Erie

Erie, city in northwestern Pennsylvania, seat of Erie County, and a port of entry on Lake Erie. The city has an almost completely enclosed harbor, formed by Presque Isle peninsula and linked with Lake Erie by a narrow channel. Erie is Pennsylvania’s only port on the Great Lakes. It has benefited from trade with Canada across the lake and from access to the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence Seaway. The city grew as a manufacturing center producing plastics products, locomotives, boilers, engines, meters, turbines, fabricated metal, and paper. Air transportation is provided through Erie International Airport.

Educational institutions in Erie include Mercyhurst College (1926); Gannon University (1925); The Behrend College (1948), part of Pennsylvania State University; and a technical college. Numerous historical museums and attractions are found in Erie. Particularly notable is the restored brigantine Niagara, flagship of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, from which he won the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. Associated with the ship is a new maritime museum.

The center of cultural activity in the city is Discovery Square, comprising three museums: the Erie Art Museum, in the brick-and-marble Old Customs House (1839); the Erie Historical Museum, in the Greek Revival-style Cashiers House (1839); and the Erie Historical Society’s new Erie History Center, which includes a children’s museum. Erie also has a philharmonic orchestra, ballet company, and several theatrical organizations. A popular destination for tourists and residents is the sandy swimming beaches of Presque Isle State Park, on the peninsula forming Erie’s harbor. The city’s leading annual festival, CelebrateErie, is on the waterfront in August.

The Erie people were living in the region when it was first explored by the French in the early 1600s. In 1753 a French military expedition built Fort de la Presque Isle on the peninsula. The French abandoned the fort in 1759, and subsequently the British occupied the site and rebuilt the fort. To drive the British from their frontier possessions and to reestablish Native American control, the Ottawa leader Pontiac organized a confederacy of Great Lakes and Ohio Valley tribes in 1763. His forces defeated the British and destroyed Fort de la Presque Isle. A permanent white settlement at Erie was laid out in 1795.

During the War of 1812 (1812-1815), Commodore Perry used ships made in Erie to defeat the British in the decisive Battle of Lake Erie. The community began to grow when the Erie Canal was completed in 1825 and grew again when the railroads arrived in the 1850s. Erie was incorporated as a city in 1851. By the end of the 19th century, Erie had grown into a hub of commerce on the lake and a major industrial center.

Erie covers a land area of 57 sq km (22 sq mi), with a mean elevation of 208 m (684 ft). According to the 2000 census, whites are 80.6 percent of the population, blacks 14.2 percent, Asians 0.7 percent, and Native Americans 0.2 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders represent less than 0.1 percent of the population. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report race. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 4.4 percent of the people. Population 119,123 (1980); 108,718 (1990); 103,717 (2000); 102,036 (2006).