Williamsport is a city in the United States in the US state of Pennsylvania and the seat of the county government of Lycoming County. The US The Census Bureau recorded a population of 27,754 as of the 2020 census.
Williamsport is located on the west side of the Susquehanna River in
the Appalachian Mountains. The population was 27,754 in 2020.
The
city is known well beyond Pennsylvania as the birthplace of Little
League. The venue for the annual Little League Baseball World Series is
now in neighboring South Williamsport.
Williamsport was the first
terminus of the Tidewater Pipeline, the world's first long-distance oil
pipeline.
World of Little League Museum (Peter J. McGovern Little League
Museum), 525 Montgomery Pike (US 15), South Williamsport, ☏ +1 570
326-1486. 9 am–5 pm daily; extended hours during the Little League World
Series. Lots of Little League trivia and memorabilia, along with
profiles of distinguished ex-Little Leaguers. Audio tour guide available
for rental ($3) in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, Japanese, Korean, and
Spanish, as well as separate English versions for adults and children.
$8 for adults, $5 for seniors (62 and older), $4 for children 4 to 16,
and free for children 3 and under. Free to active-duty, reserve, and
retired US military with military ID, plus U.S. residents who present an
EBT card (i.e., recipients of government food benefits), with up to 5
accompanying family members also admitted free. Current Little League
players wearing a shirt or jersey bearing the official Little League
logo also admitted free.
Little League World Series, games are
held at Lamade Stadium or Volunteer Stadium, 539 Montgomery Pike, South
Williamsport, ☏ +1 570 326-1921. Held every August, the LLWS pits twenty
teams of 11-12 year olds from around the world in a tournament to prove
the best team. It's very popular among people of all ages and the
atmosphere is electric for every game. Tickets are available first come,
first served for all games except the World Championship Game. Those
tickets are distributed by a lottery system, but seating beyond the
stadium fences is always available.
Otto's Bookstore, 107 West Fourth Street, ☏ +1 570 326-5764. 9am-8pm, Monday-Friday. Otto's Bookstore is a bookstore selling new books and has been in business for 170 years.
Bullfrog Brewery, 229 West Fourth St., ☏ +1 570 326-4700, fax: +1 570
326-2998, contact@bullfrogbrewery.com. Very good local
restaurant/restaurant that is different from the many chain restaurants
in town. Local brewery. Great food and drinks, but reservations are
recommended for evenings, with entrees ranging from $10-$25.
Peter
Herdic House, 407 West Fourth St, ☏ +1 570 322-0165,
info@herdichouse.com. Peter Herdic House is one of the most famous
Victorian homes in Williamsport history. The menu changes seasonally and
includes Parmesan crusted shrimp with pear, walnut and gorgonzola salad,
salmon in Dijon cream, and homemade linguine carbonara with broccoli.
Reservations are recommended, but you are welcome to pop in. Entrees
$15-25.
DiSalvo's, 341 East Fourth St, ☏ +1 570 327-1200,
info@disalvopasta.com. Lunch M-F 11:30AM-2PM, dinner M-Th 5PM-9:30PM,
Fri-Sat 5PM-10PM. Best Italian restaurant in the area. 10-$25.
Golden
Strip on East Third Street. The Golden Strip (locals call it East Third
Street) has the largest concentration of stores and restaurants in the
city. Most of the restaurants are chains, so you can find everything
from McDonald's to TGIF to Red Lobster.
Franco's Lounge
(http://www.francoslounge.com/), 12 West Fourth Street, ☏ +1 570
327-1840; the homemade authentic Italian food, from bread to pasta to
dessert, is absolutely the best in the area. The menu includes
traditional Italian dishes as well as unique dishes to satisfy your
taste buds. The atmosphere is cozy yet elegant, and the owners make you
feel right at home!
Williamsport is the headquarters of Lycoming Engines, a well-known aircraft engine manufacturer. The local airport is Williamsport Regional Airport.
