Editing Duryea, Pennsylvania

{{short description|Borough in Pennsylvania, US}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name = Duryea, Pennsylvania
|other_name = 
|native_name = 
|nickname = 
|settlement_type = Borough
|motto = 
<!-- images and maps ----------->
|image_skyline = Duryea.jpg
|imagesize = 
|image_caption = Aerial view of Duryea, looking southwest
|image_flag = 
|flag_size = 
|image_seal = 
|seal_size = 
|image_shield = 
|shield_size = 
|image_blank_emblem = 
|blank_emblem_size = 
|pushpin_map = Pennsylvania#USA
|pushpin_label = Duryea
|pushpin_label_position = left<!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
|pushpin_map_caption = 
|pushpin_mapsize = 
<!-- Location ------------------>
|subdivision_type = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name = United States
|subdivision_type1 = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1 = [[Pennsylvania]]
|subdivision_type2 = [[List of counties in Pennsylvania|County]]
|subdivision_name2 = [[Luzerne County, Pennsylvania|Luzerne]]
|subdivision_type3 = [[Region]]
|subdivision_name3 = [[Greater Pittston]]
|government_footnotes = 
|government_type = Borough Council
|leader_title = Mayor
|leader_name = Jeffrey Bauman
|leader_title1 = Council President
|leader_name1 = Justin Tonte
|leader_title2 = Council Vice President
|leader_name2 = John Rowlands
|leader_title3 = 
|leader_name3 = 
|leader_title4 = 
|leader_name4 = 
|established_title = Settled
|established_date = 
|established_title1 = Incorporated
|established_date1 = 1901
|area_magnitude = 
|unit_pref  = Imperial
|area_footnotes = <ref name="TigerWebMapServer">{{cite web|title=ArcGIS REST Services Directory|url=https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/5/query?where=STATE='42'&outFields=NAME,STATE,PLACE,AREALAND,AREAWATER,LSADC,CENTLAT,CENTLON&orderByFields=PLACE&returnGeometry=false&returnTrueCurves=false&f=json|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=October 12, 2022}}</ref>
|area_total_km2 = 14.80
|area_land_km2 = 14.31
|area_water_km2 = 0.49
|area_total_sq_mi = 5.71
|area_land_sq_mi = 5.53
|area_water_sq_mi = 0.19
|area_water_percent = 
|population_as_of = [[2020 United States Census|2020]]
|population_footnotes = <ref name="USCensusDecennial2020CenPopScriptOnly"/>
|population_note = 
|population_total = 5036
|population_density_km2 = 351.91
|population_density_sq_mi = 911.49
|timezone = [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern (EST)]]
|utc_offset = -5
|timezone_DST = EDT
|utc_offset_DST = -4
|coordinates       = {{coord|41|20|52|N|75|45|30|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_footnotes = 
|elevation_m = 
|elevation_ft = 623
|postal_code_type = [[Zip code]]
|postal_code = 18642
|area_code = [[Area code 570|570]]
|website = {{URL|www.duryeaborough.com}}
|footnotes = 
|pop_est_as_of = 
|pop_est_footnotes = 
|population_est = 
|blank_name = [[Federal Information Processing Standards|FIPS code]]
|blank_info = 42-20512
|image_map = File:Luzerne County Pennsylvania Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Duryea Highlighted.svg
|map_caption = Location of Duryea in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
}}
'''Duryea''' is a [[Borough (Pennsylvania)|borough]] in the [[Greater Pittston]] area of [[Luzerne County, Pennsylvania]], United States, {{convert|9|mi}} south of [[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]]. The [[Susquehanna River]] marks Duryea's western boundary and the [[Lackawanna River]] flows through Duryea. It was incorporated as a borough in 1901, and had a notable switching rail yard, the [[Duryea yard]] (or Muller yard), connecting the central [[Wyoming Valley]] to destinations in lower [[New York (state)|New York]] and down-state Pennsylvania (in Harrisburg and Philadelphia). Coal mining and silk manufacturing were the chief industries in Duryea's early years. The population was 5,032 at the 2020 census.<ref name="USCensusEst2020-2021">{{cite web |title=City and Town Population Totals: 2020—2021 |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-total-cities-and-towns.html |website=Census.gov |publisher=US Census Bureau |access-date=August 4, 2022}}</ref>

==History==
===Early history===
The area now known as Duryea Borough was historically the heartland of the [[Susquehannock]] tribe, also called the Conestoga, which were an Iroquoian people whose territory extended from lower [[New York (state)|New York State]] to the [[Potomac River|Potomac]]. The Susquehannock befriended the [[New Netherlands|Dutch]] traders by 1612, who soon began trading tools and firearms for furs. The Dutch had established their trading posts along the rivers near where two natural Indian trails allowed them to make contact with the Conestoga&mdash; these were the sometimes disputed lands of the Susquehannocks and the rival [[Delaware nation]] (Lenape people).
 
