Coudersport, Pennsylvania

History

The Coudersport and Port Allegany Railroad Station, Coudersport Historic District, and Potter County Courthouse are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

Coudersport is located at 41°46′26″N 78°1′7″W (41.773903, -78.018559).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 5.7 square miles (15 km²), all of it land.

Coudersport lies in a broad valley at the joining of the Allegheny River and Mill Creek. It is surrounded by the great hilltop plateaus of the Allegheny highlands. Highways enter north and south on Pennsylvania Route 44, the very old Jersey Shore (log road)Turnpike, and from west to east on U.S. Route 6, the "Grand Army of the Republic Highway", which had been long a major mid-east-states east-west corridor before Interstate highways of the late 1950s. The most noted hilltops, located here on this plateau, are Dutch Hill stretching southeastly, and Vader Hill stretching southwestly. The Allegheny river makes a quick turn at this point, going from North to West; for that reason these features are distinctly individual from afar in the broad turning valley, and rise 2400–2500 feet above sea-level.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,650 people, 1,101 households, and 700 families residing in the borough. The population density was 467.2 people per square mile (180.5/km²). There were 1,189 housing units at an average density of 209.6 per square mile (81.0/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 97.02% White, 0.49% African American, 0.08% Native American, 1.62% Asian, 0.19% from other races, and 0.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.49% of the population.

There were 1,101 households, out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.8% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.4% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the borough the population was spread out, with 25.3% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.7 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $35,813, and the median income for a family was $44,053. Males had a median income of $32,288 versus $22,439 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $18,209. About 6.9% of families and 11.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.6% of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.

Notable facts

Coudersport is home to a Scottish Rite Consistory. With over 5000 members, Coudersport's Consistory has the largest per-capita membership of any Scottish Rite Consistory.

The newly re-opened Ice Mine is a popular tourist attraction in Coudersport. The mine freezes with ice in the summer, and the ice melts in the winter.

Coudersport was the home of "Untouchable" Eliot Ness at the time of his death. He was a principal in the Guaranty Paper Corporation, which specialized in watermarking legal & official documents to prevent counterfeiting. The company moved from Cleveland to Coudersport around 1955 because operating costs were lower. Eliot and his wife Betty & son Bobby were living in the Leon & Lucille Brocklebank home from 1956-1957, and he died from a heart attack at their kitchen sink in May 1957.

Located in the northern portion of Coudersport, is the Coudersport Area Recreation Park (CARP). This sports and recreation park was begun in the 1960s by a group of town leaders, which included Dr. William L. Mitchell, a local veterinarian. It currently has a football field with track & field capabilities, baseball and softball fields, basketball courts, picnic areas and hiking trails.

According to historical books at the PSU University Park library, Coudersport derived its name from a Dutchman named Couder who was a primary funder for the surveying of the future town as a "port" on the Allegany (or Allegheny) River. Thus becoming Couder's Port.

Coudersport has the former headquarters of Adelphia, which went bankrupt after internal corruption in 2002.

The fictional town of Farringdon, depicted in the Judy Bolton detective series by Margaret Sutton, is based on Coudersport, where Sutton grew up and attended school. The school, town hall, and several recognizable residences are described in her books. Judy Bolton Days, an annual festival honoring the books of the late Sutton, is hosted each October by the local Chamber of Commerce.

Actress Riki Lindhome was born in Coudersport in 1979.

Radio stations WNG591 (a NOAA Weather Radio outlet programmed out of State College) and WFRM (a locally programmed AM radio station, 600 kHz) are licensed to Coudersport. The former WFRM-FM, 96.7 MHz, was licensed to Coudersport for much of its existence but was later reallocated to Portville, New York. The local newspaper, the Potter Leader-Enterprise, is published out of Coudersport.