St. Thomas Township is a township in Franklin County

Franklin County, Pennsylvania

As of the census of 2000, there were 129,313 people, 50,633 households, and 36,405 families residing in the county. The population density was 168 people per square mile . There were 53,803 housing units at an average density of 70 per square mile...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 5,775 at the 2000 census.

It is the birthplace of Baseball Hall of Fame member Nellie Fox

Nellie Fox

Jacob Nelson Fox was a Major League Baseball second baseman for the Chicago White Sox. Fox was born in St. Thomas Township, Pennsylvania. He was selected as the MVP of the American League in...

.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau

United 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...

, the township has a total area of 51.7 square miles (134.0 km²), of which, 51.7 square miles (133.9 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.04%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 5,775 people, 2,141 households, and 1,665 families residing in the township. The population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 111.7 people per square mile (43.1/km²). There were 2,292 housing units at an average density of 44.3/sq mi (17.1/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 97.96% White, 0.66% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.24% from other races

Race (United States Census)

Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 0.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.74% of the population.

There were 2,141 households out of which 34.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% were married couples

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.2% were non-families. 17.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the township the population was spread out with 25.4% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 25.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 102.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.3 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $39,980, and the median income for a family was $43,245. Males had a median income of $30,426 versus $21,778 for females. The per capita income

Per capita income

Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the township was $17,615. About 5.7% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.5% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those age 65 or over.

History

The account of the townhip’s formation was lost when the Confederates burned the county seat Chambersburg in 1864, but according to the recollection of older citizens the township was organized ca. 1818 on territory taken from Peters and Hamilton Townships. The area was settled in the 1740s by, among others, Col. John Armstrong, John Campbell, and John Dixon. There were several Campbell families among the early settlers, and an eighteenth-century map labels the village simply Campbells. It was later called Campbelltown, a designation that prevailed for many years until, at the suggestion of William Archibald, it received the official designation St. Thomas, purportedly still honoring Thomas Campbell, who had laid out the village. The organization of the town appears to have been concurrent with the organization of the St. Thomas or “Campbeltown” Presbyterian Church in 1818. Not long afterwards local Evangelical Lutheran and German Reformed congregations joined the Presbyterians in the erection of a church building, which the three congregations shared from 1829 until 1854.