Milford is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

in Pike County, Pennsylvania and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

. Its population was 1,103 at the 2020 census. Located on the upper

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, before ...

, Milford is part of the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

History

The area along the

had long been settled by the

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...

, an Algonquian-speaking indigenous tribe that lived in the mid-Atlantic coastal areas at the time of European colonization. The English also called them the Delaware, after the river they named for colonial leader

Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr ( ; 9 July 1577 – 7 June 1618), was an English merchant and politician, for whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, a Native American people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named. He was ...

, the

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...

. Milford was founded in 1796 by Judge John Biddis, one of Pennsylvania's first four circuit judges. He named the settlement after his ancestral home in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Milford has a large number of buildings of historical significance, many constructed in the nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries. Some are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, while numerous others are included in the Milford Historic District. Of the 655 buildings in the district, 400 of them have been deemed to be historically significant."A Tour of Milford, Pennsylvania"
'' Travel and Leisure'' (March 2009) The district is characterized by a variety of Late Victorian architecture. Grey Towers National Historic Site, the ancestral home of

Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...

, noted conservationist, two-time Governor of Pennsylvania, and first head of the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

, is located in Milford. It was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt has been designated a National Historic Site. From 1904 to 1926, Grey Towers was the site of summer field study sessions for the Master's program of the

Yale School of Forestry Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental leaders through four 2-year degree programs ( Master of Environmental Management, Master of Enviro ...

, together with the Forester's Hall, a commercial building that was adapted and expanded for this purpose. ''Note:'' This includes Jervis Gordon Grist Mill Historic District, Hotel Fauchere and Annex,

Metz Ice Plant The Metz Ice Plant, also known as the Jacob Klaer Gristmill and the Milford Ice and Refrigeration Company, is an historic, American ice manufacturing plant that is located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Milford, Pike County, ...

, and Pike County Courthouse are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nearby is Arisbe, the home of Charles S. Peirce, a prominent logician, philosopher and scientist in the late 19th century, and another NRHP property. The Pike County Historical Society Museum in Milford includes in its collection the "Lincoln Flag", which was draped on President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

's booth at Ford's Theatre the night he was assassinated. The flag was bundled up and placed under the President's head, and still bears his blood. It was kept by stage manager Thomas Gourlay. He passed it down to his daughter Jeannie, an actress who had appeared in the play, '' Our American Cousin'', at the theatre that night. She later moved to Milford and the flag was donated to the museum after her death. The

Milford Writer's Workshop The Milford Writer's Workshop, or more properly Milford Writers' Conference, is an annual science fiction writer's event founded by Damon Knight, among others, in the mid-1950s, in Milford, Pennsylvania. It was so named because Knight, Judith Me ...

, an annual science-fiction writer's event, was founded in 1956, and ran until it moved to the United Kingdom in 1972, where it is still running. In September 2007, '' Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel'' named Milford second on its list of "Ten Coolest Small Towns" in Pennsylvania.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the borough has a total area of , all land. Milford is located on the Upper Delaware River, which divides Pennsylvania's Poconos region from the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas cl ...

in New York, in what was historically a heavily forested area. When Judge Biddis bought up the land of what was then known as Wells Ferry and laid out the lots for the new town, he generally followed the urban plan of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

: he laid out High Street – the equivalent of what is now Market Street in Philadelphia – running to the Delaware River, while Broad Street runs perpendicular to High, creating a grid. At the intersection of Broad and High is a public square – just as there is at Broad and Market in Philadelphia – and most of Milford's official buildings are located there."2001 Guide to Pike County Pennsylvania", Pike County Chamber of CommerceHistorical marker on monument in Milford, erected by the Pike County Historical Society in July 1965. Within the grid, east–west streets are numbered, Second through Seventh, with Broad Street falling between Fourth and Fifth Streets, while north–south streets are named after Judge Biddis' children: Ann, Catherine, George, John, Sarah and Elizabeth. In between both the named and numbered streets are alleys, named after berries and fruit. In contemporary Milford, Broad Street is also marked as U.S. Route 6 and U.S. Route 209. At its intersection with Harford Street, Route 6 continues north on Harford, while Route 209 continues south on the street. Milford is located on an

