Carbon County, Pennsylvania

Carbon County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,749. The county is part of the Northeast Pennsylvania region of the state.

The county borders Lehigh and Northampton counties in the state's Lehigh Valley region to its south, Monroe County to its east, Luzerne County to its north, and Schuylkill County to its west. The county is approximately 33 mi northwest of Allentown, the state's third-largest city, and 117 mi west of New York City, the nation's largest city.

The county seat is Jim Thorpe, which was founded in 1818 as Mauch Chunk. The Lehigh River, a 109 mi tributary of the Delaware River, flows through Carbon County.

Moravian settlement
In 1745, the first colonial settlement in Carbon County was established by a Moravian mission in Gnadenhutten, in present-day Lehighton. By 1752, increased hostility between colonialists and Native Americans put Gnadenhutten at risk for attack; in 1755, the community was attacked by Native Americans.

In the late 1780s, the county's settlement at Lehigh Gap failed, and colonizers did not return for a decade, in the late 1780s.

Coal
In 1791, a homesteader, Phillip Ginter, hunting on Sharp Mountain along Pisgah Mountain discovered a black tone coal outcropping, and conveyed a chunk of it to Weissport.

Industrialization
Lehigh Coal Mine Company (LCMC) operations had managed to open up the mouth area of the Nesquehoning Creek by 1800. This area became known as Lausanne, or Lausanne Landing, after the inn and tavern built there called Landing Tavern. An Amerindian trail crossed the stream near the confluence with Jean's Run and the camp grounds of their boat builders, climbing northwestwards along a traverse to the next water gap west, eroded into the southern flank of Broad Mountain in the Lehigh Valley. It connected across a barrier ridge whose waters originated in the saddle-pass where Hazleton was built. The trail became the Lehigh and Susquehanna Turnpike in 1804. PA Route 93 follows this route with the exception of where modern road building capabilities allowed improved positioning. This road cut 90 - 100 mi off a trip from Philadelphia to the Wyoming Valley and the northern sections of the Coal Region.

Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company
In 1827, Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, based in present-day Jim Thorpe, launched the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, the nation's second operating railroad. The Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company, also located in Carbon County, was the first railway to operate steam locomotives as traction engines and prime movers in the United States. The Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway connected mines west of Beaver Meadows and Weatherly to the Lehigh Canal opposite Lehighton.

County's founding
Carbon County was created on March 13, 1843, from parts of Northampton and Monroe counties and was named for the extensive deposits of anthracite coal in the region, where it was first discovered in 1791. Early attempts were made to exploit the deposits by Lehigh Coal Mine Company (1792), whose expeditions broke trail and pioneered river bank sites using mule powered technology to log, saw, and build arks to carry bags of coal to Philadelphia with only scant success.

Molly Maguires
In the 19th century, Carbon County was the location of trials and executions of the Molly Maguires, an Irish secret society that had been accused of terrorizing the region.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 387 sqmi, of which 381 sqmi is land and 5.9 sqmi (1.5%) is water. Blue Mountain forms the southern boundary of Carbon County. The northeast area of the county is located in the Pocono Mountains and the northwest area includes portions of Broad and Spring mountains.

The county is drained by the Lehigh River except for a small area in western Packer Township and the borough of Lansford that are drained by the Still Creek and Panther Creek, respectively, into the Little Schuylkill River and the Schuylkill River, and the Audenried area in the northwest corner that drains into the Susquehanna River via the Catawissa Creek. The Lehigh River cuts a gorge between Jim Thorpe and White Haven, which hosts the Lehigh Gorge State Park.

Climate
Carbon County has a humid continental climate (Dfa/Dfb) and is mostly in hardiness zone 6b except for the NE part of the county and higher NW areas where it is 6a. Average monthly temperatures at Jake Arner Memorial Airport range from 27.8 °F in January to 72.5 °F in July, while at the Pocono interchange of the Turnpike they range from 22.9 °F in January to 68.3 °F in July.

Adjacent counties

 * Luzerne County (north)
 * Monroe County (east)
 * Northampton County (southeast)
 * Lehigh County (south)
 * Schuylkill County (southwest)

Major highways




Buses
Carbon Transit fixed-route bus service consists of Route 701 (Coaldale-Palmerton) and Route 702 (Nesquehoning-Palmerton), both connecting to the LANta Route 325 bus in Palmerton. Carbon Transit also operates CT Flex service in Jim Thorpe, Penn Forest Township, and Kidder Township. Also, Hazleton Public Transit (HPT) bus route 30 serves northwestern Carbon County via Beaver Meadows and Junedale to Weatherly. Audenried is served by HPT route 20 (Hazleton-McAdoo/Kelayres).

Fullington Trailways provides intercity service to Carbon County with stops in Lehighton and Jim Thorpe. Martz Trailways has a stop in Kidder Township near the Pocono interchange of Interstate 476 for service between Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Allentown, Quakertown, and Philadelphia. This is an Amtrak Thruway route, connecting to Amtrak trains at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Martz also operates casino bus routes to Atlantic City from the stop.

