Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

While industry remains important to the city, about a third of Lock Haven's workforce is employed in education, health care, or social services.

[6][7] In the early 18th century, a tribal confederacy known as the Six Nations of the Iroquois, headquartered in New York, ruled the Indian (Native American) tribes of Pennsylvania, including those who lived near what would become Lock Haven.

Indian settlements in the area included three Munsee villages on the 325-acre (1.32 km2) Great Island in the West Branch Susquehanna River at the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek.

[8] During the French and Indian War (1754–63), colonial militiamen on the Kittanning Expedition destroyed Munsee property on the Great Island and along the West Branch.

In response to settler incursions, and encouraged by the British during the American Revolution (1775–83), Indians attacked colonists and their settlements along the West Branch.

The wood was used locally for such things as frame houses, shingles, canal boats, and wooden bridges, and whole logs were floated to Chesapeake Bay and on to Baltimore, to make spars for ships.

A privately funded extension, the Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Navigation, eventually reached Bellefonte, 24 miles (39 km) upstream.

Lock Haven's founder, Jeremiah Church, and his brother, Willard, chose the town site in 1833 partly because of the river, the creek, and the canal.

Large cribs of timbers weighted with tons of stone were arranged in the pool behind the Dunnstown Dam, named for a settlement on the shore opposite Lock Haven.

Connected by timbers shackled together with iron yokes and rings, the piers anchored an enclosure into which the river current forced floating logs.

Hoping that the area's coal, iron ore, white pine, and high-quality clay would produce significant future wealth, railroad investors led by Christopher and John Fallon financed a line to Lock Haven.

The route went through Lock Haven's downtown, close to the Normal School, across town to the trolley car barn on the southwest edge of the city, through Flemington, over the Bald Eagle Canal and Bald Eagle Creek, and on to Mill Hall via what was then known as the Lock Haven, Bellefonte, and Nittany Valley Turnpike.

Between 1942 and 1970, the student population grew from 146 to more than 2,300; the number of teaching faculty rose from 25 to 170, and the college carried out a large building program.

The school's name was changed to Lock Haven State College in 1960, and its emphasis shifted to include the humanities, fine arts, mathematics, and social sciences, as well as teacher education.

According to William H. Shank, the Native Americans of Pennsylvania warned white settlers that great floods occurred on the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers every 14 years.

Big floods recorded at Harrisburg, on the main stem of the Susquehanna about 120 miles (190 km) downstream from Lock Haven, occurred in 1784, 1865, 1889, 1894, 1902, 1936, and 1972.

[35] Lock Haven is at 561 feet (171 m) above sea level near the confluence of Bald Eagle Creek and the West Branch of the Susquehanna River in north-central Pennsylvania.

[26] Upstream of the confluence with Bald Eagle Creek, the West Branch Susquehanna River drains part of the Allegheny Plateau, a region of dissected highlands (also called the "Deep Valleys Section") generally north of the city.

[41] Lock Haven's economy, from the city's founding in 1833 until the end of the 19th century, depended heavily on natural resources, particularly timber, and on cheap transportation to eastern markets.

[26] Loggers used the Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek to float timber to sawmills in Lock Haven and nearby towns.

It remained one of the city's biggest employers until the 1980s, when, after major flood damage and losses related to Hurricane Agnes in 1972, it moved to Florida.

[46] Summer concerts are held in city parks,[47] and the local Junior Chamber International (Jaycees) chapter sponsors an annual boat regatta on the river.

Light-airplane pilots travel to the city in vintage Piper planes to attend Sentimental Journey Fly-Ins, which have been held each summer since 1986.

[61] The local branch of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) offers a wide variety of recreational programs to members, and the Clinton Country Club maintains a private 18-hole golf course in Mill Hall.

[70] Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, offering a wide range of undergraduate studies as well as continuing-education and graduate-school programs at its main campus, occupies 175 acres (71 ha) on the west edge of the city.

Fullington Trailways provides daily intercity bus service between Lock Haven and nearby cities including State College, Williamsport, and Wilkes-Barre.

Charter and tour buses are available through Susquehanna Trailways, based in Avis, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Lock Haven.

Curbside pickup of household garbage is provided by a variety of local haulers licensed by the city; recyclables are picked up once every two weeks.

The Clinton County Solid Waste Authority owns and operates the Wayne Township Landfill, which serves Lock Haven.

[79] Susque-View Home, next to the emergency department, offers long-term care to the elderly and other services including speech, physical, and occupational therapy for people of all ages.

Eleven forts were built along or near the West Branch Susquehanna River between Fort Augusta, near the confluence with the North Branch Susquehanna, and Fort Reid at Lock Haven, near the confluence with Bald Eagle Creek.
Map of fortifications and streams in north-central Pennsylvania during the Big Runaway during the American Revolutionary War in June and July 1778
A stone and metal monument and stone retaining walls commemorate a former canal lock. A sidewalk runs by the memorial and between the retaining walls on a lush bed of grass.
A canal monument incorporating an old canal lock in downtown Lock Haven
A tinted postcard depicts a town as seen from a hillside. It is laid out on a triangle of flat land between two converging streams. The larger and more distant of the two streams is flowing from mountains, while the smaller stream flows through farmland.
An aerial postcard illustration of Lock Haven with Bald Eagle Creek (in foreground) and the West Branch Susquehanna River (in background) in 1911
A white van is parked in front of a rectangular three-story building with many windows. A sign on the building says, "Piper Aviation Museum".
Piper Aviation Museum
Lock Haven in 1930
A large, smooth river crossed by a modern bridge. The left bank is tree lined, the right is a levee, a long mountain ridge is in the background.
Since 1995, a levee protects Lock Haven from the West Branch of the Susquehanna River .
A highway runs toward a bridge between an ornate building with a clock tower and a plain three-story red brick building. A forested hill rises on the far side of the bridge, which is decorated with U.S. flags on poles. A double highway sign along the road indicates that Highway 120 turns to the left (west) before the bridge and that Highway 664 continues across the bridge and heads generally north. Several cars are moving along the highway and over the bridge.
PA Routes 664 and 120 meet near the river in downtown Lock Haven
A three-dimensional vertical structure perhaps 70 feet (21 m) tall and 10 feet (3.0 m) wide by 10 feet (3.0 m) long is filled with tiers of large metal bells. The structure, standing in front of a large institutional building in a park-like setting, is supported by several metal legs. A sidewalk passes through the structure, which is open at the bottom to a height of perhaps 10 feet (3.0 m).
Carillon at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania
Leaves are turning red on trees in a park graced with a covered picnic shelter on a wide green lawn. Homes are visible on the far side of the park.
A picnic shelter in Hanna Park
A large brick building of irregular polygonal shape rests amid a green lawn with ornamental shrubbery by a curving paved driveway. An ornamental lamp post rises above the driveway, and a United States flag rises on a pole near the building and opposite the lamp post. The building's bell tower rests on a two-story base fitted with elaborate arched windows.
Durrwachter Alumni Conference Center at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania
A stone monument about three stories tall rises from a park-like area along a city street. The monument features stone replicas of uniformed soldiers.
Lock Haven's Civil War Monument
Wings of a three-to-four-story red brick building wrap around a parking lot filled with many cars.
The front of the former UPMC Lock Haven Hospital