Millerstown, Pennsylvania

Millerstown is located on a tract of land originally sold to James Gallagher on September 23, 1766, however, there is evidence that a small town named "Smithfield" was founded by him before then.

This plot of ground was later sold to David Miller on September 1, 1780, who filed for a patent in 1790 for the "laying out of the town," thus making Miller's Town the first town to be plotted for sale in the territory at that time comprising Perry County. Miller's Town was later combined to form Millerstown.

Millerstown Borough was incorporated February 12, 1849, and the first meeting of the newly formed town council was held on April 14, 1849. Abraham Addams was the first chief burgess (mayor), and John M. Cauffman, Christian Beck, James R. Gilmer, and Jacob Emerick, were members of the first Borough Council. Thomas P. Cochran was the first council clerk with a salary of $2.50 a year.

Millerstown is home to many old stone houses, some dating back to the 18th century.

Millerstown is located at 40°33′3″N 77°9′17″W (40.550884, -77.154659),[5] along the Juniata River in northern Perry County, at the junctions of U.S. Routes 22 and 322 and Pennsylvania Route 17. It is 33 miles northwest of the state capital, Harrisburg.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²), of which, 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) of it (6.52%) is water.

As of the census[7] of 2000, there were 679 people, 275 households, and 196 families living in the borough. The population density was 788.7 people per square mile (304.8/km²). There were 292 housing units at an average density of 339.2 per square mile (131.1/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 99.12% White, 0.29% African American, 0.15% Asian, and 0.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.88% of the population.

There were 275 households, out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.4% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.4% were non-families. 24.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.95.

In the borough the population was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 79.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.1 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $43,750, and the median income for a family was $53,173. Males had a median income of $37,159 versus $24,732 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $22,289. About 2.0% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 2.5% of those age 65 or over.

Public services are funded by several local taxes. Residents of the boro pay a $5 per year per capita tax, a $25 per year occupation tax and a real estate tax rate of 0.93750 mills levied on property owners.[9] Additionally they must pay a 1.75% local earned income tax and a 14.06 mills real estate tax to the Greenwood School District.

Millerstown is served by the Millerstown Fire Department & Ambulance League.

Map of Perry County, Pennsylvania School Districts

Millerstown residents' local public schools are operated by the Greenwood School District which provides full day kindergarten through 12th grade. The school district's campus is located entirely within the borough and serves residents in Perry and Juniata County.

In 2013, the District's enrollment declined to 784 students. In 2016, Greenwood School District ranked 115th out of 493 public school districts for academic achievement of its pupils, by the Pittsburgh Business Times.[10] The District's 2016 graduation rate was 100%.[11]

High School students and adults may attend the publicly funded Cumberland Perry Area Vocational Technical School which is located in Mechanicsburg in Cumberland County. CPAVTS provides students training in the: construction and mechanical trades, culinary arts, health aids, computer technical careers and other fields. Students may also attend Capital Area Online Learning Association (CAOLA) online education programs. The service is operated by the Capital Area Intermediate Unit 15.

Millerstown residents may also apply to attend any of the Commonwealth's 13 public cyber charter schools (in 2015) at no additional cost to the parents. The resident's public school district is required to pay the charter school and cyber charter school tuition for residents who attend these public schools.[12][13] By Commonwealth law, if the District provides transportation for its own students, then the District must provide transportation to any school that lies within 10 miles of its borders. Residents may also seek admission for their school aged child to any other public school district. When accepted for admission, the student's parents are responsible for paying an annual tuition fee set by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In 2015, the tuition fees for Greenwood School District were: elementary school - $8,290.62, high school - $11,248.81.[14] In 2014-15, Greenwood School District reported spending $16,235.26 per pupil.[15]

School aged residents may also attend the Capital Area School for the Arts which is an arts charter school located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Juniata Mennonite School and Armstrong Valley Christian School are two of several private schools that are available and accessible to the borough's residents.

Capital Area Intermediate Unit #15 provides a wide variety of services to children living in its region, which includes Millerstown. Early screening, special education services, speech and hearing therapy and many other services like driver education are available. Services for children during the preschool years are provided, without cost to their families, when the child is determined to meet eligibility requirements.

Public library

Community members have access to the Community Library of Western Perry County in Blain; the Bloomfield Public Library which is located in New Bloomfield and to the statewide PA Power Library which is an online library funded with tax dollars through the state's annual education budget.

Community college

Millerstown residents have access to Harrisburg Area Community College. People residing in the community fund HACC in part through an annual payment made by Greenwood School District.[16] Twenty two local public school districts, in the central Pennsylvania region, are required to contribute annually to HACC, regardless of whether any residents are attending the college. Full-time students from these districts, who attend HACC, pay $1,674 for 12 credit hours.

• James A. Beaver, 20th Governor of Pennsylvania, born in Millerstown
• Cameron Mitchell, famous actor in the mid to late 1900s

• Millerstown Borough