concentrated from New York's Mohawk Valley , began attacking Patriot outposts located along the Susquehanna River Valley in Northeast Pennsylvania . Because of the reports of Tory activity in the region, Captain Daniel Klader and a Platoon of 40 to 50 men from Northampton County, Pennsylvania were sent to investigate. They traveled north from the Lehigh Valley along a path known as "Warrior's Trail", which is present-day State Route 93 , since this route connects the Lehigh River in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (formerly known as Mauch Chunk) to the Susquehanna River in Berwick, Pennsylvania . Heading north, Captain Klader's men made it as far north as present-day Conyngham, Pennsylvania when they were ambushed by members of the Seneca Tribe and Tory militiamen. In all, 18 men were killed on September 11 , 1780 in what was to become the Sugarloaf Massacre. The Moravians , a Christian Denomination , had been using "Warrior's Trail" since the early 1700s after the Moravian Missionary Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf first used it to reach the Wyoming Valley . This particular stretch of "Warrior's Trail" had an abundance of Hazel trees. Though the Moravians called the region "St. Anthony's Wilderness," it eventually became known as "Hazel Swamp," a name which had been used previously by the indians. The Moravian missionaries were sent from their settlements near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to the site of the Sugarloaf Massacre to bury the dead soldiers. Because of the aesthetic natural beauty of the Conyngham Valley, some Moravians decided to stay and in 1782, built a settlement, St. Johns, along the Nescopeck Creek, which is near the present-day intersection of Interstates 80 and 81 . Jacob Drumheller's stage stand In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the "Warrior Trail" was widened and became the Berwick Turnpike. Later, a road was built to connect Wilkes-Barre to McKeansburg, Pennsylvania . This road intersected with the Berwick Turnpike at what is present-day Broad and Vine Streets, in downtown Hazleton. An Entrepreneur named Jacob Drumheller decided that this intersection was the perfect location for a rest-stop, so in 1809, he built the first building in what would be later known as Hazleton. Though a few buildings and houses began to be built nearby, the area remained a dense wilderness for about 20 more years. Aside from small-scale Logging , the area offered little else. Discovery of coal Railroad developers from Philadelphia became interested in the Hazleton area once previous rumors were validated that Anthracite Coal had been discovered in near-by Beaver Meadows by prospectors Nathaniel Beach and Tench Coxe . A young Engineer from New York named Arivistius "Ario" Pardee was hired to survey the Topography of Beaver Meadows and report the practicality of extending a railroad from the Lehigh River Canal in Jim Thorpe to Beaver Meadows. Pardee, knowing that the area of Beaver Meadows was already controlled by Coxe and Beach, bought many acres of the land in present-day Hazleton. The investment proved to be extraordinarily lucrative. The land contained part of a massive anthricite coal field. Pardee will be forever known as the founding father of Hazleton. Pardee incorporated the Hazleton Coal Company in 1836, the same year that the rail link to the Lehigh Valley market was about to be completed. The Hazleton Coal Company built the first school on Church Street, where Hazleton City Hall is now located. Pardee also built the first Church in Hazleton located at Church and Broad Streets. The Pardee mansion was built on the northern block of Broad Street, between present-day Church and Laurel Streets. The coal industry attracted many immigrants for labor, mostly German and Irish in the 1840s and 1850s, and mostly Italian, Polish, Russian, Lithuainian, and Slovak in the 1860s to 1920s. The coal mined in Hazleton helped to establish the United States as a world industrial power, primarily fueling the massive Blast Furnaces at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation . "Patch Towns" Many small "patch towns" surrounding Hazleton were built by coal companies to provide housing for the miners and their families. The patch towns included:
Sudden prosperity and growth Hazleton was incorporated as a Borough on January 5 , 1857 . Its intended name was supposed to be spelled "Hazelton" but a clerk misspelled the name during incorporation, and the name "Hazleton" has been used ever since. The borough's first Fire Company , the Pioneer Fire Company, was organized in 1867 by soldiers returning from the American Civil War . Hazleton was incorporated as a city on December 4 , 1891 . The Population then was estimated to be around 14,000 people. In 1891, Hazleton became the third city in the United States to establish a city-wide electric grid. On September 10 1897 , the Lattimer Massacre occurred near Hazleton. Changing times and fuels After World War II, the demand for coal began to decline as cleaner, more efficient fuels were being used. Readily available, cheap energy helped open the door for manufacturing. The Duplan Silk Corporation opened and became the world's largest silk mill. The garment industry thrived, some operations serving as a front for mafia boss Albert Anastasia . In 1947, Autolite Coporation was looking to expand operations in the East, and had been looking into Hazleton. Officials from Autolite came to the area to survey it and in their report, they noted Hazleton is a "mountain wilderness" with no major water route, rail route, trucking route, or airport. In response, several area leaders gathered to address these problems. CANDO (Community Area New Development Organization) was formally organized in 1956 by founder Dr. Edgar L. Dessen . Their main goal was to raise money, through their "Dime A Week" campaign, in which area residents were encouraged to put a dime on their sidewalk each week to be collected by CANDO. The company raised over $250,000 and were able to purchase over 500 acres of land, which was converted into an industrial park. Because of CANDO's efforts, Hazleton was given the All-America City Award . Hazleton's economy is now based largely on manufacturing and shipping, facilitated by the relative closeness to Interstates 80 and 81 . An article published in December 2002 by US News And World Report was entitled "Letter from Pennsylvania: A town in need of a tomorrow" which reported Hazleton's shortcomings to the world. It was criticized by local politicians and business leaders alike, and again prompted local leaders to address the problems facing the community. River dredge question Many local leaders looked for solutions to help change the appearance and perceptions of Hazleton. Similar attempts had been made in the 1980s to try and help clean up and revitalize the image of Downtown Hazleton. Since the local economy had declined, the big department stores closed their doors and left behind a bleak and dreary downtown. Many old buildings had been saved by recent restoration efforts, but the empty storefronts remain. In 2005, Mayor Louis Barletta and a private firm introduced a controversial plan to import millions of tons of sediment dredged from the New Jersey and New York harbors and surrounding rivers. The states of New Jersey and New York have refused to use the dredge material from their own harbors for fill in their states due to the documented organic and inorganic contaminants found in dreged material. New Jersey has over 700 abandoned mines that will not utilize drege material from their state. The plan calls for the river dredge to be used as fill for the many mine craters left behind from abandoned strip-mining operations. After the mines are filled and the land restored, the plan calls for a 20,000-seat open-air amphitheater. It was the hope of the mayor and the developers that the amphitheater would give people a reason to visit Hazleton and that the project would stimulate the local economy. The plan drew many opponents because of the already-high cancer rate in the region. Many felt capping the mines was an unnecessary risk, because many had questions about pollutants that may or may not be found in the dredge. Cargo airport Perhaps the most substantial attempt to bring Hazleton's economy back has been a proposed cargo airport to be built 2 miles south of Hazleton near the Humboldt Industrial Park and Eagle Rock Resort. The planners of the project are expecting $17 billion to be injected into the local economy, as well as 4,500 direct airport jobs, and as many 160,000 indirect jobs. The planners are hoping the airport will replace the coal industry, but because of the many attempts to recover in the past, many admit the project seems more of a flight of fancy. But recently it has been gaining more approval from local politicians and has a possibility of becoming a reality. Some residents are opposed, citing noise, population, and traffic concerns. Others are fairly optimistic, citing the potential for widespread economic, educational, and cultural growth. The plan has drawn protest over the forced eviction of the northeast's premier off-road recreation park, Paragon Adventure Park.http://www.paragonap.com]http://www.sira4x4.net/saveparagon/ EDUCATION History of local education
Hazleton Area School District Between 1966 and 1992, the Hazleton Area School District closed all area high schools except Hazleton, Freeland, and West Hazleton. The Hazleton Area High School opened in 1992, which resulted in the complete consolidation of all remaining area high schools. The Hazleton Area School District encompasses 300 square miles, which is one of the largest school districts in the state. It includes 1 city, 6 boroughs, 9 townships, (16 municipalities) and 3 counties. Enrollment is over 8,000 students. In 2004, the Hazleton Area High School was the 11th largest high school in the state. The schools of the Hazleton Area School District are:
