Editing Exeter, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==

The name Exeter derives from the ancient city of [[Exeter]] in [[Devon]], England. Numerous other places in Canada and the United States have also been given the same name.

In 1769, settlers from Connecticut began making their homes in the [[Wyoming Valley]] of [[Northeastern Pennsylvania]] but came into conflict with settlers from Pennsylvania during the [[Pennamite–Yankee War]]s.

In early July 1778, during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], a large-scale raid by [[Butler's Rangers]] and their [[Iroquois]] allies entered the valley. Fort Wintermoot (in present-day Exeter) and Fort Jenkins (in present-day West Pittston) quickly surrendered and were later burned to the ground. On July 3, 1778, about three hundred Patriot militia and [[Continental Army|Continentals]] died at the [[Battle of Wyoming]], also known as the Wyoming Massacre, which took place in present-day Exeter and [[Wyoming, Pennsylvania|Wyoming]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Glenn F. |title=Year of the Hangman: George Washington's Campaign against the Iroquois |date=2005 |publisher=Westholm Publishing |location=Yardley, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-1-59416-013-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/yearofhangmangeo0000will}}</ref>

Exeter was founded a fertile agricultural area—once the heartland of the [[Susquehannock]] people. Much lumbering and coal-mining was carried out in the area in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1830s, the region entered a boom period and began shipping coal by the [[Pennsylvania Canal]], and by the 1840s down the [[Lehigh Canal]] to [[Allentown, Pennsylvania|Allentown]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Trenton, New Jersey|Trenton]], [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]], [[New York City]], and other East Coast cities and ports. This was done by the connecting engineering works of the [[Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company]]. These works included the upper Lehigh Canal, the [[Ashley Planes]], the early [[Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad]] (L&S), and other railroads in the area.

After severe flooding ripped up the upper Lehigh Canal in the 1860s, the L&S was extended to the Delaware along the lower canal, keeping the markets of the big cities connected to the still growing Wyoming Valley collieries and breakers. A second rail line was pushed up the [[Lehigh Gorge]] (the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]]), enabling the resurgence of coal exportation to the East Coast cities; it also connected the region to the Erie Railroad and Buffalo, New York.

Exeter was incorporated as a borough in 1884. By 1900, the population consisted of 1,948 citizens. The town lost usable lands in the 1959 [[Knox Mine Disaster]], when the river broke through and flooded the local mines. This essentially shut down the coal mining industry in and around Exeter. Subsequently, despite the local loss of industry, the fact that the population was 5,652 at the 2010 census<ref name="Census 2010">{{Cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |title=Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Exeter borough, Pennsylvania |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=April 12, 2012 }}</ref> indicates that the former farmlands have been attractive to building developers.