Talk:Easton, Pennsylvania

Tree
Wyss- If Easton PA wasn't the first American city to display a christmas tree, then which one? Please cite sources too. --Cooter08865

Noden-Reed House in Windsor Locks, Connecticut claims they had a Christmas tree in 1777, according to several websites:
 * http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionX/MUSEUMS.htm
 * http://www.visitconnecticut.com/current_category.135/companies_list.html
 * http://www.cthomeschoolnetwork.org/fieldtrips.htm
 * http://www.rootsweb.com/~ctcwinds/fewthoughts.htm

It was apparently put up by a Hessian prisoner-of-war.

--SH

Education
Is it fair to say that the city has only one public high school? Wilson Area High School boasts a modest population of ~800 students, 99.9% of whom have Easton, PA addresses. --24.59.126.152 06:00, 23 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Hmm, good point; after all, Easton High School is in Palmer Township, so either we count the number of high schools in the City of Easton (none) or the number in the Easton Area (two). I'm thinking Wilson High School (and School District) ought to be mentioned here.  --ScottAlanHill 07:35, 24 June 2006 (UTC)


 * It's worth noting that Wilson School District, though it does serve many students in the Greater Easton Area, does not serve any that live in the City of Easton itself. Sixtus LXVI 05:47, 8 July 2006 (UTC)


 * After further reflection, I think you're right; I've moved the info about the Wilson School District to Wilson, PA. It might be appropriate, however, to mention the WASD briefly on this page, in the context of the "greater Easton area". --ScottAlanHill 04:15, 12 August 2006 (UTC)


 * On a similar note, Easton Hospital is also in Wilson, so in the recent past very few people have been born in Easton proper. There used to be a private hospital, named (as I recall) Bett's Hospital, which was in Easton proper, but I think it closed in the 1970's. --tim 17:51, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Crayola Factory? The Circle? Canal Museum?
I live in Easton, and I know that the Crayola Factory is a big thing. So is the Circle, which is downtown. I don't think the circle was even mentioned in the article, and the Crayola Factory had, what, one sentence? And the Canal Museum! That's an important part of the history of Easton. Shouldn't all of it go somewhere?--kebbe7 04:21, 4 March 2008

I'm from phillipsburg and also agree that they should garner greater space on the page. The canal museum is part of the Crayola museum and should be located in the same space —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.162.43.80 (talk) 17:02, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

Easton's History
In cleaning up the History section, I removed the reference to Bethlehem and the Moravians, mostly because it struck me as "pseudo history" and I couldn't find a reasonable way to re-write it. While there's a possibility animosity between Penn and the Moravians played a part in picking the location, the claim that this was as far as possible from the Moravians doesn't make sense. If that's what Penn hoped to accomplish, then he could have gone further north. The location, at the fork of a major river and a significant tributary, had to be the primary reason for picking the site, and distance from the Moravians, a more remote consideration, if it was one. Maybe a cite would help clarify this, though that's where the pseudo history comes in. Beware of local histories, as much of what is said is colored by boosterism and parochial prejudices. On that note, we should also be scrupulous about injecting our own POV's (everywhere); that is, we're not writing for the local Chamber of Commerce, but for readers worldwide. Allreet (talk) 08:24, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

I believe the current section on the city's early history needs to be entirely revamped. Besides containing just one citation (a typed sheet of dates that was never published), at best the section offers a simplistic, romanticized version of Easton's beginnings. For one, Thomas Penn's motivation in establishing a town had nothing to do with natural beauty; his actions were purely political. Following the Walking Purchase, Penn sought to solidify control of the vast region he had recently acquired. But his concerns were only partially related to the native American population. His other objective was to diminish the influence of the Quakers, who favored concessions and peace, and to counter anti-Proprietary sentiments in the "back country." As part of this, Penn started similar settlements in Reading in 1748 and Carlisle in 1751.

Maybe the political backdrop is too complicated, but I'm sure it can be addressed simply and directly. That aside, the lack of essentials is the section's biggest deficit. For example, missing are:


 * David Martin, who built the first structure here in 1739 after gaining rights to operate a ferry and who was also a founding trustee of the Academy of Philadelphia, the academy's first rector, a professor of Greek and Latin, and Ben Franklin's favorite chess partner.


 * William Parsons, who was one of the original surveyors and is credited as the city's founder.


 * Something on the nature of the new town, its first residents, and its early development. For example, the Circle was the heart of Penn's plan, and the original City Hall was built in its center in the 1760s to mirror Philadelphia's layout.


 * The reason for the town's selection as county seat and a clarification of the date. "Around this time" is not very helpful.

All of this can be amply covered in three, maybe four, paragraphs. Meanwhile, there are plenty of sources to draw on. I've already researched most of this, but would like feedback from others before submitting anything. Thanks. Allreet (talk) 19:05, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Notable
An editor has been repeatedly deleting a general who was born in Easton, from the notables list. Generals automatically rate an article, which makes all of them notable. This one does not yet have an article, however:
 * David H. Stem - Brigadier General and commandant of MP School who was killed while serving his country. Stem Village is named after him in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.(ref), Ft. Leonard Wood. Accessed on August 28, 2009. (end ref)---different link if he died on base there ---. Student7 (talk) 11:44, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Crime "rate"
An editor has published a crime rate infobox for Easton. The pointer is to an actual count of incidents in the city. Since the information is per 100,000, and Easton's population is well short of that, someone had to multiply the actual count to get a "per 100,000" value. Who did that work? If it was the editor, I'm not sure that isn't WP:OR.

The other side of the story here is that this may represent what I call "The Law of Small Numbers" by which extraordinary things can be proven with a group, if the group is small enough and someone decides to select it for presentation. The material does not look good. Statistics like this were constructed to measure larger areas against one anotherr. Maybe not really suitable for small areas. Comments? Student7 (talk) 13:22, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

No Mention of Larry Holmes??
I'm stunned there's nothing at all in this article about former boxing Heavyweight Champion, Larry Holmes. He spent most of life in Easton, his nickname is the "Easton Assassin". He should be mentioned somewhere in the article for sure.

It should also be noted that he is a significant local businessman who owns a a large commercial complex by the riverside. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.239.180.130 (talk) 23:01, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Couldn't agree more, significant citizen, world class athlete and investor in the City. Worthy of note, in my opinion.

External links modified
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Orphaned references in Easton, Pennsylvania
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Easton, Pennsylvania's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "USCensus2020": From Waterbury, Connecticut:  From Kittanning, Pennsylvania:  From Uniontown, Pennsylvania:  From Portland, Maine:  From Lehigh Valley:  From Bridgeport, Connecticut:  

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 22:14, 13 February 2022 (UTC)