Jersey Shore is a borough in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is on the West Branch Susquehanna River, west by south of Williamsport. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the past, Jersey Shore held farms, railroad shops, cigar factories, a foundry, and a large silk mill. The population was 4,158 at the 2020 census.
History
Jersey Shore was incorporated as a borough on March 15, 1826. The history of Jersey Shore begins about 50 years before it was incorporated and on the opposite bank of the West Branch Susquehanna River in what is now Nippenose Township. Colonel John Henry Antes arrived in 1772 and established a homestead along the banks of Antes Creek. Antes also built a gristmill and his fortified home, Fort Antes, provided a safe haven for the early settlers against raids conducted by Loyalist and Indian forces during the American Revolution. Settlers who had sought refuge at Fort Antes and had returned to the right bank of the West Branch to milk their cows were among the first killed when Fort Antes was attacked just prior to the Big Runaway. These pioneers on the north side of the river were counted among the Fair Play Men, a group of squatters who lived outside the jurisdiction of the colonial and revolutionary governments of Pennsylvania. Many of the settlers did not return to the area until after Sullivan's Expedition had forced the Lenape and other Indians allied with the British further west.
Jersey Shore was originally named Waynesburg by the two brothers, Reuben and Jeremiah Manning, who laid out the town circa 1785. Around the time that this was happening, a settlement arose on the eastern side of the West Branch Susquehanna River (Nippenose Township), opposite Waynesburg. A rivalry developed between the two settlements, and those on the eastern shore began referring to the settlement on the western shore as the "Jersey Shore," because the Manning family had relocated from New Jersey. The nickname became so fixed that in 1826 the original name of Waynesburg was officially abandoned and changed to Jersey Shore.
Jersey Shore's location on the West Branch Susquehanna River, just downstream from the mouth of Pine Creek made it an ideal location for traders and other businessmen who outfitted the pioneers who settled the westernmost portions of the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley and the Pine Creek valley. Thomas Martin was a farmer who sold his produce to the people of Jersey Shore and to the men and women who were just passing through. Mr. Martin was noted for his strong beliefs regarding the prices that he set. For example, if he believed that his potatoes were worth 35 cents a bushel, he would sell them for 35 cents a bushel, no more no less. If his competitors would sell potatoes for 50 cents a bushel, Martin would not raise his price and if others lowered the price to 25 cents per bushel, he would not lower his price. This firmness and fairness allowed Thomas Martin to rise to a position of prominence in Jersey Shore and Lycoming County. His reputation for fairness and honesty was passed onto his son Lewis Martin who went on to serve as a Lycoming County prothonotary and as a deputy U.S. Marshal.
The Reverend John Hays Grier arrived in Jersey Shore in 1814. He was a Presbyterian missionary who originally set out from his home of Doylestown Pennsylvania with the intention of serving the pioneers of the west. He stopped one Sunday in Jersey Shore and for the most part never left. He built a strong congregation at Jersey Shore and another upstream on the West Branch in Lock Haven. Grier served the churches in Lock Haven and Jersey Shore for 14 years before serving the church in Jersey Shore, alone, for an additional 23 years. Rev. Grier was also elected sheriff of Lycoming County in 1822.