PRINTER'S NO. 1338
No. 190 Session of 2003
INTRODUCED BY PICKETT, MAJOR, BAKER, CAPPELLI, R. STEVENSON,
ARGALL, FEESE, SCAVELLO, E. Z. TAYLOR, PHILLIPS, CORNELL,
CREIGHTON, LEDERER, RUBLEY, READSHAW, ROHRER, FORCIER,
DeWEESE, BEBKO-JONES, FLEAGLE, NAILOR, GEIST, SATHER,
FICHTER, B. SMITH, SAYLOR, FAIRCHILD, MARSICO, HERMAN, ROSS,
PAYNE, HENNESSEY, COLEMAN, WASHINGTON, GEORGE, BENNINGHOFF,
SURRA, SCHRODER, HASAY, CLYMER, HARHAI, FRANKEL, WOJNAROSKI,
WALKO, MUNDY, BUNT, LAUGHLIN, COSTA, SHANER, HESS, HERSHEY,
KELLER, McGILL, DALEY, GOODMAN, TIGUE, JAMES, CAUSER,
HUTCHINSON, YOUNGBLOOD, J. EVANS, GRUCELA, FABRIZIO, ZUG,
TANGRETTI, ROBERTS, GILLESPIE, CIVERA, BROWNE, REICHLEY,
PISTELLA, WANSACZ AND LEWIS, APRIL 11, 2003
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
APRIL 11, 2003
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1 Honoring Laporte Borough on its 150th anniversary.
2 WHEREAS, Before the 1840s, the area in the center of what is
3 now Sullivan County was largely untouched forest with an old,
4 neglected road from the glass factory at Lewis Lake (Eagles
5 Mere) to the Susquehanna and Tioga Turnpike running through it;
6 and
7 WHEREAS, In 1847 a new county was made from parts of Bradford
8 and Lycoming Counties and named for Senator Charles Sullivan;
9 and
10 WHEREAS, The question immediately arose as to where the new
11 county seat should be, and after considerable agitation the
12 center of the county was finally and officially designated as
1 the location for the courthouse in 1850; and
2 WHEREAS, Secku and Michael Meylert, who owned some 33,000
3 acres in the area and had already begun clearing the land,
4 constructing roads and building hotels, homes and other village
5 structures, including a brick courthouse which was completed in
6 1852; and
7 WHEREAS, In 1850 a new township was formed in the middle of
8 the county and named for John Laporte, a native of Asylum
9 Township in Bradford County and the son of a refugee from the
10 French Revolution; and
11 WHEREAS, Having served in several public offices, John
12 Laporte was at that time Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, had
13 been helpful in the creation of Sullivan County, was responsible
14 for surveys of both the county and the township and was a friend
15 of Secku Meylert who had come to Pennsylvania from post-
16 Napoleonic France; and
17 WHEREAS, In 1853 the village, also named Laporte, was
18 chartered as a borough by the Sullivan County Court; and
19 WHEREAS, Established as the seat of Sullivan County
20 government, the population of the Borough of Laporte expanded
21 from the six families resident in 1850 to almost 900 residents
22 by 1890; and
23 WHEREAS, During the 19th century Laporte possessed not only
24 the county offices - housed in the new courthouse after 1894 -
25 but three hotels, a high school, several stores, offices for
26 physicians, lawyers and surveyors, a newspaper, five churches,
27 an Odd Fellows Hall, a sawmill and a large tannery; and
28 WHEREAS, In 1894 the Williamsport and North Branch Railroad
29 reached the area, providing connections to Towanda over the
30 Lehigh Valley Railroad and to Williamsport via the Reading line;
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1 and
2 WHEREAS, In 1888 Sullivan and Lycoming County capitalists
3 created 86-acre Lake Mokoma from a marsh in a valley east of the
4 village, and the borough boundaries were enlarged to include the
5 property of the Lake Mokoma Land Company, which became a popular
6 site for swimming, boating, ice harvesting and outings for
7 political and social organizations; and
8 WHEREAS, In the 20th century Laporte shared in the general
9 depopulation of Sullivan County, having less than 200 residents
10 by 1950, the sawmill and tannery were closed by 1920, and the
11 railroad went out of business in 1938; and
12 WHEREAS, A significant development was the creation of summer
13 residences at Lake Mokoma beginning in the late 1920s; and
14 WHEREAS, Since the 1970s, many of these residences have
15 become year-round homes; and
16 WHEREAS, Other important events have included the location in
17 the village of Highway Department facilities after 1915, the new
18 Sullivan County High School in 1963, the Sullivan County
19 Elementary School in 1969, the Sullivan County Medical Center
20 and Pharmacy in 1967, and a 100-bed nursing home in 1985; and
21 WHEREAS, Public safety was enhanced with the establishment of
22 a volunteer fire company in 1947; and
23 WHEREAS, Today the population of Laporte Borough is about
24 323; therefore be it
25 RESOLVED (the Senate concurring), That the General Assembly
26 of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania honor the Borough of Laporte
27 in Sullivan County on its 150th anniversary.
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