Sunbury ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River at the confluence of the river's North and West branches, about north of Harrisburg. As of the 2020 United States census, Sunbury had a population of 9,719. It is the principal city of the Sunbury micropolitan statistical area, which comprises Northumberland County and is part of the larger Bloomsburg–Berwick–Sunbury combined statistical area.
The site of Sunbury was long occupied by Shamokin, one of the largest and most important Native American settlements in colonial Pennsylvania, and later by Fort Augusta, the principal British frontier outpost on the upper Susquehanna during the French and Indian War. The town of Sunbury was laid out in 1772 as the seat of the newly created Northumberland County and named after Sunbury-on-Thames, England. In 1883, Thomas Edison's company built the world's first successful three-wire central electric lighting station in Sunbury, and the City Hotel—the first building lit by the system—was later renamed the Hotel Edison in his honor.
Sunbury is the headquarters of the supermarket chain Weis Markets, founded in the city in 1912. Much of the older city is included in the Sunbury Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. History Shamokin and Fort Augusta
The first known settlers at the site of Sunbury were likely Shawnee migrants. A large population of Delaware Indians was also forcibly resettled there in the early 18th century after they lost rights to their land in the Walking Purchase. Canassatego of the Six Nations, enforcing the Walking Purchase on behalf of George Thomas, Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, ordered the Delaware Indians to relocate to two places on the Susquehanna River, one of which was present-day Sunbury.
From 1727 to 1756, the village—known as Shamokin, not to be confused with the present-day city of Shamokin about to the east—was one of the largest and most influential Indian settlements in Pennsylvania. In 1745, Presbyterian missionary David Brainerd described the village as occupying both banks of the river and an island, and reported that it housed 300 Indians, about half of them Delawares and the remainder Senecas and Tutelos. The Oneida chief Shikellamy, who oversaw the region's tribes on behalf of the Six Nations, lived at Shamokin from about 1728 until his death there in 1748.
In 1754, much of the land west of the Susquehanna was transferred from the Six Nations to Pennsylvania at the Albany Congress. Shamokin, however, was not sold; the Six Nations reserved it "to settle such of our Nations as shall come to us from the Ohio or any others who shall deserve to be in our Alliance." According to Weslager, "the Pennsylvania authorities had no opposition to the Six Nations reserving Wyoming and Shamokin from the sale, since friendly Delawares, including Teedyuskung (also known as Teedyuscung) and his people living in those settlements—and any other Indians who might be placed there—constituted a buffer against Connecticut."
The French and Indian War brought fighting to much of the region. The Delaware residents of Shamokin remained neutral early in the war, in part because a drought and unseasonable frost in 1755 had left them without provisions. After the Gnadenhütten massacre in 1755, however, the Delawares at Shamokin joined the war against Pennsylvania and the English, and the village was abandoned in May 1756. The Province of Pennsylvania built Fort Augusta on the site of the abandoned village in 1756–1757, and the fort became the key frontier outpost of the region. The Bloody Spring, where a soldier from the fort's garrison is said to have been killed during the war, is a historic site from the era. During the American Revolutionary War, Fort Augusta served in 1779 as a rendezvous point for troops of the Sullivan Expedition against the Iroquois.
Founding and growth
Northumberland County was created on March 21, 1772, from parts of Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks, Bedford, and Northampton counties. The town of Sunbury was laid out as the county seat later that year by Pennsylvania surveyor general John Lukens, assisted by William Maclay, and the present-day city identifies 1772 as the date of its establishment. It was named after Sunbury-on-Thames in England, which was then in the county of Middlesex. Sunbury was incorporated as a borough on March 24, 1797, and as a city on December 29, 1920.
Lorenzo Da Ponte, the librettist of Mozart and Salieri, lived in Sunbury from 1811 to 1818, working as a teacher, distiller, and merchant.
During the 19th century, Sunbury grew as a transportation and industrial center. The Danville and Pottsville Railroad, a horse-powered line opened between Sunbury and Paxinos in 1835, brought anthracite coal to the riverfront, where it was loaded onto canal boats for shipment to Philadelphia and Baltimore. Later in the century the city became a busy railroad junction, and its industries came to include textiles, metal products, and building materials.
Edison and the first three-wire electric station In 1883, Thomas Edison's company installed the world's first successful three-wire central station for incandescent electric lighting in Sunbury. On July 4, 1883, the City Hotel became the first building illuminated by the new system.Scott, Rob. "Edison Hotel has long, colorful history." Sunbury, Pennsylvania: The Daily Item, July 2, 2007, p. B1 (subscription required). The hotel kept the City Hotel name for decades; it was renamed the Edison Hotel in July 1922, when Edison returned to Sunbury for the city's 150th anniversary celebration."J. W. Treadwell Paid Tribute by PRR Chief." Sunbury, Pennsylvania: The Daily Item, p. 6 of pp. 1, 6 (subscription required).