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

above the

. All waterways there which drain into the river fall the difference in height, creating what is known as a ''fluviarchy'', a network of waterfalls, putatively the most notable one east of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. These also provided water power to mills, which contributed to Milford's economy in the 19th century.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,021 people, 491 households, and 236 families residing in the borough. The population density was 2,042 people per square mile (797.7/km²). There were 580 housing units at an average density of 1,160 per square mile (453.1/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 95.2%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.6%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.5% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 1.4% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 5.5% of the population. Pike County has one of the highest concentration of same-sex households of any county in Pennsylvania. There were 491 households, out of which 19.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.4% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 51.9% were non-families. 42.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.01 and the average family size was 2.79. In the borough the population was spread out, with 16.3% under the age of 18, 59.9% from 18 to 64, and 23.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48.3 years. The median income for a household in the borough was $33,571, and the median income for a family was $46,136. Males had a median income of $40,500 versus $28,333 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $21,011. About 4.0% of families and 9.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.1% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Milford is served by the Delaware Valley School District. Including an Elementary school in Matamoras, serving children from Matamoras, and Milford. Delaware Valley middle school serves children from Milford, Matamoras and Shohola areas. Delaware Valley High School serves children from Milford, Matamoras, Shohola, and Dingman areas.

Cultural activities

Milford is home to Pike County Arts and Crafts, an

art education Visual arts education is the area of learning that is based upon the kind of art that one can see, visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, de ...

organization that was chosen by the

Pennsylvania Council on the Arts The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) is an agency serving the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Its mission is to strengthen the cultural, educational, and economic vitality of Pennsylvania's communities through the arts. This mission is paired wit ...

as winner of the 2007 Pennsylvania State "Creative Community Award.". Since 1950, Pike County Arts and Crafts has also hosted an annual art show each July in Borough Hall. Hotel Fauchere front Milford PA

The Pike County Chess Club was founded in 2011. Games played at these tournaments are submitted for rating by the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating ...

(USCF), with which the club is affiliated. Annual festivals include the Black Bear Film Festival, Milford Readers & Writers Festival, Milford Music Festival, Festival of Wood and DanceFest Milford. Throughout the year there are "Artwalks" and other events celebrating artists in the area.

Annual events

The Black Bear Film Festival is an annual independent film festival, which has taken place the weekend after Columbus Day in October every years since 2000. Held primarily at the historic Milford Theater, the festival also includes many free films and lectures in a Film Salon, as well as feature films for an admission fee. In recent years, stars participating in the film festival have included Farley Granger, Tab Hunter, Marge Champion,

Lorna Luft Lorna Luft (born November 21, 1952) is an American actress, author, and singer. She is the daughter of Judy Garland and Sidney Luft and the half-sister of Liza Minnelli. Early life Luft was born on November 21, 1952, at Saint John's Health Cent ...

Arlene Dahl Arlene Carol Dahl (August 11, 1925 – November 29, 2021) was an American actress active in films from the late 1940s. She was one of the last surviving stars from the Classical Hollywood cinema era. She was also an author and entrepreneur. Sh ...

Larry Kramer Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to Lo ...

and others. The Milford Music Festival takes place each June. It is a free weekend event sponsored by Milfordmusicfest.org, which also produces Septemberfest, Share The Harvest and the annual Tree Lighting. The 2009 Milford Music Festival was headlined by Vanessa Carlton, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter/pianist who is from Milford. In 2013, the festival featured

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notabl ...

. The Milford Readers and Writers Festival, inaugurated in 2015, is held in September each year and focuses on facilitating conversation between readers and writers. Recent featured guests have included

Lee Child James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his ''Jack Reacher'' novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American ...

John Berendt John Berendt (born December 5, 1939) is an American author, known for writing the best-selling non-fiction book ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'', which was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. Biography Ber ...

, Robin Morgan,

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was a c ...

, Tim Murphy, Tim Teeman, M.K. Asante,

Alan Alda Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war come ...

