Doylestown (Pennsylvania, Bucks County)
| Doylestown | |
|---|---|
 Courthouse des Bucks County |
|
| Location of Doylestown in Bucks County | |
 |
|
| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1745 (1838 incorp.) |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Pennsylvania |
| County : | Bucks County |
| Coordinates : | 40 ° 19 ′ N , 75 ° 8 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 ) |
| Residents : | 8,227 (as of: 2000) |
| Population density : | 1,443.3 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 5.7 km 2 (approx. 2 mi 2 ) of which 5.7 km 2 (approx. 2 mi 2 ) is land |
| Height : | 129 m |
| Postcodes : | 18901, 18902 |
| Area code : | +1 215 |
| FIPS : | 42-19784 |
| GNIS ID : | 1217348 |
| Website : | www.doylestownborough.net |
| Mayor : | Libby White |
Doylestown is a borough in Bucks County Pennsylvania and a county seat . The city is 55 km north of Philadelphia . In 2000 there were 8227 inhabitants here.
history
Doylestown's origins date back to 1745 when William Doyle received permission to build an inn on the site where Main and State Streets now intersect. This was known for many years as "William Doyle's Tavern" and was located on the strategic point of intersection of the road between Swede's Ford ( Norristown ) and Coryell's Ferry ( New Hope ) (now US Highway 202 ) to the road from Philadelphia to Easton (now Pennsylvania State Route 611 ). The hamlet flourished and developed into a village. The first church was built in 1815.
During the first decade of the 19th century, dissatisfaction with the then seat of Bucks County grew because Newtown was not centrally located, and in 1813 the county seat was moved to the more centrally located Doylestown. A row of houses developed around the new courthouse , where lawyers and administrative offices were located. A positive consequence of the investments in connection with the administrative relocation was the establishment of the fire brigade .
In 1838 Doylestown was registered as a borough.
An electrical telegraph station was established in 1846, and in 1856 a branch line of the North Pennsylvania Railroad reached Doylestown. The first gas lamps were installed in 1854. Due to the relative height of the city and the associated lack of hydropower , there was no fundamental industrial development, and Doylestown developed into a city whose character was shaped by craft and residential areas.
In the mid-19th century, several large rows of houses east of the courthouse were divided into districts. After the Civil War , the next development spurt came when a 30 acre property southeast of the city center was divided up for settlement purposes.
In 1869 the city established a waterworks, a telephone line was set up in 1878, and a new courthouse was built that same year. In 1897, the first of several trolley lines connecting Doylestown to Willow Grove , Newtown and Easton was established. A privately operated waste water disposal and sewage treatment plant was approved in 1903 and taken over by the city in 1921.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the city became famous for the Tools of the Nation-Maker Museum , founded by Henry Chapman Mercer and now supported by the Bucks County Historical Society . Mercer constructed the reinforced concrete building in 1916 to house his collection of mechanical tools and utensils. When he died in 1930, he also bequeathed his similarly built Fonthill home and the neighboring Moravian Pottery and Tile Works museum .
By 1931, the rise of the automobile and the improved highway system had resulted in the discontinuation of the last trolley line, forcing doylestowners to switch to automobiles as the primary mode of transport in the area. Many of the magnificent houses built a century earlier fell into disrepair during the Great Depression. In the 1930s, the city expanded its area to the north.
The local economy flourished in the first decade after World War II . During the 1940s, the streets were repaved for the first time in more than twenty years and parking meters were introduced in 1948 . 550 new homes were built in the 1950s and the boom continued into the 1960s and 1970s, when a total of more than 1,600 new homes were built and the population rose from 5,917 in 1960 to 8,717 in 1980 .
As in many small towns in the country, the growth of cities in the decades after the war brought a new competitor to the central business district - the shopping mall . The result was visible in Doylestown in the 1960s through numerous empty buildings and dilapidated shop fronts in the city center. The county's development agency responded with a renovation program that included the demolition of 27 historic buildings. The local industry did not agree with such a comprehensive demolition program and implemented its own plan to renovate the center. The initiative was successful because the historic center was saved and the business situation improved. The then eighty-year-old courthouse with the clock tower, which was replaced by the current building in the early 1960s , could not be saved .
At the end of the 1980s a new trend became noticeable. The central business district now suffered from strong competition from greenfield shopping centers. This was exacerbated by the recession, which particularly affected the northeastern states. The city council set up a working group whose task it was to make the city center more attractive. After 1992, the street scene was improved by putting up cast iron street lamps, paving the streets and renewing the house facades.
