Why Is There Only One Town in Pennsylvania?
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has 1,546 townships, 954 boroughs, 67 counties, 56 cities—and only one town. The lone town is Bloomsburg, which was officially designated as such in 1870. All other municipalities in the state are classified differently. How did this unique situation come about?
Historical background
The complexities of Pennsylvania’s system of municipalities go back to its foundation as a colony in the 17th century. King Charles II of England gave William Penn, the state’s founder, the authority to classify settlements according to the categories then common in England: counties, cities, townships, and boroughs. Penn was following historical precedent, as townships were among the earliest forms of political subdivision in colonial America. As early as 1682 townships were being established in Pennsylvania.
Under Pennsylvania law every one of the state’s residents must live in a municipality. There is no unincorporated land in Pennsylvania. Townships are the most common form of municipality and represent approximately 95 percent of the state’s territory and 44 percent of its population. They are divided into first- and second-class townships, with at least 300 residents per square mile being the threshold for classification as a “township of the first class.”
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Generally speaking, boroughs are larger than townships, and cities are larger than boroughs. To make things yet more complex, counties, townships, and cities are assigned to different classes based on population, whereas boroughs are not. There are nine classes of county and four classes of city. Philadelphia, which is the largest city in Pennsylvania, is in a class of its own as a “first-class city”—because it is the state’s only city with more than one million inhabitants.
The Bloomsburg anomaly
Bloomsburg, the seat of Columbia county, was founded in 1802; it was originally called Eyersburg or Eyerstown after its founder, Ludwig Eyer. During this early period the town belonged to Bloom Township, a possible source of the eventual name change. Over the course of the 19th century Bloomsburg grew and prospered, in large part because of its textile industry and the mining of iron ore.
In 1870 Bloomsburg received its anomalous status as Pennsylvania’s only official town. The key issue was population size. Local community leaders wanted to create a new municipality. The problem was that if they separated the more developed area of Bloom Township from the rest of the township, it would leave the latter portion with a very small population that would be incapable of supporting its own government.
It was a local resident and Pennsylvania state senator, Charles R. Buckalew, who devised a solution. He introduced a special act of incorporation, which was passed by the state general assembly. The new municipality had the same borders as Bloom Township, but there were key differences in its government. One is that council members are elected “at large”—that is, not from specific wards but from anywhere within the town. In addition, Bloomsburg mayors can vote freely on matters of local governance; this gives them more power than is usually exercised by other Pennsylvania mayors, who often vote only as tie-breakers.
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Bloomsburg maintains its unique status to this day. The town welcomes visitors with a sign that says: “Welcome to Bloomsburg—The only TOWN in Pennsylvania.”