Lansdale, Pennsylvania

History

The earliest known settlers in Lansdale were members of the Jenkins family. At the peak of its growth, the Jenkins homestead occupied approximately 120 acres of land. The construction of the North Pennsylvania Railroad during the 1850s contributed to rapid growth and expansion in Lansdale. Employment opportunities generated by the railroad brought settlers, housing, and local businesses to the area. By 1872, Lansdale Borough was officially incorporated and named after Phillip Lansdale Fox, chief surveyor of the North Penn Railroad. By the naming conventions of the time, it should have been called Jenkintown, since the land immediately surrounding the train station was owned by the Jenkins family, but there was already a town by that name along the rail line.

The Jenkins Homestead and Lansdale Silk Hosiery Compy-Interstate Hosiery Mills, Inc. are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Kugel ball

Lansdale is home to a Kugel ball, which is a dark grey granite sphere supported by a very thin film of water pumped from beneath its base. The Kugel Ball is located in Railroad Plaza, adjacent to the SEPTA Lansdale/Doylestown Line train station in downtown Lansdale. The plaza consists of a bricked patio with benches centered on the Kugel Ball and closes at 11:00 pm. An annual 5k race is held in June, accordingly named the Kugel Ball race, which starts and ends at the actual Kugel Ball in Railroad Plaza.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 3.1 square miles (8.0 km²), all land.

Demographics

As of the 2010 census, the borough was 75.9% White, 5.9% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 13.3% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian, and 2.7% were two or more races. 5.0% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.

As of the census of 2000, there were 16,071 people, 6,620 households, and 4,051 families residing in the borough. The population density was 5,245.8 people per square mile (2,027.8/km²). There were 6,893 housing units at an average density of 2,250.0 per square mile (869.7/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 85.40% White, 3.94% African American, 0.09% Native American, 7.98% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 0.73% from other races, and 1.69% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.90% of the population.

There were 6,620 households, out of which 27.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.8% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.8% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the borough the population was spread out, with 22.2% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 33.4% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.5 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $46,232, and the median income for a family was $54,891. Males had a median income of $40,009 versus $29,825 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $22,096. About 4.1% of families and 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.4% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Lansdale has a city manager form of government with a mayor and a nine-member borough council. On Wednesday June 4, 2008, local chiropractor G. Andrew Szekely was appointed by council resolution to serve the remaining 18 months of the term of Mayor Michael DiNunzio. Szekely won a full four-year term in November 2009.

The borough is part of the Thirteenth Congressional District (represented by Rep. Brendan F. Boyle), Pennsylvania's 53rd Representative District (represented by Rep. Robert Godshall) and the 24th State Senate District (represented by Sen. Bob Mensch).

Education

The community is a part of the North Penn School District. K-6 public elementary schools in Lansdale include Gwynedd Square Elementary, Knapp Elementary, Oak Park Elementary, Inglewood Elementary, Walton Farm Elementary, and York Avenue Elementary. Penndale Middle School serves grades 7-9. The area public high school is North Penn High School in Towamencin Township.

The borough is also home to St. Stanislaus School of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In January 2012 the archdiocese announced that St. Rose of Lima School in North Wales is merging with St. Stanislaus, with students attending classes in Lansdale. The newly combined school will be known as Mater Dei, Latin for "Mother of God."

Calvary Baptist School is a pre-K-12th grade Christian school. Lansdale area private high schools include Lansdale Catholic High School and Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. Dock is in Towamencin Township.

Media

Lansdale is served by the daily online newspaper The Alternative Press of North Penn, owned and operated by Treacy Media Holdings, LLC, and edited by Towamencin Township native Tony Di Domizio, and the daily print newspaper The Reporter, owned by the Journal Register Company and having a circulation of 16,364 throughout Lansdale, Hatfield, Souderton and Harleysville,

Transportation

The main east-west street in Lansdale is Main Street (Pennsylvania Route 63), which runs northwest-southeast. The main north-south street is Broad Street, which runs southwest-northeast. Pennsylvania Route 363 begins at PA 63 on the western edge of Lansdale and heads southwest on Valley Forge Road. The Lansdale interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension (Interstate 476) is located to the west of the borough in Towamencin Township and connects to PA 63.

Lansdale is served by SEPTA Regional Rail's Lansdale/Doylestown Line via Lansdale station in downtown, the Pennbrook station in the southern part of the borough, and the 9th Street station in the northern part of the borough, with service to Center City Philadelphia and Doylestown along with intermediate points. Three SEPTA Suburban Division bus routes serve Lansdale: the Route 94 connects the southern part of Lansdale with the Montgomery Mall and Chestnut Hill, the Route 96 connects Lansdale with the Norristown Transportation Center in Norristown, and the Route 132 connects the borough with the Montgomery Mall and Telford.

Lansdale is the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Northeastern Railroad, a short-line freight railroad. The Pennsylvania Northeastern Railroad operates the Lansdale Yard in the borough and provides freight rail service out of Lansdale to several points in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia on SEPTA-owned lines. The railroad interchanges with CSX Transportation in Lansdale.

Notable people

In popular culture

An episode of the Fox television series Fringe, which aired on September 24, 2009, was set in Lansdale. The scenes that took place in Lansdale were filmed in British Columbia, and the town was depicted as a rural area consisting primarily of corn fields and not as the densely populated suburban town that it actually is.

The beginning of the episode "Changes" of Season 7 of the Fox television series House, which aired on May 2, 2011, was set in Lansdale.

In the 1981 novel A Natural Weapon by Garry Mitchelmore, Lansdale is one of two towns (the other being Cache, Louisiana) that has its natural gas supply poisoned by terrorists.

According to the book "Weird Pennsylvania," Lansdale was also once home to one of the world's three "H Trees," which are believed to mark portals to Hell. An individual had only to circle the trees a certain number of times and jump off a small cliff, on the ledge of which the trees grew. Upon doing so, the portal would open and transport the individual to Hell.