Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district
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Pennsylvania’s 16th congressional district is located in the southeastern part of the state, just west of Philadelphia. Created after the 2000 Census, the district is composed of a large portion of southern Chester County, all of Lancaster County, and a sliver of Berks County, including a sliver of the city of Reading. The 16th stretches from the southwestern suburbs of Philadelphia in the east to the Susquehanna River in the west, and north to include areas around Reading.
In 2000, the 16th Congressional District was home to 646,328 residents[1], according to the U.S. Census, and its population has increased since that year. Residents of Lancaster County make up the majority of the district's population, followed by Chester County and Berks County. The district is one of the Pennsylvania districts accused of being the result of gerrymandering.
The district can be characterized as predominantly surburban and rural, with some urban pockets of cities and towns. This has produced one of the main dilemmas facing the district: surburban sprawl and economic development versus the need for the preservation of farmland. Chester County, for example, has been simultaneously the fourth most agriculturally active county in the state and the fastest-growing county in the state. Lancaster County also shares the predicament of being a fast-growing county with pressure to preserve agricultural land.
The eastern parts of the district are characterized as suburbs of Philadelphia and of Wilmington, Delaware. Surburban Lancaster has also seen a tremendous amount of development over the past 15 years in the form of rapidly growing new housing developments and shopping centers. Areas of northwestern Lancaster County border on the suburbs of Harrisburg, and have many commuters to the capital city.
While development in the district continues at a high pace along the access routes to Philadelphia, Lancaster and Reading, the district is home to large tracts of agricultural land. Much of the land is devoted to commercial farming, but a large portion is also devoted to raising horses for steeplechase, fox hunting, and lately flat racing, especially in Chester County. Lancaster and Chester Counties have traditionally been home to many Amish and Mennonite farming communities.
Pockets of urban areas exist in and around the cities of Lancaster, Reading, and West Chester.
The district is also home to hundreds of historic homes and buildings, many predating the American Revolution. The historic preservation of these sites is as important to the district as the preservation of its agriculture, and the combination gives the district an old-world aesthetic often captured in the paintings of local artist Andrew Wyeth.
The District has been represented by Joe Pitts (R) in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997.
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[edit] Election Results
| US House election, 2006: Pennsylvania District 16 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Lois Herr | 80,915 | 39.5% | ||
| Republican | Joseph Pitts | 115,741 | 56.6% | ||
| Independent | John Murphy | 7,958 | 3.9% | ||
| Majority | |||||
| Turnout | |||||
[edit] Counties and municipalities within the district
Berks County: Bern, Lower Heidelberg, Reading, South Heidelberg, Spring, Wernersville Borough
Chester County: Avondale, Birmingham, East Bradford, East Fallowfield, East Marlborough, East Nottingham, Elk, Franklin, Highland, Kennett Square Borough, Kennett Township, London Britain, London Grove, Londonderry, Lower Oxford, Newlin, New Garden, New London, Oxford, Parkesburg, Penn, Pennsbury, Upper Oxford, West Chester, West Fallowfield, West Grove, West Marlborough, West Nottingham
Lancaster County: All
[edit] Representatives
[edit] Of note:
Lancaster County is home to one of the largest Amish communities existing today and was the site of the Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis film “Witness”.
M. Night Shyamalan's films “Signs” and “The Village” were filmed in southern Chester County.
Kennett Square—often celebrated as the mushroom capital of the world—appears in Food Network’s “Good Eats” episode “The Fungal Gourmet.”
The largest land engagement of the Revolutionary War—the Battle of Brandywine, September 11th, 1777—was fought in and around Kennett Square, West Chester (then Turks Head), and Chadds Ford (Pennsylvania’s 6th District). Generals Washington, Sullivan, (local hero) “Mad Anthony” Wayne, and Lord Stirling were among the American generals present. It was the first battle in which the American Flag as we know it was flown, having been commissioned by the Continental Congress in June 14th, 1777. It was General Lafayette’s first battle, and he was wounded in the leg. It was the first battle to feature British rifles, though the Pennsylvanians had been fighting the war almost exclusively with long rifles since the outset.
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