Sunbury, Pennsylvania

near Sunbury The first human settlement of Sunbury were likely Shawnee migrants. A large population of Delaware Indians was also forcibly resettled there in the early 18th century after they lost rights to their land in the Walking Purchase. Canassatego of the Six Nations, enforcing the Walking Purchase of behalf of George Thomas, Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, ordered the Delaware Indians to go to two places on the Susquehanna River, one of which was present-day Sunbury. In 1754, much of the land west of the Susquehanna was transferred from the Six Nations to Pennsylvania at the Albany Congress. However, Shamokin was not sold and was reserved by the Six Nations, "to settle such of our Nations as shall come to us from the Ohio or any others who shall deserve to be in our Alliance." According to Weslager, "the Pennsylvania authorities had no opposition to the Six Nations reserving Wyoming and Shamokin from the sale, since friendly Delawares, including Teedyuskung (also known as Teedyuscung) and his people living in those settlements--and any other Indians who might be placed there--constituted a buffer against Connecticut." However, the Delaware Indians at Shamokin joined the war against Pennsylvania and the English after the Gnadenhütten massacre in 1755, and Shamokin was abandoned in May 1756. Pennsylvania Fort Augusta was built in 1756 on the former site of the village of Shamokin. The Bloody Spring is a historic site from the era. On March 21, 1772, Northumberland County was incorporated and subdivided. The settlement was named Sunbury that same year, and the present-day city of Sunbury identifies 1772 as the date of its establishment. It was named after Sunbury-on-Thames, a town in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne, England, just outside Greater London. Lorenzo Da Ponte, the librettist of Mozart and of Salieri, lived in Sunbury for some years after his arrival in America. In July 1883, American inventor Thomas Edison installed the first successful three-wire electric lighting system in at what was then known as the City Hotel. At the city's 150th anniversary celebration in 1922, it was renamed the Edison Hotel. ==Historical Places==

This is a list of the historical places located in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. ==PHMC Historical Markers==

This is a list of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission historical markers located in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. ==Geography==

Sunbury is at (40.863894, -76.789174). It is located at the point where the west and north branches of the Susquehanna converge. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (1.40%) is water. Climate {{Weather box {{cite web ==Demographics==

Sunbury is the largest principal city of the Sunbury-Lewisburg-Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Sunbury (Northumberland County), Lewisburg (Union County), and Selinsgrove (Snyder County) micropolitan areas, which had a combined population of 173,726 at the 2000 census. 2020 census As of the 2020 census, Sunbury had a population of 9,719. The median age was 39.1 years. 23.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.8 males age 18 and over. There were 4,266 households in Sunbury, of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 30.1% were married-couple households, 23.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 34.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 38.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. ==Notable businesses==

Weis Markets, a regional supermarket chain operating in seven states, is headquartered in Sunbury. The company is a significant employer in the city and the region. Great Coasters International is a roller coaster design and manufacturing firm and lists its contact address in Sunbury, though it is located outside of the city limits. Sunbury Motor Company is a family-owned and -operated company since 1915; it is on North 4th Street. ==Education==

The local public school system is the Shikellamy School District. There is a campus of Lackawanna College in the city. Primary and Secondary Education Shikellamy School District Higher Education ==Libraries==

The Degenstein Community Library at 40 South Fifth Street provides books, DVDs, internet access, educational classes, summer reading, and adult programs. The Degenstein Community Library was awarded a Gold Star from the Pennsylvania Library Association in 2018 for its participation in the PA Forward Star Library program. The library has maintained its gold star for the past 5 years. The Northumberland County Historical Society maintains the Charlotte Darrah Walter Genealogical Library. It contains material on local history along with thousands of records of early families from Northumberland County and surrounding counties. Access to records is on a fee basis. The permanent exhibits deal with the site in prehistoric times, at the time of the Moravian Mission and blacksmith shop, and Fort Augusta during the French and Indian War and later under the Americans, during the Revolutionary War. ==Media==

The local newspaper is The Daily Item. There are a variety of local radio stations, including the all news/sports channel WKOK 1070 kHz AM, the Big Country Radio Network (WLGL 92.3 FM, WQBG 100.5 FM, and WWBE 98.3 FM) and WFYY Y106.5 FM and 94.1 WQKX. ==Notable people==

