Middletown (Dauphin County, Pennsylvania)

Dauphin County

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Middletown is a city in Dauphin County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It lies at the mouth of the Swatara Creek in the Susquehanna River, 15 kilometers southeast of Harrisburg.

Middletown was founded in 1755 and was incorporated as a city in 1828. 1900 5,608 people lived here; 1910 5.374 in 1940, 7.046.

Middletown, the oldest town in Dauphin County, was founded thirty years before Harrisburg and seven years before Hummelstown. Because of its position on trade, by land and by water, the city grew fast for at least a century and a half. Before 1729, this area was part of Chester County, Pennsylvania. 1729 Lancaster County and was on March 4, 1785 Dauphin County formed. Middletown was a " post - city " and so because of their position at the midway between Lancaster and Carlisle, along the old stage coach road.

German immigrants began in the 18th century to move from the Palatinate and the Black Forest in the city.

1979 occurred in the neighboring nuclear power plant Three Mile Iceland a nuclear accident, which many residents left the city initially fled.

Sons and daughters of the town

  • Bruce Metzger, professor of New Testament language and literature of the Princeton Theological Seminary
  • James Donald Cameron, Secretary of War of the United States
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