Airports
Jake Arner Memorial Airport in Lehighton provides general aviation. The nearest commercial passenger service is at Lehigh Valley International Airport or Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

Demographics
As of the 2000 census, there were 58,802 people, 23,701 households, and 16,424 families residing in the county. The population density was 154 /mi2. There were 30,492 housing units at an average density of 80 /mi2. The racial makeup of the county was 97.82% White, 0.60% Black or African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.32% from other races, and 0.76% from two or more races. 1.46% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 29.4% were of German, 10.1% Irish, 9.2% Italian, 7.9% American, 6.6% Slovak, 6.0% Polish and 5.8% Ukrainian ancestry.

There were 23,701 households, out of which 28.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.80% were married couples living together, 9.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.70% were non-families. 26.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.20% under the age of 18, 6.90% from 18 to 24, 28.30% from 25 to 44, 24.20% from 45 to 64, and 18.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 94.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.30 males.

Law and government
Carbon County has long been considered a bellwether county for Pennsylvania statewide elections. In gubernatorial elections, it was perfect from 1952 to 2014.
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At the presidential level, Carbon County has also been a bellwether for Pennsylvania until recently with only one miss (the 1960 presidential election) between 1916 presidential election and the 2000 presidential election, and with a margin within 3.5 points of the statewide margin in every election from 1940 to 2000 except 1964 (5.3% more Democratic) and 1976 (6.9% more Democratic). Al Gore carried the county in 2000. George W. Bush defeated Democrat John Kerry 49.99% to 48.81%, or a margin of 296 votes, in 2004.

Since then, Carbon County has trended Republican relative to the state as a whole; in the 2008 presidential election, John McCain outperformed in Carbon County by 8.5% relative to the state. In the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney outperformed by 12.9% relative to the state.

In the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump won the county overwhelmingly with 65.4% of the vote, the largest presidential victory in the county of any presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson's landslide in 1964 presidential election.

Voter registration
As of February 7, 2024, there were 43,217 registered voters in the county. There are 21,871 (50.61%) registered Republicans, 14,592 (33.76%) registered Democrats, 4,723 (10.93%) voters registered non-affiliated voters, and 2,031 (4.70%) voters registered to other parties.

County commissioners

 * Wayne Nothstein, Republican
 * Mike Sofranko, chairman
 * Rocky Ahner, Democratic

State Senate

 * John Yudichak, Independent, Pennsylvania's 14th Senatorial District
 * Dave Argall, Republican, Pennsylvania's 29th Senatorial District

State House of Representatives

 * Doyle Heffley, Republican, Pennsylvania's 122nd Representative District

United States House of Representatives

 * Susan Wild, Democrat, Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district

United States Senate

 * John Fetterman, Democrat
 * Bob Casey, Democrat

Community, junior and technical colleges

 * Lehigh Carbon Community College – Carbon Campus, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania

Public school districts

 * Hazleton Area School District (also in Luzerne County and Schuylkill County)
 * Jim Thorpe Area School District
 * Lehighton Area School District
 * Palmerton Area School District
 * Panther Valley School District (also in Schuylkill County)
 * Weatherly Area School District

Career technical school
Carbon Career and Technical Institute, public school located in Jim Thorpe

Intermediate Unit
The public and private K-12 schools in Carbon County are served by Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21.

Recreation
Mauch Chunk Lake is a county-run park that offers swimming, camping, hiking and cross country skiing in the winter. There are three Pennsylvania state parks in Carbon County:
 * Beltzville State Park
 * Hickory Run State Park
 * Lehigh Gorge State Park stretches along the Lehigh River in Luzerne County and into Carbon County.

Municipalities
Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities: cities, boroughs, townships, and, in the case of Bloomsburg, a town. The following boroughs and townships are located in Carbon County:

Boroughs

 * Beaver Meadows
 * Bowmanstown
 * East Side
 * Jim Thorpe (county seat)
 * Lansford
 * Lehighton
 * Nesquehoning
 * Palmerton
 * Parryville
 * Summit Hill
 * Weatherly
 * Weissport

Townships

 * Banks
 * East Penn
 * Franklin
 * Kidder
 * Lausanne
 * Lehigh
 * Lower Towamensing
 * Mahoning
 * Packer
 * Penn Forest
 * Towamensing

Census-designated places
Census-designated places are geographical areas designated by the U.S. Census Bureau for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law. Other unincorporated communities, such as villages, may be listed here as well.


 * Albrightsville
 * Holiday Pocono
 * Indian Mountain Lake
 * Towamensing Trails
 * Tresckow
 * Weissport East

Former communities

 * Big Creek Valley
 * East Mauch Chunk, now an eastern part of Jim Thorpe
 * East Penn Township, Pennsylvania, the far eastern part of today's Jim Thorpe at the other end of Bear Mountain (Lehigh Valley)
 * Lausanne Landing, the original settlement above the Lehigh Gap at the mouth of the Nesquehoning Creek; terminus of the Lehigh & Susquehanna Turnpike founded in 1804

Population ranking
The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Carbon County.

† county seat