Summit Hill, Pennsylvania

Summit Hill is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,974 at the 2000 census. The hamlet has a storied history as the western terminus of the USA's second operational railway, the Mauch Chunk & Summit Hill Railway and some of the earliest coal mine developed in North America, where the Lehigh Coal Mining Company began mining in 1792, establishing the town as little more than a mining camp with stables and paddocks.

History
Anthracite coal was discovered in a ridgeline (Sharp Mountain or Sharpe Mountain ) in 1791 by hunter and news of the find led to the founding of the Lehigh Coal Mining Company in 1792 which began exploring the area in earnest and buying up promising land. Coal was found in 1794 by Phillip Ginter along the NE-to-SW running ridgeline of Pisgah Mountain lying several hundred feet below the ridge on the North slope between the two parallel longer, taller series of local ridge peaks Nesquehoning Mountain and Mauch Chunk Ridge (south and east) Summit Hill and what is now Lansford, Pennsylvania.

The Summit Hill High School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Geography
Summit Hill is located at 40.8275°N, -75.86583°W (40.827420, -75.865892).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 9.4 sqmi, of which, 8.9 sqmi of it is land and 0.5 sqmi of it (5.31%) is water. Summit Hill is located 6 miles southwest of Jim Thorpe and 1 mile south of Lansford. Summit Hill's elevation is at 1600 feet above sea level.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,974 people, 1,291 households, and 844 families residing in the borough. The population density was 333.7 people per square mile (128.9/km²). There were 1,451 housing units at an average density of 162.8 per square mile (62.9/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 98.99% White, 0.07% African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.07% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.40% of the population.

There were 1,291 households out of which 25.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.1% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 31.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.86.

In the borough the population was spread out with 20.1% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 22.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.9 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $37,287, and the median income for a family was $44,500. Males had a median income of $36,627 versus $23,507 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $21,166. About 4.0% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.4% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over.

Summit Hill is part of the Panther Valley School District, along with the neighboring towns of Lansford, Nesquehoning and Coaldale (Coaldale is located in Schuylkill County).

Notable people

 * Colonel Thomas F. Breslin, World War II Bataan Death March prisoner.
 * Samuel McLean, former U.S. Member of Congress.
 * Keith McCall, Member of the Gaming Control Board; former Speaker of the House, PA State house of representatives