Luke, Maryland
| Luke, Maryland | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 City Building in January 2014 | |
 Location of Luke, Maryland | |
| Coordinates: 39°28′32″N 79°3′28″W / 39.47556°N 79.05778°WCoordinates: 39°28′32″N 79°3′28″W / 39.47556°N 79.05778°W | |
| Country |
 |
| State |
 |
| County |
 |
| Incorporated | 1922[1] |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Edward E. Clemons, Jr.[1] (R) |
| Area[2] | |
| • Total | 0.31 sq mi (0.80 km2) |
| • Land | 0.27 sq mi (0.70 km2) |
| • Water | 0.04 sq mi (0.10 km2) |
| Elevation | 961 ft (293 m) |
| Population (2010)[3] | |
| • Total | 65 |
| • Estimate (2016)[4] | 63 |
| • Density | 210/sq mi (81/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP code | 21540 |
| Area code(s) | 301 |
| FIPS code | 24-48775 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0590707 |
Luke is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, along the Potomac River just upstream of Westernport. Known originally as West Piedmont,[5] the town is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 65 at the 2010 census.[1]
History
The town of Luke was settled in the early 1770s. Among the first settlers to arrive were the Davis brothers (Henry and Thomas), who established a saw mill where the town of Luke now stands. The mill provided cross-ties to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as it pushed its rails westward through the Piedmont area of what is now West Virginia. When the railroad suspended building in the 1880s, the Davis brothers disbanded and sold their property to the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, which built a paper mill in 1888.
About that same time, William Luke and two of his sons arrived. They assiduously applied themselves to developing the place they had adopted. When the railroad needed a name for the stop it established there, it happily accepted "Luke".
Over the next several decades, Luke prospered with the operation of the paper mill, the influx of other "heavy" industrial concerns, and the establishment of the usual supporting Mom and Pop businesses. Nearby, along the Savage River, there was a gun factory that provided muskets with bayonets for the United States Army at Harpers Ferry. Luke was also home of an automobile manufacturing plant where the Maryland Steamer was produced[6] as well as a post card factory.
With Luke's growth came citizens' concerns about educational and social issues. Schooling in private homes and business buildings was relocated to a two-room schoolhouse. Growing enrollment in the first through eighth grades brought about construction of a new school that opened in September 1913. It served the town for forty-six years, sending its students off to Bruce High School in Westernport. When the school closed in 1959, the building was converted for use as the town's administrative offices—the City Building.
Luke is home to the Luke Paper Company, previously the Westvaco Corporation and West Virginia Pulp and Paper Mill. The mill has over a 200 million dollar economic impact on the local economy and supports the coal and rail industry as well as the trucking industry, all part of the Town of Luke's overall partnership with the mill to help the community grow. Luke is located along the Potomac River basin at the foot of Backbone Mountain and is home to the largest private employer in Allegany County.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency listed the paper plant as one of the largest polluters of mercury in Maryland. In 2007, the paper plant voluntarily installed $30 million worth of pollution control equipment to reduce mercury releases.[7] Mercury is a potent neurotoxin.[7] For burning "black liquor", a mix of chemicals and wood waste from the paper-making process, the plant has received renewable energy subsidies totalling about $4 million through 2015, thanks to amendments the paper mill owner convinced Maryland lawmakers to adopt in 2004.[8]
In January 2015, Verso Corporation completed acquisition of NewPage, which had previously owned the Luke Paper Company.[9] As of December 2017, the Luke mill had about 700 employees.[8]
Geography
Luke sits on the inside of a bend in the Potomac between Westernport and Bloomington, Maryland. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.31 square miles (0.80 km2), of which, 0.27 square miles (0.70 km2) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km2) is water.[2]
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1930 | 1,064 | — | |
| 1940 | 988 | −7.1% | |
| 1950 | 820 | −17.0% | |
| 1960 | 587 | −28.4% | |
| 1970 | 424 | −27.8% | |
| 1980 | 329 | −22.4% | |
| 1990 | 184 | −44.1% | |
| 2000 | 80 | −56.5% | |
| 2010 | 65 | −18.7% | |
| Est. 2016 | 63 | [4] | −3.1% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[10] | |||
2010 census
As of the census[3] of 2010, there were 65 people, 33 households, and 18 families residing in the town. The population density was 240.7 inhabitants per square mile (92.9/km2). There were 61 housing units at an average density of 225.9 per square mile (87.2/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 100.0% White. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.2% of the population. The 2017 population stands at 150 residents.
There were 33 households of which 15.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.4% were married couples living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 45.5% were non-families. 39.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 27.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.88 and the average family size was 2.44.
The median age in the town was 48.5 years. 15.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.7% were from 25 to 44; 21.6% were from 45 to 64; and 33.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 53.8% male and 46.2% female.
References
- 1 2 3 "Luke, Allegany County, Maryland". Maryland State Archives. July 10, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
- 1 2 "US Gazetteer files 2010". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2013-01-31. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
- 1 2 "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
- 1 2 "Population and Housing Unit Estimates". Retrieved June 9, 2017.
- ↑ Chidester, Robert C. "A Historic Context for the Archaeology of Industrial Labor in the State of Maryland". heritage.umd.edu. University of Maryland. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
- ↑ Montgomery, Andrew (November 15, 2003). The Illustrated Directory of American Cars. Motor Books International. p. 33. ISBN 9780760315545.
- 1 2 Wheeler, Timothy B. (October 30, 2008). "Groups asking state to crack down on mercury". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 22, 2011.
among the top five mercury polluters in Maryland, according to federal data
- 1 2 Dance, Scott (December 7, 2017). "A Maryland paper mill burns a polluting sludge called black liquor. The state calls it green energy". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
- ↑ "NewPage officials joins Verso". The Cumberland Times-News. January 7, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
The Luke Paper Co., formerly owned by NewPage, officially joined Verso Corp. on Wednesday
- ↑ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
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