Current Hazleton Area School Board Directors are:
Private schools
Colleges and universities
GOVERNMENT Mayor
City Council
SANCTIONS AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS In 2006, Hazleton gained national attention as the Official Language of Hazleton.http://www.smalltowndefenders.com/090806/2006-19%20_Official%20English.pdf The ordinance has been criticized as illegal and , with the ACLU, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense And Education Fund and the Community Justice Project Hazleton will not enforce the ordinance For Now .http://www.aclu.org/immigrants/discrim/26644prs20060901.html In response to the lawsuits the city of Hazleton has retained the council of the former head of immigration in the Department of Justice.http://www.canyon-news.com/artman/publish/article_4809.php Mayor Lou Barletta of Hazleton estimates that as "many as half" of the estimated 10,000 illegal immigrants in Hazleton left Hazleton when the ordinance was passed.http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060921-110748-4227r.htm Reportedly, several shops in the city's Hispanic business district that catered to immigrants have closed, with others struggling to remain open.http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/118825,CST-NWS-illegal01.article The issue was covered by the television program '''' show The '' O'Reilly Factor '' in March of 2007.http://www.billoreilly.com/show?action=viewTVShow&showID=1245 The local Chamber of Commerce claims that the influx of immigrants revitalised a dying coal town, turning a dismal commercial strip on Hazleton's Wyoming Street into a lively row of shops. The s, Puerto Rican Americans , Dominican American s, Central American s and South American nationalities. And in 2006, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber Of Commerce estimated a third of Hazleton's population was Latino. On July 26 , 2007 a federal judge, James Munley, struck down Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act as an unconstitutional ordinance pre-empted by federal law. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/26/ap3956891.html The injunction stirred up a national controversy. Mayor Barletta expressed his confidence that the injunction will be overturned by the appellate court. GEOGRAPHY Hazleton is located at (40.958834, -75.974546). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 15.5 Km&2 (6.0 Mi&2 ), all land. Hazleton is located 12 miles (19 km) north of Tamaqua and 25 miles (40 km) south of Wilkes-Barre. Located on a plateau of Spring Mtn., Hazleton's elevation is about 1700 feet (518 m) above sea level, one of the highest incorporated cities east of the Mississippi River . DEMOGRAPHICS As of the Census of 2000, there were 23,329 people, 10,281 households, and 6,004 families residing in the city. The Population Density was 1,508.8/km&2 (3,904.6/mi&2). There were 11,556 housing units at an average density of 747.4/km&2 (1,934.1/mi&2). The racial makeup of the city was 94.70% White , 0.82% African American , 0.16% Native American , 0.65% Asian , 0.01% Pacific Islander , 2.76% from Other Races , and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.85% of the population (however, some estimates show that this has grown to as high as 30% since the 2000 Census http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usimmi254795533jun25,0,193310.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-print). There were 10,281 households out of which 24.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.1% were Married Couples living together, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.6% were non-families. 37.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.93. In the city the population was spread out with 21.0% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 22.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.7 males. The median income for a household in the city was $28,082, and the median income for a family was $37,093. Males had a median income of $31,144 versus $20,926 for females. The Per Capita Income for the city was $17,270. About 10.4% of families and 14.2% of the population were below the Poverty Line , including 20.4% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over. Population trends LOCAL MEDIA Newspapers
Radio
Television
HAZLETON IN POPULAR CULTURE
SISTER CITIES Hazleton has several Sister Cities . They are:
NOTABLE NATIVES AND RESIDENTS
REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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