The Dutch, while buying the lands for their settlements on the Hudson and Delaware in Lenape lands, soon developed frictions with their hosts and eventually formed an alliance with the more warlike and fierce Susquehannocks. In the 1630s, the Susquehannocks and the Lenape people warred. In 1642, the British [[Province of Maryland]] declared war on the Susquehannocks and over eight mostly inconsequential years of warfare, while the Dutch allied themselves with the Susquehannocks, lost it to the Dutch and the Indians.

A few years later, the English Sea Power defeated the Dutch ending their continued influence in [[North America]]. The Conestoga continued to grow in strength. In the 1660s, the area supported a military conquest which greatly weakened two of the western Iroquois tribes: the Seneca and Catagua. They were also struck by three years of plague (around 1670) in which 9 out of 10 Susquehannocks died. In the next few years, renewed war with the Iroquois kept the tribe from recovering and only a pale remnant of its strength relocated to the plains area now between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, where they came to deal with William Penn and the new colonial [[Province of Pennsylvania]].

===Establishment===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Duryea map.png|thumb|right|Map of southern Duryea, northern Pittston, the [[Duryea Yard]], and the [[confluence]] of the [[Lackawanna River|Lackawanna]] and [[Susquehanna River|Susquehanna]] rivers]]  -->
[[File:FAB's IMG 4251 Coxton Rd Bridge, view towards MuellerYard RR-Wye-bridges and Lackawanna Confluence.JPG|thumb|right|[[Lackawanna River]] in Duryea]]
Forty original settlers arrived from [[Connecticut]] on February 8, 1769, and set up temporary cabins near the [[confluence]] of the [[Lackawanna River|Lackawanna]] and [[Susquehanna River|Susquehanna]] rivers, the area now at the southern end of Duryea Borough. One of the first settlers was Zebulon Marcy, from whom Marcy Township got its name. He built the first log cabin in 1770 on the west side of Duryea's present-day Main Street (not far from the [[Old Forge, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania|Old Forge]] line). As more settlers located in the area, the development of mining caused the citizenry to petition for township status. Marcy Township was founded in 1880 with a population of 1,159. A census of the township in 1894 noted a population of 2,396 and 475 dwellings in a {{convert|400|acre|adj=on}} settlement. By the 1890s, the area was called Duryea. 
 
Duryea grew in population and listed 1,005 registered voters in 1901, when it petitioned for reorganization as a Pennsylvania [[borough (Pennsylvania)|borough]]. The Borough of Duryea was incorporated on May 28, 1901; it was named in honor of Hiram Duryea, an [[American Civil War]] general and owner of extensive tracts of land in sections of the country. He was a prominent figure in the [[starch]] industry, a coal operator, and an official of the [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad]]. It was the practice of this railroad to name its section stops after officials of the line, hence the name of Duryea. In one sense, like many communities in the country, the town is named after its railroad station.

===Coal mining===
Farming was the principal occupation in the early days. Pioneer settlers found many portions of the land suitable for raising food that they needed for existence. Shortly after, mining would become the area's greatest source of prosperity, along with [[silk]] mills and stone quarries.

Three large [[Colliery|colliers]] once operated around Duryea.  As in other nearby communities, the coal was often mined directly under the town itself. Remnants of strip mines and [[spoil tip|culm]] banks still litter the landscape to this day. After the [[Knox Mine Disaster]] (1959), which occurred only several miles outside of Duryea, the mining industry in the [[Wyoming Valley]] collapsed.

After the death of coal and the loss of the silk mill, the town encouraged the likes of [[Schott AG|Schott Optical]] and Topps Bubble Gum to establish medium-sized plants in the town. However, these would never replace the jobs and revenue provided by coal. The borough witnessed a declining population along with a shrinking enrollment within its schools. This resulted in the takeover of the town's schools by the [[Pittston Area School District]]. The remaining neighborhood schools were eventually phased out and shut down with Duryea Elementary being shut down in 1981.

===Early 21st century===
The [[Reading Blue Mountain and Northern|Reading & Northern Railroad Company]] invested in [[Duryea Yard]] (or Muller yard) in late 2009 and early 2010, laying track to accommodate 100 new rail cars and constructing a facility to store and hold up to 800 cars of sand to be used in [[hydraulic fracturing]], or "fracking," operations at [[Marcellus Formation|Marcellus Shale]] drill sites throughout northeastern Pennsylvania. There is a sand quarry operating just north of the borough limits along a line once traversed by rails leaving the yard during its heyday.<ref>
[https://www.timesleader.com/news/hottopics/shale/Old_Duryea_railroad_yard_taking_on_new_life_03-26-2010.html Old Duryea railroad yard taking on new life]{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, [www.timesleader.com timesleader.com], 26 March 2010, accessdate: 30 August 2013.</ref>

In September 2011, [[Hurricane Irene]] and [[Tropical Storm Lee (2011)|Tropical Storm Lee]] caused severe flooding in the borough. It destroyed many homes and businesses along the Lackawanna River in Duryea, stretching from Phoenix Street to Elm Street. In the following days, [[U.S. Vice President|Vice President]] [[Joe Biden]] and [[U.S. Senator]] [[Bob Casey Jr.|Bob Casey]] visited the devastated sections of Duryea.