Flooding and the floodwall
An extensive floodwall protection system was designed and built along the city's riverfront by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1951, and additional height was added to the wall in 2003. The system has protected the city from more than a dozen major flood events.Jaffe Collins, Simone. In June 1972, floodwaters from Hurricane Agnes crested at at Sunbury, two feet higher than the record crest of 1936, but the wall held back the water, and residents wrote messages of gratitude on it afterward.History of Sunbury: The flood wall SEDA-COG, October 12, 2005.
Historic sites
Several sites in Sunbury are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), including the Sunbury Historic District, which encompasses much of the older city between Arch and Chestnut streets.
+ National Register of Historic Places listings in Sunbury Name Built Location Listed NRHP reference no. Beck House 1785 62 N. Front Street 1976 76001659 Northumberland County Courthouse 1865 201 Market Street 1974 74001800 Sunbury Armory 1938 206 Armory Road 1989 89002082 Sunbury Historic District — Roughly bounded by Arch and Chestnut Streets 1983 83004240
Two other NRHP-listed sites carry Sunbury addresses but stand outside the city limits: the Keefer Station Covered Bridge (1888), which crosses Shamokin Creek northeast of the city, and the Caspar Snyder House (1798) in Lower Augusta Township.
Other notable historic buildings in the city include the Hotel Edison (built in 1871 as the City Hotel and renamed for Thomas Edison in 1922) and the Maclay–Wolverton House (1773).
Pennsylvania state historical markers The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has placed more than a dozen state historical markers in and around Sunbury commemorating the city's colonial, Revolutionary, industrial, and cultural history. They include markers for:
The Bloody Spring (1967) Danville–Pottsville Railroad (1947) First Electric Light (1947) Fort Augusta (1948) Lorenzo Da Ponte (1994) Northumberland County (1982) Shikellamy (1915 memorial and 1947 marker) The Sullivan Expedition – Fort Augusta (1929) Sunbury (two markers, 1947) Thompson's Rifle Battalion: Capt. John Lowdon's Company (1987) William Maclay (1947)
Geography Sunbury is at (40.863894, −76.789174), on the east bank of the Susquehanna River at the point where the river's North and West branches converge. The city is about north of Harrisburg.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (4.8%) is water.
Climate
Demographics
Sunbury's population peaked at 15,721 in the 1920 census and has declined in most decades since. The city is the principal city of the Sunbury micropolitan statistical area, which consists of Northumberland County. The Office of Management and Budget groups the Sunbury area with the Bloomsburg–Berwick metropolitan area and the Lewisburg (Union County) and Selinsgrove (Snyder County) micropolitan areas as the Bloomsburg–Berwick–Sunbury combined statistical area.
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Sunbury had a population of 9,719. The median age was 39.1 years; 23.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.8% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.8 males age 18 and over. All of the city's residents lived in areas classified as urban.
There were 4,266 households, of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 30.1% were married-couple households, 23.6% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present, and 34.7% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 38.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 4,790 housing units, of which 10.9% were vacant; the homeowner vacancy rate was 2.6% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.1%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 8,036 82.7% Black or African American 369 3.8% American Indian and Alaska Native 22 0.2% Asian 26 0.3% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 6 0.1% Some other race 561 5.8% Two or more races 699 7.2% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 1,199 12.3%
Earlier censuses As of the 2010 census, there were 9,905 people residing in the city. At the 2000 census, the city's 10,610 residents were 95.26% White, 1.29% African American, 0.26% Asian, 1.91% from other races, and 1.11% from two or more races; Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 3.09% of the population, and the median age was 37 years.
Income and poverty According to American Community Survey estimates for 2017–2021, the median household income in Sunbury was $37,851 and the mean household income was $52,975. About 19.8% of the population was below the poverty line.
Economy Weis Markets, a supermarket chain operating in seven states, was founded in Sunbury in 1912 by brothers Harry and Sigmund Weis and remains headquartered in the city."Contact Us." (Archive) Weis Markets. Retrieved on May 7, 2012. "1000 South Second Street PO Box 471 Sunbury, Pennsylvania 17801"
Great Coasters International, a designer and builder of wooden roller coasters for parks around the world, is headquartered on State Route 890 just outside the city, with a Sunbury address.
Several family businesses in the city date to the 19th and early 20th centuries. Zimmerman Motors on Market Street began making horse-drawn carriages in 1889 and now sells automobiles, and the Sunbury Motor Company on North Fourth Street has operated since 1915. The Squeeze-In, a five-stool hot dog stand on Market Street, has been serving hot dogs since 1945 and celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2025.
Arts and culture The Degenstein Community Library, at 40 South Fifth Street, was founded in 1937 as the Sunbury Public Library; its current building, funded largely by a gift from local businessman Charles B. Degenstein, opened in 2002. The library provides books, internet access, educational classes, summer reading, and adult and youth programs.