Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

Recently I had a discussion with my friend Tara about zip codes and municipalities. It got heated, as it often does when you talk about zip codes. Or is that just me? Someone tell me if I’m the only one getting all passionate about zip codes.

What happened was that Tara fell into a very common misunderstanding about Lock Haven. She assumed that Flemington and Castanea were both just sub-sections of Lock Haven, the way Manhattan is just a part of New York. Most people would just let this go, but I had to explain. And explain. And explain.

Lock Haven is a clearly defined municipality, a city of the third class. It has definite city limits, which stop short of Flemington and Castanea. In fact, you do not want to imply to the Flemingtonians that they’re part of Lock Haven—They will bite you for that, and I don’t blame them. Flemington is its own independent community. In fact, when Flemington was officially made part of Lock Haven in 1870, the citizens there hated that, and broke off and became independent again seven years later.

This impression comes from the fact that some people live in Castanea, Flemington, Woolrich, Swissdale, or other areas, and have a Lock Haven address. You can live as far as thirty miles north of the city limits and still have “Lock Haven” on your mail, but that doesn’t mean you actually live in Lock Haven.
I blame the post office.

Back in the old days, when people were dependent on horses to go anyplace, every little community had its own post office. So Dunnstown mail went to Dunnstown, while Mill Hall mail went to Mill Hall, and so on. Then in 1963, the post office invented the Zone Improvement Plan, where areas were all assigned numbers. (I’m using the term “Improvement” very loosely here.) That was when Lock Haven became 17745.

Post offices began to close, and due to economic reasons, are still closing. As they closed, the Lock Haven post office took over the area, expanding the zip code. This means that people who live a fair distance outside Lock Haven have Lock Haven addresses. The same process led to the myth that Jersey Shore is half in Lycoming County and half in Clinton. No, Jersey Shore is entirely in Lycoming County, but their post office will cross the border.

A portion of the 17745 zip code even extends up into Lycoming County up around Slate Run, and I think we can all agree that Slate Run is not part of Lock Haven. But the post office has to drive that far.

On a practical level, what does this mean? That’s another thing I had to explain to poor Tara, who had to be getting pretty tired of me by the end of this conversation. Well, each of these areas—Lock Haven, the local boroughs and villages, the townships—They all have their own governments. Some are bigger and more active than others, but they all have clearly defined territories and responsibilities. You think that doesn’t matter? Then try living in, say, Gallagher Township and calling Lock Haven city hall to complain about a pothole in your road.

You’ll immediately be told that’s not their area, it doesn’t matter what your mail says, and you need to call the township.

Politics is another example. You can’t run for Lock Haven’s city council unless you live within the Lock Haven city limits—Five feet outside the border, and you’re out of luck. You can’t even vote for city council unless you live in Lock Haven, at least not legally.

I’m always careful to respect those borders when I write my columns—I don’t want to give people the impression that something historic happened in the wrong location. So I try very hard to be careful how I refer to the city, the boroughs, and the townships. It leads me to get a little overexcited about it. Sorry, Tara.