Coudersport, PA: Development, Culture and the Company Town

Not so long ago the Post-Gazette ran a series about Charlotte, NC, and that city's success as a regional banking center. Which led to a brief discussion about the dangers of being a company town.

Well, here's the latest on that front from Pennsylvania: Disgraced cable giant Adelphia has been taken over, and the big money appears to be leaving little Coudersport, PA.

I remember when I was in college and Adelphia was booming in Coudersport. Nobody could believe it. Once a typical logging town, it was suddenly awash in cash brought in by a local boy who done good. They were actually BUILDING stuff there. Adding jobs. People were moving there. From cities! Lawyers. Accountants. Etc.

The town got a really good scrubbing. And it did look great. Coffee shops. Wine stores. All sorts of stuff you don't normally associate with small towns on the Northern Tier. (As an aside, the local JC Penney's was even still open. And as far as I know still is. And it's downtown. Not out in a strip mall somewhere. Which seems to indicate to me that the town was not as economically moribund as it might have been prior to the Adelphia infusion.) At the same time, a lot of people were getting priced out of the housing market. Culture clashes. Etc.

So was this experience bad for Coudersport? Or good for Coudersport?

Lots of interesting development and cultural discussions to be had here. Someone ought to write a book.

UPDATE: I'm not sure what it adds to the discussion, but it might be worth noting that the accountants and lawyers were not the only people invading Coudersport during the boom years.

Comments

[John Morris]

I think they are building a huge highway through there that will run up through NY state.

[Sam M]

John,

I think you are right.

Similarly, there have long been cries to expand 219, which runs through my hometown, into four lanes.

The most frantic calls from people who point out that it is extremely difficult to get goods in and out of the area. Which is bad for a place that has been industrial for over a century.

So I sympathize. But I also wonder. Take a look at Clearfield. It just lost hundreds of jobs at an electronics manufacturing plant. Which even made the evening news with Tom Brokaw.

And Clearfield is a lot like my hometown. It is near it. About the same size. Same general culture.

Only Clearfield has its own exit on Interstate 80.

If that doesn't do the trick, four lanes might not either.

But... But... But...

If we need a north/south connector, why not build it on existing infrastructure? 219 goes to Bradford, which offers easy access to NY, not to mention other industrial centers such as Warren.

Why the Coundersport route? I think that might be the path that leads down to 99, otherwise known as the Bud Shuster Highway. Although I might be wrong about that. Anyone?

To be honest, I know people in Ridgway who are opposed to expanding 219 precisely because they fear it would succeed in bringing economic development. They don't want a strip mall outside of town. They like it as it is.

So are the atavists right?

Interesting dilemma with a lot of parallels to transportation and development in cities.

[John Morris]

Does anyone have the details on that road project? It's pretty unreal, I think. I have to admit that i sort of don't want to look at it cause it makes me sick. Coulld they change the towns name to porkopolis?