Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
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Abington Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 56,103 at the 2000 census.
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[edit] Nickname
Abington is known by young people as " 'Bington."[citation needed]
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 40.0 km² (15.5 mi²). 40.0 km² (15.4 mi²) of it is land and none of the area is covered with water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census² of 2000, there were 56,103 people, 21,690 households, and 15,139 families residing in the township. The population density was 1,402.0/km² (3,630.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the township was 84.12% Whites, 10.82% Blacks, 0.09% Native American, 3.27% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.51% from other races, and 1.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.57% of the population.
There were 21,690 households out of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 57.4% were married couples living together, and 30.2% were non-families. 25.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the township the population was spread out with 23.6% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 19.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $59,921, and the median income for a family was $70,959. Males had a median income of $47,408 versus $36,572 for females. The per capita income for the township was $30,331. About 2.0% of families and 3.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 4.2% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Government
Abington Township does not have a mayor. Rather it is governed by a Board of Commissioners, who are elected one from each of the township's fifteen wards. A President of the Board is elected from among these commissioners, and serves as the head of government for Abington Township. James Ring is the current Commission President.
Most of the township is in the Thirteenth Congressional District (represented by Rep. Allyson Schwartz) with a small part in the Eighth Congressional District (represented by Rep. Patrick Murphy).
[edit] Communities
Abington Township comprises sixteen "communities" as follow alphabetically:
Communities:
- Abington
- Ardsley
- Crestmont
- Elkins Park
- Glenside
- Hollywood
- Huntingdon Valley
- McKinley
- Meadowbrook
- Noble
- North Hills
- Roslyn
- Roy Chester
- Rydal
- Willow Grove
The communities are unofficial, unincorporated subdivisions of the township, corresponding roughly to voting districts and elementary school placement. Their primary importance aside from community identity is the postal system (e.g., to send a letter to someone living in the Glenside community, you would address the letter to Glenside, Pennsylvania rather than Abington Township, Pennsylvania).
[edit] Schools
The elementary schools in this township are:
- Copper Beech Elementary
- Highland Elementary
- McKinley Elementary
- Overlook Elementary
- Roslyn Elementary (G-W)
- Rydal Elementary
- Willow Hill Elementary (G-W)
(G-W)- These schools are currently being rebuilt. The students are now housed in the now unused Glenside-Weldon Elementary School.
The middle school is Abington Junior High School and the senior high is Abington Senior High School.
There are also several private schools located inside the district, such as Meadowbrook and Abington Friends School. Penn State’s Abington campus is located in the district as well.
The school district received some notoriety in the 1960s when it became one of the key parties in the school prayer controversy, with Abington School District v. Schempp. The Supreme Court case resulted in a declaration of the unconstitutionality of school-sanctioned Bible reading.
[edit] Services infrastructure
Abington Memorial Hospital is located in the community of Abington.[1]
Alverthorpe Park is located in the community of Abington.
[edit] Notable people from Abington
Dr. Amar Gopal Bose - MIT Professor and founder of the audio company Bose Corporation, attended Abington Senior High School.
Deborah Kaplan - screenwriter and film director
Bil Keane - cartoonist of The Family Circus resided in Roslyn with his family from 1948 - 1959.
Chad Kolarik - University of Michigan hockey player, drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes
Joey Lawrence - actor
Matthew Lawrence - actor (brother of Joey Lawrence)
Benjamin Lay - was a philanthropist and abolitionist
James Morrow - Science fiction author, was born in the area and alludes to the case in his novel Blameless in Abaddon, whose title community of "Abaddon" is a parallel of Abington.
Mike Richter - Retired NHL Goaltender
Bob Saget - actor and comedian
Ellery Schempp - Physicist, famous for his involvement as a student in Abington v. Schempp.
David Sirota - author
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes and References
- ^ Abington Memorial Hospital Home Page. Retrieved on 15 October, 2005.; Abington Community Information (showing map with location of Abington Memorial Hospital). Retrieved on 15 October, 2005.
