Paradise, Pennsylvania
Paradise is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States with a zip code of 17562. The population was 1,028 at the 2000 census.
Paradise, like Intercourse, is a popular site in Pennsylvania Dutch Country for tourists who like the name of the town; they are together often named in lists of "delightfully-named towns" in Pennsylvania Dutchland, along with Blue Ball, Lititz, Bareville, Bird-in-Hand and Mount Joy.[1][2][3][4][5] It was the setting of the 1994 comedy film Trapped in Paradise.
Geography
Paradise is located at 40°0′34″N 76°7′29″W / 40.00944°N 76.12472°W (40.009469, -76.124781)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km2), of which, 1.1 square miles (2.8 km2) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km2) of it (2.59%) is water.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 1,028 people, 363 households, and 284 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 907.4 people per square mile (351.3/km²). There were 386 housing units at an average density of 340.7/sq mi (131.9/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.57% White, 1.75% African American, 0.10% Asian, 0.10% from other races, and 0.49% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.07% of the population.
There were 363 households out of which 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.2% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.5% were non-families. 16.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 27.2% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $41,875, and the median income for a family was $44,583. Males had a median income of $31,800 versus $21,917 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $18,700. About 1.8% of families and 7.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.
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
- ^ 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.
References
- Anderson, William Charles (1979) Home sweet home has wheels: or, Please don't tailgate the real estate
- Henry Louis Mencken, Raven Ioor McDavid (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
External links
40°00′34″N 76°07′29″W / 40.009469°N 76.124781°W