Also in 2011, the borough received national attention for its role in the landmark Supreme Court case ''[[Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri]]'', in which the court stated that "a government employer's allegedly retaliatory actions against an employee do not give rise to liability under the Petition Clause unless the employee's petition relates to a matter of public concern."

==Geography==
The Borough of Duryea is located at {{Coord|41|20|52|N|75|45|30|W|type:city}} (41.347729, -75.758302).<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=2011-04-23|date=2011-02-12|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref> The borough is located on the eastern bank of the [[Susquehanna River]] in northern Luzerne County. The [[Lackawanna River]], which flows through the middle of Duryea, joins the Susquehanna on its eastern bank. Most of the borough's homes and businesses are located just south of the Lackawanna, while most of the land north of the river is forested mountains (e.g., [[Campbell's Ledge]]). [[Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania|Interstate 81]] and [[U.S. Route 11 in Pennsylvania|U.S. Route 11]] run through the easternmost section of Duryea. The borough is also part of [[Pittston Area School District]].

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the borough has a total area of {{convert|5.7|sqmi|km2}}, of which {{convert|5.5|sqmi|km2}} is land and {{convert|0.2|sqmi|km2}} (3.84%) is water.
{{wide image|Org a2f62ae052f730fc 1506374532000-PANO.jpg|1000px|[[Campbell's Ledge]] in northern Duryea}}

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1910= 7487
|1920= 7776
|1930= 8503
|1940= 8275
|1950= 6655
|1960= 5626
|1970= 5264
|1980= 5415
|1990= 4869
|2000= 4634
|2010= 4917
|2020= 5032
|estyear=2021
|estimate=5041
|estref=<ref name="USCensusEst2020-2021"/>
|footnote=Sources:<ref name="USDecennialCensus">{{cite web|title=Census of Population and Housing|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=11 December 2013}}</ref><ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=2008-01-31|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref><ref name=CensusPopEst>{{cite web|title=Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions Datasets: Subcounty Resident Population Estimates: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012|url=https://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2012/SUB-EST2012.html|work=Population Estimates|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=11 December 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130611010502/http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2012/SUB-EST2012.html|archive-date=11 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="USCensusDecennial2020CenPopScriptOnly">{{cite web|url=https://api.census.gov/data/2020/dec/pl?get=P1_001N,NAME&for=place:*&in=state:42&key=5ccd0821c15d9f4520e2dcc0f8d92b2ec9336108|title=Census Population API|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=Oct 12, 2022}}</ref>
}}
At the 2000 [[census]],<ref name="GR2" /> there were 4,634 people, 1,984 households, and 1,297 families residing in the borough. The population density was {{convert|841.0|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 2,151 housing units at an average density of {{convert|390.4|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the borough was 98.86% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 0.26% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.11% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 0.35% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.09% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 0.35% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 0.30% of the population.

There were 1,984 households, of which 24.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.94.

Age distribution was 19.1% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 26.5% from 45 to 64, and 20.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 86.4 males.

The [[median household income]] was $32,207, and the median family income was $41,775. Males had a median income of $32,715 versus $25,786 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the borough was $17,598. About 6.3% of families and 8.1% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 15.9% of those aged 65 or over.

==Government==
The following is a list of government officials from Duryea Borough.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.duryeaborough.com/officials.htm |title=Welcome to Duryea Borough, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania |access-date=2018-03-23 |archive-date=2018-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324041207/http://www.duryeaborough.com/officials.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Officers===
*Mayor: Jeffery Jef Bauman
*Council President: Stephanie Shupp
*Council Vice-President: Michael McGlynn

===Councilors===
*Eugene “Gino” Marriggi
*James "Munda" Gromelski
*Allison Brudzinski
*Justin Tonte
*Jeanne Zinkavich

==Education==
It is in the [[Pittston Area School District]]<!--UNI 19200-->.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st42_pa/schooldistrict_maps/c42079_luzerne/DC20SD_C42079.pdf|title=2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Luzerne County, PA|publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]]|access-date=2024-12-13}} - [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st42_pa/schooldistrict_maps/c42079_luzerne/DC20SD_C42079_SD2MS.txt Text list]</ref>

==Notable people==
* [[Gene Guarilia]], Boston Celtics
* [[Albert K. Bender]],  UFO writer

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|www.duryeaborough.com}}
* [http://www.duryeapa.com/ Duryea Pennsylvania Historical Homepage]

{{Luzerne County, Pennsylvania}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Populated places established in 1891]]
[[Category:Boroughs in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:1891 establishments in Pennsylvania]]