18th Century Figures • Colonel William Clapham (1722–1763) lived in the area while supervising the construction of Fort Augusta in 1756–57. • Lewis Dewart (1780–1852) was a Jacksonian member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. • William Maclay (1737–1804), was a politician from Pennsylvania who served as a senator. • Timothy Murphy, American Revolutionary War soldier/sniper (Battle of Bemis Heights) • Shikellamy, also known as Swatana, was an Oneida chief and overseer for the Iroquois confederacy who, as a supervisor for the Six Nations, oversaw the Shawnee and Lenape tribes in central Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River. In 1742, he moved to the village of Shamokin, modern day Sunbury, and lived there until his death in 1748. He is reputed to be buried nearby. 19th Century Figures • Betty Brice (1888–1935) was a silent film actress from Sunbury. • Charles M. Clement, Pennsylvania Army National Guard Major General. • William Franklin "Birdie" Cree (1882–1942) was a Major League Baseball outfielder for the New York Highlanders(New York Yankees). • Herbert Wesley Cummings (1873–1956) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. • Charles L. Dering, Wisconsin lawyer and politician, was born in Sunbury. • William Lewis Dewart (1821–1888) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. • Honorable John Peter Shindel Gobin, Lieutenant Governor, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Commanding Officer, 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry • Isaac Clinton Kline (1858–1947) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. • John Black Packer (1824–1891) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. • Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart's librettist (Cosi fan Tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni) lived in Sunbury from 1811 to 1818. • Simon P. Wolverton, was a lawyer and Democratic politician who served two terms as a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania from 1891 to 1895. 20th Century Figures • Tim Boetsch is a UFC fighter with training in American mixed martial arts. • Euell Gibbons, an outdoorsman and early health food advocate • Steve Kline (left-handed pitcher) • Brenda Lewis, Metropolitan Opera soprano and Broadway star • Glen Retief, Lambda Literary award-winning writer and author of The Jack Bank, A Memoir of a South African Childhood. • Mark Smith, racing driver • Peterson Toscano, playwright, actor, Bible scholar, and human rights activist. ==In popular culture==

In the episode titled "Nixon vs. Kennedy" in first season of the AMC cable drama Mad Men a train supposedly carrying the unrecognizable body of Pvt. Dick Whitman, who was killed in the Korean War, arrives in Sunbury. The escort officer with the casket is said to be Lt. Don Draper, and the casket is met by Dick Whitman's adoptive mother, his half brother, Adam and his mother's second husband. In fact, the person killed in Korea was Don Draper, and Dick Whitman has switched identities with Draper. Though Dick Whitman posing as Draper attempts to hide, Adam Whitman sees him, recognizes him, and chases the train as it leaves the station. On September 29, 2020, Sunbury was featured on the Comedy Central television series Tosh.0 in a recurring video category called Shithole of the Week, a segment in which host Daniel Tosh takes images or videos of various communities found online and will select the "Winner" based on the comedic negative features based in that community. The image that secured Sunbury's placement was a June 2020 video of a man spray painting "WIGHTE LIVES MATTER" on his personal fence with the intent of spelling "White Lives Matter". Nearby city Shamokin was a previous "winner" of the same segment in 2016. ==Parks and recreation==

The extensive Sunbury Riverfront Park Project is in the planning and implementation stages in Sunbury. An extensive floodwall protection system was designed and built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1951. Additional height was added to the wall in 2003. The system has provided protection from 15 major flood events over the past 50 years. In 1972, flood waters from Hurricane Agnes crested at at Sunbury, two feet higher than the crest in 1936. The wall held back the water and residents showed their gratitude in messages they wrote on the wall. in Sunbury Hurricane Agnes in late June 1972 was blamed for 10 deaths in Lancaster County, eight in Dauphin County, five in York County and four in both Northumberland and Luzerne counties, according to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. Additionally, a multimillion-dollar fish ladder is being built across the river in Shamokin Dam to mitigate the impediment of the shad migration up the Susquehanna River caused by the annual inflation of the Adam T. Bower Fabri Dam. The Adam T. Bower Memorial Dam, an inflatable fabric-tube dam barrage impounding the Susquehanna River, creates the Augusta Lake for recreation. It is inflated in May and deflated in the fall. The new waterfront development in Sunbury will provide a marina with transient boat docks, walking trails, gardens, an amphitheater and a new accessible fishing pier. Three acres of land will be added to the river side of the flood wall. The city offers baseball fields, a skating park, tennis courts, playgrounds, a community pool and a small park that is next to the county courthouse, in the downtown area. A vacant building in the Shikellamy State Park along the river is under consideration for redevelopment as an environmental research and education center. Designed in the 1960s, the facility was originally the Basse Beck Environmental Center. It has been empty for several years. ==Economy==

The city and state struggle economically, part of America's "Rust Belt". A Brookings Institution publication has cited reasons including a lack of inter-municipal coordination and cooperation, a changing employment base and a dearth of jobs paying a living wage, out-migration of young people, an aging population, the need for workforce development, and an inequitable local tax structure. The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way in 2006 commissioned a study regarding what matters most in area communities. They found that some major concerns were alcohol and drug use among all age groups and its effects on the community, the dependency on social services and assistance across generations, and a lack of public transportation. It is the intention of the organization to focus spending on these issues. The Susquehanna Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO) received $173,500 in planning grant funding (2005) to support the redevelopment of the Wilhold Manufacturing facility in Sunbury. The BOS funding paid for a market study, phase II environmental study, wetland review, traffic impact study and title survey. The site, an former rail yard and plastic manufacturing plant, is to be developed into four, shovel ready sites. It was suggested that the redevelopment of this facility will result in the creation of 120 jobs. The site was purchased by Moran Industries, based in Watsontown, for $200,000. Moran is using the space for food grade storage. Weis Markets has its corporate headquarters in Sunbury. ==Notes and references==