North Pole, New York
Encyclopedia
Wilmington, New York
Wilmington is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 1,131 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Wilmington, Delaware.The Town of Wilmington is on the county's north border and is southwest of Plattsburgh...
, Essex County, New York
Essex County, New York
Essex County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 39,370. Its name is from the English county of Essex. Its county seat is Elizabethtown...
in the Adirondack Mountains
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
.
Geography
This tiny hamlet is situated in Adirondack Park at the northern edge of Essex County (44.3°N 74°W) near Whiteface MountainWhiteface Mountain
Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in New York State, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view featuring the Adirondacks and perhaps on a clear day glimpses of Vermont and even Canada. The...
, 12 miles (19 km) from Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
and approximately 30 miles (48 km) from Plattsburgh, New York.
North Pole is touted as one of the best places in the Northeast for those who love a white Christmas, with historical weather data gathered at nearby Tupper Lake, New York every year since 1948 claiming a 96% chance of any amount of snow for the holiday.
Demographics
The United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
did not report any separate figures for North Pole in 2000, instead treating it as part of a larger area including Lake Placid, NY. Of a total of 8,098 people in the region, 1,444 are under 18, 1,072 are age 65 or over, 87% are White and 10.7% are African American.
North Pole does not have its own bank, school, library, fire department, newspaper, police station or community organizations and most local businesses have closed their doors. North Pole has a small community postal station at 201 Main St, which is open only on a seasonal basis.
Media
BurlingtonBurlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
/Plattsburgh-market NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WPTZ
WPTZ
WPTZ, virtual channel 5, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Plattsburgh, New York, USA. WPTZ is owned by Hearst Television, and has its studios in Plattsburgh and transmitter located on Mount Mansfield in Vermont....
(channel 5) was licensed to North Pole at the time of its sign-on (as WIRI) in 1954. In 1999 the station petitioned the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
to reallocate its broadcast frequency (now on digital channel
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
14) to Plattsburgh, on the grounds that the hamlet has always been small and continues to lose population, with four houses remaining near North Pole's main crossroads.
While the station's studios were built on Television Drive in Plattsburgh, that lakeside
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
city is low-lying ground relative to the surrounding Adirondack Mountains
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
. The station's analogue broadcast transmitter had therefore been situated upon a mountaintop near North Pole, operating from this location until 2009. While WPTZ's digital UHF TV transmitter facilities are now located atop Mount Mansfield
Mount Mansfield
Mount Mansfield is the highest mountain in Vermont with a summit that peaks at above sea level. The summit is in Underhill; the ridgeline, including some secondary peaks, extends into the town of Stowe, and the mountain's flanks also reach into the town of Cambridge.When viewed from the east or...
in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, alongside WCAX-TV
WCAX-TV
WCAX-TV, virtual channel 3, is a television station in Burlington, Vermont, USA. WCAX is affiliated with the CBS Television Network and has been locally owned by the Hasbrook/Martin family and their company, Mount Mansfield Television, since the station's inception...
and other broadcasters in the region, the station's license (and therefore the on-air station ID) remained in North Pole until January 5, 2011, when the FCC approved WPTZ's request and formally moved its license to Plattsburgh.
Tourism
Santa's WorkshopSanta's Workshop (amusement park)
Santa's Workshop in Wilmington, New York at the "North Pole" is an amusement park that has been in operation since 1949. It was one of the first theme parks in the United States . On December 16, 1953, the U.S...
on Whiteface Mountain Memorial Highway, Route 431, is the North Pole hamlet's main attraction.
Open from mid-June onward, it bills itself as the oldest theme park in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, featuring Santa at the North Pole with live reindeer and a traditional Christmas theme with the North Pole post office (ZIP code 12997) serving as a fine place to mail holiday greetings.
Created in 1949 with costumed characters, a frosty "north pole" ice column and a small menagerie which may well be the first petting zoo, Santa's Workshop in North Pole was ahead of its time and spawned many imitators. Originally built on the road to Whiteface Mountain by a Lake Placid businessman whose daughter had desperately wanted to see Santa's house, it caught the eye of planners designing an entire generation of theme parks, including the first Disney parks (designed in the 1950s).