Clinton County
Clinton County was formed on June 21, 1839 from portions of Centre and Lycoming Counties. Named to honor the seventh Governor of New York State, DeWitt Clinton, its county seat is the county’s only city, Lock Haven. Clinton County nestles in the heart of central Pennsylvania, embraced by thousands of acres of natural beauty and peaceful living space. Five state parks are located in Clinton: the Kettle Creek State, Hyner State Park, Ravensburg State Park, Bucktail State Park, and Jessie Hall State Park. 90% of Clinton County actually consists of forest land, providing the perfect background for the county to support a great deal of outdoor activity, including hunting, camping, hiking and cross country skiing.
The City of Lock Haven originated in the late 1700s, when a log house fort and stockade were constructed as a defense against attacks from the area’s Native Americans. This fort was known as Fort Reed, one of many frontier forts situated along the banks of the Susquehanna River. Jerry and Willard Church, recognizing the huge economic potential the area’s natural resources provided, first conceived the plan for Lock Haven. Later, the Pennsylvania Canal, completed in 1834, provided the necessary transportation to get these highly-valued products to market and set the stage for an era of significant growth for both town and county. The advent of the railroad in 1859 provided an even more reliable means of transportation which replaced the canal.
The lumber industry began to decline by the end of the century. Both depletion of the forests and regular flood damage to the log booms and canal finally sounded lumber’s death toll in the area. Fortunately, other industries stepped in to provide a new economic base for Lock Haven and Clinton County as the 20th Century dawned. Furniture, paper, fire bricks, and silk were all produced in Lock Haven. In 1938, the Piper Aircraft Corporation began manufacturing small planes on the site of former silk mills. Piper Aircraft reigned as one of the City’s major employers until a combination of major flood losses in the 1970s and an ownership struggle resulted in the company relocating to Florida in the 1980s. This had a huge impact on the area’s economy, driving the unemployment rate to more than 20 percent in the early part of the 1980s.
Pennsylvania lawyers practicing law in Clinton County specialize in various niches of the law, including areas like bankruptcy law, employment law, personal injury law, immigration, family law, medical malpractice law, workers compensation law, and even criminal law. Criminal law involves, logically enough, crimes committed by one party against another and are broken up into two subsets: felonies and misdemeanors. Felonies are larger offenses that typically result in harsher punishments. Misdemeanors are smaller offenses that yield sentences that are not quite as harsh. It is recommended that defendants retain one of the many experienced Pennsylvania lawyers practicing criminal law to represent them no matter which type of crime they have been accused of committing.
One common area of law for which Pennsylvania residents in Clinton County often need the assistance of a good Pennsylvania lawyer is that of burn injury law. Second only to motor vehicle accidents, burn injuries are the next leading cause of accidental death in the United States and affect more than 2.5 million Americans annually. The American Burn Association reports that about 1.1 million of those burn injuries require medical attention. About 45,000 of those injuries require hospitalization, with half of those burn patients being admitted to a specialized burn unit. Unfortunately, approximately 4,500 of these people die every year. Pennsylvania lawyers who practice personal injury law regularly stand ready to help those who have suffered burn injuries get the compensation they deserve.
In the past, burns covering half or more of the body were usually fatal. Today, however, modern medicine can practically work miracles for burn patients. Medical advances in resuscitation practices, wound cleaning and follow-up care, nutritional support, and infection control have greatly increased burn injury survivability. Grafting with natural or artificial materials has also greatly improved the healing process. Those with burns covering 90 percent of the body can survive, although most will suffer permanent impairments requiring months if not years of follow-up care. Those patients should consider contacting one of the many Pennsylvania lawyers experienced in practicing personal injury law.
Pennsylvania law provides for four types of incorporated municipalities: cities, boroughs, townships, and, rarer cases, towns. Below are listed the cities, boroughs and townships located in Clinton County:
Boroughs
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Townships
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Census-designated places
Census-designated places are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law, but are compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau in order to compile demographic data. Other unincorporated communities, such as villages, are sometimes categorized here as well.
- Castanea
- Dunnstown