, Billy Goldstein, Brooke Warner, Suzanne Braun Levine, Anne-Christine d'Adesky, Sean Strub, Mary Badham, Robert Moor, Susan Faludi, Julie Barton, Carol Jenkins, Lucian Truscott IV, Frances FitzGerald, Judge Andrew Napolitano,

Phil Klay Phil Klay (; born 1983) is an American writer. He won the National Book Award for fiction in 2014 for his first book-length publication, a collection of short stories, '' Redeployment''. In 2014 the National Book Foundation named him a 5 under ...

, John Leland, Ducan Hannah, Bob Eckstein, and others.

Notable people

Louis Allen Louis Allen (April 25, 1919 – January 31, 1964) was an African-American businessman in Liberty, Mississippi, who was shot and killed on his land during the civil rights era. He had previously tried to register to vote and had allegedly talked ...

, a

New York Army National Guard The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the United States Army's available combat forces and approxim ...

officer killed in a

fragging Fragging is the deliberate or attempted killing by a soldier of a fellow soldier, usually a superior. U.S. military personnel coined the word during the Vietnam War, when such killings were most often attempted with a fragmentation grenade, so ...

incident in 2005 during the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

* James Blish, Damon Knight, Judith Merril and

Kate Wilhelm Kate Wilhelm (June 8, 1928 – March 8, 2018) was an American author. She wrote novels and stories in the science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres, including the Hugo Award–winning ''Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang''. Wilhelm established ...

(Mrs. Knight), all science fiction writers * Vanessa Carlton, singer/pianist * Bob Guccione, Jr, magazine publisher *

Allyn Joslyn Allyn Joslyn (July 21, 1901 – January 21, 1981) was an American stage, radio, television and film actor, known for his roles playing aristocratic wealthy snobs. Biography Allyn Joslyn was born in Milford, Pennsylvania, the son of a mining e ...

, stage and screen actor *

Christopher Makos Christopher Makos (born 1948) is an American photographer and visual artist. Makos is known for his photographs of Queer icons and pop stars, and of the male body. Makos apprenticed with photographer Man Ray, and assisted and collaborated with An ...

, photographer * Martin & Muñoz, visual artists also known as Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz *

Frank McCourt Francis McCourt (August 19, 1930July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book ''Angela's Ashes'', a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood. Early life and education Frank ...

, author *

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

, silent film actress *

's family, including Cornelia Bryce Pinchot and

Mary Pinchot Meyer Mary Eno Pinchot Meyer (; October 14, 1920 – October 12, 1964) was an American painter who lived in Washington D.C. She was married to Central Intelligence Agency official Cord Meyer from 1945–1958, and became involved romantically with P ...

Al Pitrelli Al Pitrelli is an American guitarist, best known for his work with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Joe Lynn Turner, Asia and Savatage. Career Early career (1982–1995) Pitrelli attended the Berklee College of Mu ...

, guitarist * Tom Quick, first born child of European ancestry in the region, purported to have murdered numerous Lenape, an indigenous people of the area *

Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American philosopher, logician, mathematician and scientist who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". Educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for ...

, a philosopher and

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

, lived on a farm 3 miles from Milford, from 1887 until his 1914 death * Bill Steele,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

for the St. Louis Cardinals, born and raised in Milford * Sean Strub, writer, activist, founder of POZ magazine*, and current mayor of Milford *

, artist, photographer * Mary Wiseman, actress, (Star Trek Discovery)

Gallery

File:Charles S. Peirce House near Milford PA.jpg, Charles S. Peirce's house File:The Columns Milford PA.jpg, "The Columns", home of the Pike County Historical Society Museum File:Tom Quick Inn Milford PA.jpg, The Tom Quick Inn File:Milford Theatre Milford PA.jpg, The Milford Theatre Plaque FrankMcCourt

References

External links

* {{authority control 1874 establishments in Pennsylvania Boroughs in Pike County, Pennsylvania Boroughs in Pennsylvania County seats in Pennsylvania Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Pike County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania populated places on the Delaware River Pocono Mountains Populated places established in 1796 Towns in the New York metropolitan area