Eight structures and sites in Williamsport are listed on the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as of April 27, 2021, one of which is a Historic District and the other are buildings. Listed properties include the Millionaire's Row Historic District, the U.S. Post Office Williamsport and the Lycoming Rubber Company.
In 1763, the Battle of Muncy Hills occurred during the French and
Indian War. This was a clash between Native Americans and settlers
seeking homesteads in Native American territory; in 1768, under the
Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the British purchased the land that became
Lycoming County from the Iroquois who controlled it.
In March
1796, the first house was built in Williamsport. James Russell built an
inn on the northeast corner of East Third Street and Mulberry Street in
what is now downtown; on April 13, 1795, Lycoming County was formed from
Northumberland County. Lycoming County included all the land in
Northumberland County west of the Muncy Hills, an area of 12,500 square
miles (32,000 km2), and comprised most of north-central Pennsylvania. In
1796, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Williams Russell and the Russell Inn
grandson of James Russell, is recorded as having given birth for the
first time in Williamsport; in 1798, the first brick house in
Williamsport was built by Andrew Turow, an attorney, on Front Street
between Market and Mulberry . The bricks were made on the banks of
Graffias Run, which crosses Hepburn Street.
In 1799, a post
office was opened at the corner of Third and State Streets in what is
now downtown, and the following year a jail was built at the northeast
corner of William and Third Streets. The post office was later converted
into a tavern.
In 1801, William Winter opened the town's first
store on Third Street; in 1831, Jacob L. Mussina organized the Lepash
Band, the oldest surviving brass band in the U.S. On October 15, 1834,
the West Branch Canal opened, heading to the Jersey Shore The first boat
belonged to George Augenbau. The first cargo brought to town was iron
for John B. Hall's foundry. That same year, the Pennsylvania legislature
enacted the Common School Law and public education began here; in May
1835, the first public school opened in Williamsport, and the town's
first bank, the West Branch National Bank, also opened.
In the
three decades before the Civil War (1860-1865), the Underground
Railroad, which enslaved African Americans used to gain their freedom,
had routes from southern states that supported slavery to "free" states
in the north and Canada From 1830 to 1865, Lycoming County provided safe
havens and routes for fugitive slaves seeking freedom Subway Railroad, a
system of hideouts and routes for escaping slaves, was operated by a
number of local abolitionists, including Daniel Hughes, who served as
conductor and agent.
According to the oral history of his fourth
generation descendant and great-grandson, Mamie Sweeting Diggs
(1933-2011), Hughes was a Susquehanna River rafter who emigrated from
Oswego, NY. He lived on the Muncie Indian Reservation until he acquired
land off Freedom Road. On a logging trip to Maryland, he brought back
escaped slaves on foot from Baltimore over Bald Eagle Mountain and hid
them in his home and caves on Freedom Road.
Mamie's grandfather
Robert helped her father, Daniel Hughes, hide the escaped slaves in a
cave behind their Freedom Road home. They fed the slaves, nursed the
sick to health, and delivered them safely to the next "station," the
Apcar House on Trout Run. The Apcar House was the residence of Robert
Fairley, an abolitionist and president of the Williamsport-Elmira
Railroad. The railroad ran through his property, and escaped slaves were
hidden in barns and houses and loaded into railroad baggage cars for the
next "station," Elmira, New York.
Mamie's grandfather Robert
passed the story on to his children, including Mamie's mother Marion.
Marion took care of the house, maintained the Freedom Road Cemetery
(where nine black Civil War veterans are buried), and told Daniel's
story to her children. In 1849, the Market Street Bridge was built over
the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. It was opened as a toll bridge
to cover $23,797 in state costs. 1854, a brewery opened. The brewery was
sold to Henry Flock in 1865. The brewery was operated by the Flock
family until the 1940s. The Flock family survived Prohibition by
converting their business to dairy farming.
In 1875, the first
tower clock in the United States to sound the Cambridge Quarters
(Westminster Chimes) was installed at Trinity Episcopal Church. Donated
by Peter Hardick, the bell was a gift from Judge J. W. Maynard. On April
1 of the following year, Williamsport Hospital opened its first facility
at Elmira and Edwin Streets.