In the course of the 1990s, the city center changed and now tended to appeal to non-resident visitors as a target group. Doylestown had long been a popular destination, and the Philadelphia and New York City wealthy had country estates in the area, some of which they spent the summer on. Mercer's museums and the pilgrimage church generated an even number of short-term visitors. The Art Deco County Theater has been renovated and reopened. A new library and art gallery were built on the ruins of the old prison building. After the recognition as a resort town led to a relaxation of the rules for serving alcohol, vacant commercial spaces filled with bars and restaurants.
This development went hand in hand with the general development of the region. The Philadelphia metropolitan area expanded from the south to the center of Bucks County, and housing developments grew in the fields and farms around the city. This development brought thousands of new residents to the area. These new neighborhoods, however, had no established meeting places or recognizable local centers. Doylestown, which is more central than New Hope on the Delaware River , traditionally fulfilled this function and thus became a regional center for culture and nightlife.
In 1900 there were 3,034 people living in the city and in 1910 the population had risen to 3304. At the time of the United States Census 2000 there were 8227 residents in Borough and 16,747 in township.
sons and daughters of the town
- Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973, writer)
- Justin Guarini (* 1978, pop singer)
- Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960, musical writer)
- Margaret Mead (1901–1978, anthropologist)
- Henry Chapman Mercer (1856–1930, architect and archaeologist)
- James A. Michener (1907-1997, writer)
- Alecia Beth Moore alias P! Nk (* 1979, pop-rock singer)
- Neal Woodman (* 1958, paleontologist and mammaloge)
Culture and sights
Doylestown has three buildings built by Henry Chapman Mercer. The Mercer Museum , a structure made of bulk concrete , is home to Mercer's collections of artifacts from the early days of America. It is also home to a collection titled Tools of the Nation Maker, which is one of the most important collections of its kind in the world. The Bucks County Historical Society also maintains the Spruance Library, which complements the museum. Fonthill (also known as "Mercer's Castle" ) was Mercer's home and houses his artifacts collected around the world. The functional pottery Moravian Pottery and Tile Works shows tools and techniques used by the Pennsylvania Dutch were used in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The former prison across the street from the museum has been converted into the James A. Michener Art Museum .
Doylestown is located near a place of pilgrimage for the Americans of Polish descent. The Roman Catholic Church National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa is home to a painting of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa in Poland .
Also in Doylestown is the historic building The Fountain House .
education
Doylestown is home to several educational institutions that are part of the Central Bucks School District . There are two elementary schools (Doyle Elementary and Linden Elementary), a middle school (Lenape Middle School) and a high school (Central Bucks West Highschool) in the city area.
Doylestown is also home to the Delaware Valley College campus , which is still primarily an agricultural school.
geography
According to the United States Census Bureau , the borough has an area of 5.6 km² , all of which is land.
Demographics
At the time of the United States Census 2000, Doylestown was inhabited by 8,227 people. The population density was 1477.4 people per km ². There were 4055 housing units at an average of 728.2 per km ². The population consisted of 95.24% of White , 1.30% Black or African American , 0.11% Native American , 1.42% Asian , 0.07% Pacific Islander , 0.43% said other races to belong and 0.63% named two or more races. 1.20% of the population declared to be Hispanic or Latinos of any race.
The residents of Doylestown distributed to 3952 households out of which 19.0% were living in children under 18 years. 39.0% of households were married, 7.2% had a female head of the household without a husband and 51.7% were not families. 44.4% of households were made up of individuals and someone lived in 22.8% of all households aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 1.98 and the average family size was 2.82 people.
The urban population was split into 16.5% minors, 5.7% 18–24 year olds, 28.8% 25–44 year olds, 23.5% 45–64 year olds and 25.4% aged 65 years or more. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 women there were 79.3 men. For every 100 women over 18, there were 75.7 men.
The median household income in Doylestown was 46,148 US dollars and the median family income reached the amount of 71,988 US dollars. The median income for men was $ 48,553 compared with $ 31,703 for women. The per capita income for Doylestown was $ 32,249. 4.4% of the population and 2.5% of families had an income below the poverty line , including 1.7% of minors and 9.6% of those aged 65 and over.
traffic
Railroad and bus
Doylestown is connected to Philadelphia by the SEPTA Regional Rail R5 line and the 55 bus route. Doylestown station is the terminus of the R5 line. in Die Stadt maintains a small public transport system called DART, which in March 2006 consisted of a single bus line and is mainly used by the elderly.
plane
Doylestown Airport is approximately 3 miles north of downtown on Pennsylvania State Routes PA 611 and PA 313 .
Individual evidence
- ^ "Ancient Carpenter's Tools: Illustrated and Explained, Together with the Implements of the Lumbermen, Joiner and Cabinet-Maker in Use in the 18th Century," Henry Chapman Mercer, Bucks County Historical Society, 1929, ISBN 0-486-40958-9 Page viii.
Web links
- DART (English)