Mount Joy, Pennsylvania
| Borough of Mount Joy | |
| Borough | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Lancaster |
| Elevation | 371 ft (113.1 m) |
| Coordinates | 40°06′36″N 76°30′40″W / 40.11°N 76.51111°W |
| Area | 2.3 sq mi (6 km2) |
| - land | 2.3 sq mi (6 km2) |
| - water | 0.0 sq mi (0 km2), 0% |
| Population | 6,765 (2000) |
| Density | 2,884.7 / sq mi (1,113.8 / km2) |
| Timezone | EST (UTC-5) |
| - summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 17552 |
| Area code | 717 |
 Location of Mount Joy in Lancaster County
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  Location of Mount Joy in Pennsylvania
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 Location of Pennsylvania in the United States
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| Website: http://www.mountjoyborough.com | |
Mount Joy is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,765 at the 2000 census.
Contents |
[edit] Name and origin
Mount Joy is often named in lists of "delightfully-named towns" in Pennsylvania Dutchland, along with Intercourse, Blue Ball, Lititz, Bareville, Bird-in-Hand and Paradise.[1][2][3][4][5]
The name is often shortened to Mt Joy, as in Mencken (1963),[5] but this is incorrect, since the "mount" in Mount Joy does not refer to a mountain. The town's name is actually derived from an English surname, Mountjoy and was brought to the colonies, along with the name Donegal (name of the school district in Mount Joy) by settlers from Ireland.
[edit] General information
- ZIP code: 17552
- Area code: 717
- Local phone codes: 492, 653, 928
[edit] Geography
Mount Joy is located at 40°6′36″N 76°30′40″W / 40.11°N 76.51111°W (40.109895, -76.510977)[6].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 2.3 square miles (6.1 km²), all of it land. It is considered to be part of the Appalachians.
[edit] Demographics
The 2010 United States Census reports the following demographics for the Mount Joy Borough [7]:
- Total population: 7,410
- Male: 3,624
- Female: 3,786
- Hispanic or Latino: 549
- White: 6,809
- African American: 187
- Asian: 58
- American Indian and Alaska Native: 20
- Identified by two or more: 170
[edit] Public services
- The Milanof-Schock Library
- Borough of Mount Joy
- Mount Joy Township
- Fire Department of Mount Joy
- Donegal School District
[edit] Museums and historic sites
- Bube's Brewery and Central Hotel
- Donegal Mills Plantation
- George Brown's Sons Cotton and Woolen Mill
- Nissly Swiss Chocolate Company
[edit] Notes
- ^ Ward's quarterly (1965) p.109 quote:
...in such delightfully-named towns in Pennsylvania Dutchland as his native Mount Joy, and neighboring Lititz, Blue Ball, Bareville, Intercourse, Bird in Hand, and Paradise.
- ^ Anderson (1979) p.214 quote:
"...but anyone who names their towns Mount Joy, Intercourse, and Blue Ball can't be all bad. Obviously they have more on their minds than just religion."
- ^ Museums Association (2006) p.61 quote:
Which brings us to Intercourse. You can imagine my delight when I found out that the Amish call the town of Intercourse, Pennsylvania, their home. There seems to be a lot of explanations from locals trying to pass off the name as a bastardisation of 'Enter Course' and so on, but seeing as there are other local towns called Blue Ball, Bird In Hand, and Mount Joy, I suspect that the person responsible had a very juvenile sense of humour. The town sits in upstate Pennsylvania and is a tourist trap for anyone even remotely curious about the Amish way of life.
- ^ Rand McNally and Company (1978) p.52
- ^ a b Mencken (1963) p.653 quote:
In the years since then many of these names have been changed to more elegant ones,2 and others have vanished with the ghost towns they adorned, but not a few still hang on. Indeed, there are plenty of lovely specimens to match them in the East, in regions that were also frontier in their days, e.g., the famous cluster in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania: Bird in Hand, Bareville, Blue Ball, Mt. Joy, Intercourse and Paradise.
- ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
- ^ 2010 United States Census Community Data
[edit] References
- Anderson, William Charles (1979) Home sweet home has wheels: or, Please don't tailgate the real estate
- Mencken, Henry Louis and McDavid, Raven Ioor (1963) The American language: an inquiry into the development of English in the United States, Volume 1
- Museums Association (2006) The Museums journal, Volume 106, Issues 1-6, Indexes to papers read before the Museums Association, 1890–1909. Compiled by Charles Madeley.
- Rand McNally and Company (1978) Vacation & travel guide
- Ward's quarterly, Volume 1, 1965