In 1881, state law ended racial
segregation in Pennsylvania schools; by 1948, all schools in the area
were integrated; in 1895, Harry Houdini gave an early performance at the
Old Fair Grounds with the Welch Brothers Circus.
Williamsport is where the national newspaper Grit was founded in
1882. It is said that Williamsport once had more millionaires per capita
than anywhere else in the world. As a result, the mascot of the local
high school, Williamsport Area High School, is the "Millionaire.
Flooding on March 17-18, 1936, raised the river level to 33.9 feet.
Flood waters reached as far as High Street. The flood was known locally
as the "Hello, Al Flood." Al Glaze operated a shortwave radio station
from his home on High Street, which kept the city in touch with the
outside world after the flood knocked out telephone and electricity
service.
On June 6, 1939, the first Little League game was played
on the sand pit outside Bowman Field in Williamsport. Carl Stotts
conceived the idea for Little League, and he, Bert, and George Beble ran
the first three teams. 1941, after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor,
the United States entered World War II. Joe Lockard, a Williamsport
native stationed on Oahu, warned of an impending attack based on radar
readings. His readings were dismissed as American B17 bombers coming
from the mainland. Also in 1941, the Williamsport Board of Education
established the Williamsport Technical Institute for high school and
post-high school students. The school evolved into Williamsport Area
Community College, which later became Pennsylvania College of
Technology.
According to the Köppen climate classification, Williamsport is
classified as having a hot and humid continental climate (Dfa) when
using a 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm and a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) when
using a -3 °C (27 °F) isotherm. Williamsport has four distinct seasons
and is in USDA Hardiness Zone 6b, while areas away from the West Branch
of the Susquehanna River are in Zone 6a. Winters are cold and relatively
dry, usually with a mix of rain, sleet, and snow, with occasional heavy
snowfall and icing; January is the coldest month, with an average
temperature of 26.8 °F (-2.9 °C), 2.8 days with an average temperature
below 0 °F (-18 °C), and 29 days per year with a temperature below
freezing. Snowfall averages 36.0 inches (91 cm) per season. The heaviest
snowfall on record was 40.1 inches (102 cm) in January 1987. Winter
snowfall amounts range from 85.9 inches (218 cm) in 1995-96 to 7.0
inches (18 cm) in 1988-89. Summers are generally very warm and humid,
with an average annual temperature exceeding 90 °F (90 °C) on about 15
days; July is the warmest month, with an average temperature of 72.7 °F
(23 °C).
Williamsport's all-time high temperature record was 41
°F (106 °C) on July 9, 1936, which was recorded during the Dust Bowl.
The first freeze was on October 16 and the last freeze was on April 30,
giving a growing season of 168 days. The normal annual mean temperature
is 50.4°F (10.2°C), and the normal annual precipitation, based on the
30-year average from 1981 to 2010, is 41.28 inches (1,049 mm), falling
on an average of 133 days. Monthly precipitation ranges from 16.80
inches (427 mm) in June 1972 to 0.16 inches (4.1 mm) in September 1943
(due to heavy rains from Hurricane Agnes). The historical range of
annual precipitation is from 70.26 inches (1,785 mm) in 2011 to 27.68
inches (703 mm) in 1930.
Ernest Callenbach (1929–2012), writer, journalist and university
teacher emeritus
Alexander Cummings (1810–1879), politician and
Governor of the Colorado Territory from 1865 to 1867
Robert Decker
(1927–2005), volcanologist and geophysicist, university lecturer
Allen E. Ertel (1937–2015), politician in the US House of
Representatives
Joanna Hayes (born 1976), hurdler and Olympic gold
medalist
James Hall Huling (1844–1918), politician, member of the US
House of Representatives
George Benjamin Luks (1867–1933), painter
Mike Mussina (born 1968), major league baseball player
Cynthia A.
Volkert (born 1960), German physicist