Danville

History

As Europeans explored the coastal regions reachable from ships at the dawn of the 17th Century, the whole valley of the Susquehanna from South-central New York state to the upper Chesapeake Bay was owned by the fierce Iroquois-like Susquehannock people, like the Erie people, an Iroquoian speaking tribe with a similar related culture. As the European wars of religion lulled before the cataclysm of the Thirty Years' War, ca. 1600 AD the protestant Dutch traders first entered the Delaware Valley and began regularly trading firearms for furs, especially highly valued beaver pelts with the inland Susquehannock people in the vicinity of greater Philadelphia. Although the Susquehannocks lived well inland their hunting range owned the rich Beaver territory of the entire Susquehanna River drainage basin, since the Susquehannock's range also included hunting the Schuylkill and Lehigh Rivers and their tributaries (which they historically disputed by occasional mutual raiding with the Algonquian Delaware people dwelling along the Atlantic coastal strip extending west from Delaware and southern New Jersey into the Poconos), the Susquehanna had a wealth of coveted Beaver pelts, and so became formidably well armed. About the time New Sweden (1638) was founded, the Iroquois Confederacy began a series of escalating wars setting Indian versus Indian called the Beaver Wars—that ultimately would open up the frontier to white settlers—deadly long running territorial wars between Amerindian peoples for fur hunting and trapping territories. Forearmed by their traders knowledge, the Swedes settled both sides of the Delaware, and almost immediately became allies with the Susquehannock, who already well armed, would soon after have a confederacy well armed enough to win a war…

Geography

Danville is located in northeastern Pennsylvania at (40.961607, -76.611947). It is located on the north bank of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. The contiguous community south of the river is Riverside. The surrounding country is low mountain ridges of the Appalachian range. The town is bisected by U.S. Route 11 and has an exit from Interstate 80 to the north. There are also deposits of limestone in the vicinity. According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  4,364
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,289
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,284
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  3,877
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,697
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  3,683
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,350
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,332

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2025-06-10
  10 km NW of Forksville, Pennsylvania
• M 3.44 — 2019-06-13
  9 km N of Blain, Pennsylvania
• M 2.6 — 2018-04-05
  24 km WSW of Liberty, Pennsylvania
• M 3.37 — 2008-12-27
  2 km NNE of Landisville, Pennsylvania