Blakely, Pennsylvania

History

Blakely Township was formed in 1818 from portions of old Providence Township and recently formed Greenfield Township, and named after War of 1812 naval hero Johnston Blakely, who captained the sloop Wasp in battle against the British Avon in 1814. As the first borough established from a portion of old Blakely Township, the Borough of Blakely as created on 27 August 1867 is also named after Capt. Johnston Blakely, one of the most successful naval officers of his era. The "Johnston Blakeley Memorial" in Blakely is a large anchor from the aircraft carrier , decommissioned in the 1960s.

In the 1970s, Blakely was home to Masterpiece Inc., the seventh largest manufacturer of artificial Christmas trees.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 3.8 sqmi, all land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 6,564 people, 2,816 households, and 1,742 families in the borough. The population density was 1,727.4 PD/sqmi. There were 3,024 housing units at an average density of 795.8 /mi2. The racial makeup of the borough was 96.6% White, 1% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.7% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.8% of the population.

There were 2,816 households, out of which 23% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.1% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.85.

In the borough the population was spread out, with 18.3% under the age of 18, 56.6% from 18 to 64, and 25.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47.2 years.

The median income for a household in the borough was $38,153, and the median income for a family was $60,341. Males had a median income of $48,170 versus $32,158 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $23,063. About 6.6% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.2% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.

Parks and recreation

The "Blakely Borough Recreation Complex" is public sports complex located on the bank of the Lackawanna River.

Notable people

• Gino J. Merli, Medal of Honor recipient
• Stan Palys, professional baseball player
• Joe Shaute, professional baseball player
• Bill Sienkiewicz, comic book artist

References

References

1. "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau.
2. "City and Town Population Totals: 2020—2021". US Census Bureau.
3. [https://homepages.rootsweb.com/~alaine/resources/lackawanna/blakely.html "Blakely Borough"]. History of Lackawanna County. Editor: Thomas Murphy. Published 1928. Accessed 30 September 2024.
4. (1982). "Merger Case Digest". American Bar Association.
5. "Census of Population and Housing". U.S. Census Bureau.
6. "U.S. Census website". [[United States Census Bureau]].
7. "Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions Datasets: Subcounty Resident Population Estimates: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012". U.S. Census Bureau.
8. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov.
9. "Census Population API". United States Census Bureau.
10. "U.S. Census website". [[United States Census Bureau]].
11. Brown, Rebekah. (March 19, 2013). "Blakely Council Votes to Change Name of Mellow Park". Scranton Times-Tribune.
12. Willbanks, James H.. (2011). "America's Heroes: Medal of Honor Recipients from the Civil War to Afghanistan". ABC-CLIO.
13. "Stan Palys". Baseball Reference.
14. "Joe Shaute". Baseball Reference.
15. Booker, M. Keith. (2010). "Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels: Vol. 1". Greenwood.