Bradford County Museum

Bradford County Museum
Location	109 Pine Street, Towanda, Pennsylvania
Type	History museum with genealogical and historical research library
Curator	Matt Carl [1]

Last updated August 04, 2019

The Bradford County Museum is a local history museum in Towanda, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Located in the building which previously housed the Bradford County Jail, it is owned and operated by the Bradford County Historical Society, which has been in operation since 1870.^[2]

Towanda is a borough and the county seat of Bradford County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is located 66 miles (106 km) northwest of Wilkes-Barre, on the Susquehanna River. The name means "burial ground" in the Algonquian language. Settled in 1784 and incorporated in 1828, Towanda was once known primarily for its industrial interests, which included flour, planing and silk mills, a foundry and machine shop, dye works, and manufacturers of talking machines, cut glass, toys and furniture. The population in 1900 was 4,663 and 4,281 in 1910. As of the 2010 census the population of Towanda was 2,919.

Bradford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 62,622. Its county seat is Towanda. The county was created on February 21, 1810, from parts of Lycoming and Luzerne counties. Originally called Ontario County, it was reorganized and separated from Lycoming County on October 13, 1812, and renamed Bradford County for William Bradford, who had been a chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and United States Attorney General.

The Bradford County Jail served as the jail in Bradford County, Pennsylvania from 1873-1991. It was located in Towanda, Pennsylvania.

History

The museum offers two floors of exhibits in the former jail's cells related to county history from its early days to the present. Displays include early settler's household and farm equipment, area industry displays including coal mining and lumbering, medicine, glassware, transportation, textiles, a 1950s era jail cell and military objects.

The third floor features a genealogical and historical research library.

Programs

Museum staff and volunteers collaborate with other organizations across the region to assist the Towanda Area School District with the planning and implementation of its annual Summer Academy, which enables at-risk students within the school district in grades nine through twelve "to regain credits lost and/or to complete remaining graduation requirements." In 2019, the program's ninth year of operation, five out of seven students successfully completed the program, which is funded through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit that is sponsored by regional businesses including Citizens and Northern Bank, First Citizens Bank, and UPMC.^[3]

The Towanda Area School District is a small, rural public school district located in central Bradford County, Pennsylvania. covers the Boroughs of Towanda and Monroe and Franklin Township, Monroe Township, Towanda Township, North Towanda Township, Wysox Township, Asylum Township and Standing Stone Township. Towanda Area School District encompasses approximately 163 square miles (420 km²). According to 2000 federal census data, it serves a resident population of 8,662. In 2009, the district residents’ per capita income was $17,634, while the median family income was $41,286. In the Commonwealth, the median family income was $49,501 and the United States median family income was $49,445, in 2010.

Location and hours of operation

The museum is located at 109 Pine Street in the center of downtown Towanda, Pennsylvania.^[4]

It is open between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but is closed during the winter, except for specially-scheduled group tours.

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Area codes 570 and 272 are telephone area codes serving the northeast quadrant of Pennsylvania, including the cities/towns of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Williamsport, Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg, Pittston, Carbondale, Hazleton, Clarks Summit, Towanda, Bloomsburg, Sayre, Tunkhannock, Berwick, Milford, Montrose, Honesdale, Pocono Pines, Nanticoke, Tamaqua, Shavertown, Dallas, Mahanoy City, Sunbury, Jim Thorpe, as far south as Pottsville and as far west as Lock Haven. 570 is the main area code, while 272 is an overlay covering the same territory as 570.

Penn State Wilkes-Barre is a commonwealth campus of the Pennsylvania State University and it is located in Lehman Township.

Towanda Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 32.9 miles (52.9 km) long and flows through Canton Township, Canton, Leroy Township, Franklin Township, and Monroe Township.

South Branch Towanda Creek is a tributary of Towanda Creek in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 16.5 miles (26.6 km) long and flows through Terry Township, Albany Township, New Albany, and Monroe Township.

Schrader Creek is a tributary of Towanda Creek in Sullivan County and Bradford County, in Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 23.4 miles (37.7 km) long and flows through Fox Township in Sullivan County and Leroy Township, Franklin Township, and Monroe Township in Bradford County.

The ghost town of Barclay, in Franklin Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, was a coal mining town. Coal was transported down the mountain by an incline plane rail system. The original location of the town was later obliterated by strip mining operations. The cemetery still exists and provides an interesting place to visit.

Laquin, in Franklin Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, now a ghost town, was founded in 1902 as a lumber town, but when the forests played out and the mills could no longer be fed, the industry left, and the people soon followed. The population of Laquin at one time approached 2,000.

References

↑ Carl, Matt. "Friday Night at the Museum Begins with 'Lewis Brothers Lumber Company on Barclay Mountain'", in "Curator's Blog." Towanda, Pennsylvania: Bradford County Historical Society, May 9, 2019.
↑ "The Settler", May 2001.
↑ "Summer Academy Students Graduate." Towanda, Pennsylvania: Towanda Area School District, retrieved online July 30, 2019.
↑ Cheney, Jim. "Discovering the History of Northeastern Pennsylvania at the Bradford County Museum." Uncovering PA, November 12, 2014.

External links

Bradford County Historical Society (website).
Bradford County Historical Society (Facebook page).

Coordinates: 41°45′58″N76°26′38″W / 41.7662°N 76.4438°W / 41.7662; -76.4438

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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[1] Carl, Matt. "Friday Night at the Museum Begins with 'Lewis Brothers Lumber Company on Barclay Mountain'", in "Curator's Blog." Towanda, Pennsylvania: Bradford County Historical Society, May 9, 2019.

[2] "The Settler", May 2001.

[3] "Summer Academy Students Graduate." Towanda, Pennsylvania: Towanda Area School District, retrieved online July 30, 2019.

[4] Cheney, Jim. "Discovering the History of Northeastern Pennsylvania at the Bradford County Museum." Uncovering PA, November 12, 2014.