Page Contents for Nicholson, Pennsylvania

Statistics & Facts

Location

History & History-related items

Historical Events

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Statistics & Facts

The Pennsylvania state capital is Harrisburg.
The population of Nicholson is approximately 857 (1990), 767 (2010).
The approximate number of families is 372 (1990), 302 (2010).
The amount of land area in Nicholson is 3.202 sq. kilometers.
The amount of surface water is 0.051 sq kilometers.
The distance from Nicholson to Washington DC is 199 miles.
The distance to the Pennsylvania state capital is 109 miles. (as the crow flies)
Nicholson is positioned 41.62 degrees north of the equator and 75.78 degrees west of the prime meridian.

Location

a distinguished little community nestled in the Endless Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania
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History & History Related Items

This area was first named Thornbottom Township by the Connecticut settlers who purchased the land from the Iroquois about the time of the French and Indian war. Nicholson is located at the crossroads of two Indian trails. Major Butler, Chief Joseph Brant and their British/Tory/Indian army marched through on their way north to Great Bend after the Wyoming Massacre Jul 1778.

"Named for John Nicholson, Pennsylvania comptroller from 1782 to 1794. A land speculator, Nicholson claimed ownership to more than 3.7 million acres covering parts of 39 counties. Due to "unsettled accounts," Nicholson's land reverted to the state. In 1800, Nicholson died in prison."
(from Name Origins of Northeast PA Towns by Mike O'Hara)

A 1791 Luzerne county newspaper has an advertisement of a property for sale in Nicholson, which was described as already being used as a place of entertainment. Now included within the borough of Nicholson the town of Baconville was a separate village with its own post office in 1868. Perhaps the strangest incident was the Nicholson Tiger, spotted walking across state route 92 just north of town by a local quarryman. The tiger was pursued by helicopter but never captured. It may have been an escaped animal although none were reported lost, or may have been a mountain lion - the description of a "big tawney cat" was mistaken to mean a tawney tiger. This "tiger incident" may have been in the early 1980's.

An Indian village was located along the creek at one time, but by the time of 1776 no Indians lived there. May have been a skirmish fought there in the Dutch/Indian wars of 1640s (so called "Beaver Wars").
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Nicholson Historical Events

1999 This small rural community presently (1999) has two former citizens in the CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. MR James Saxon and MR Donald Sherwood.
Mr. Sherwood presently represents the area in which Nicholson is located.
Mr. Saxon presently represents the third district in New Jersey and has since 84.