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Joseph Priestley House

Biographical museums in PennsylvaniaHistoric house museums in PennsylvaniaHouses completed in 1798Houses in Northumberland County, PennsylvaniaHouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Museums in Northumberland County, PennsylvaniaNational Historic Landmarks in PennsylvaniaNational Register of Historic Places in Northumberland County, PennsylvaniaUse mdy dates from August 2023Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages
Joseph Priestley House
Joseph Priestley House

The Joseph Priestley House was the American home of eighteenth-century British theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher (and co-discoverer of oxygen), educator, and political theorist Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) from 1798 until his death. Located in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, the house, which was designed by Priestley's wife Mary, is Georgian with Federalist accents. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) operated it as a museum dedicated to Joseph Priestley from 1970 to August 2009, when it closed due to low visitation and budget cuts. The house reopened in October 2009, still owned by the PHMC but operated by the Friends of Joseph Priestley House (FJPH). Fleeing religious persecution and political turmoil in Britain, the Priestleys emigrated to the United States in 1794 seeking a peaceful life. Hoping to avoid the political troubles that had plagued them in Britain and the problems of urban life they saw in the United States, the Priestleys built a house in rural Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, political disputes and family troubles dogged Priestley during the last ten years of his life. After the Priestleys died, their home remained in private hands until the turn of the twentieth century, when George Gilbert Pond, a professor from what is now Pennsylvania State University, bought it and attempted to found the first Priestley museum. He died before he could complete the project and it was not until the 1960s that the house was first carefully restored by the PHMC and designated a National Historic Landmark. A second renovation was undertaken in the 1990s to return the home to the way it looked during Priestley's time. The home has been a frequent place of celebration for the American Chemical Society; they commemorated the centennial and bicentennial of the discovery of oxygen gas by Priestley as well as the 250th anniversary of Priestley's birth.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Joseph Priestley House (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Joseph Priestley House
Priestley Avenue,

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N 40.8905 ° E -76.789861111111 °
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Priestley Avenue 450
17857
Pennsylvania, United States
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Joseph Priestley House
Joseph Priestley House
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Pennsylvania Canal (West Branch Division)
Pennsylvania Canal (West Branch Division)

The West Branch Division of the Pennsylvania Canal ran 73 miles (117 km) from the canal basin at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, at the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River with the main stem of the Susquehanna River, north through Muncy, then west through Williamsport, Jersey Shore, and Lock Haven to its terminus in Farrandsville. At its southern terminus in the Northumberland basin, the West Branch Canal met the North Branch Canal and the Susquehanna Division Canal. Through these connections to other divisions of the Pennsylvania Canal, it formed part of a multi-state water transportation system including the Main Line of Public Works.Between Northumberland and Muncy, the canal lay east of the river. Beyond Muncy, where the river makes a right-angle turn, the canal lay to the north. Started in 1828 and completed in 1835, it had 19 lift locks overcoming a total vertical rise of about 140 feet (43 m). The locks, beginning with No. 13, slightly upstream of the Northumberland Canal Basin, and ending with No. 34 at Lockport, across the river from Lock Haven, included two guard locks and an outlet lock in addition to the 19 lift locks.The state intended to extend the West Branch Canal from Farrandsville further upstream along the West Branch Susquehanna River to the mouth of Sinnemahoning Creek. Plans called for 33 miles (53 km) of canal, but the project was abandoned along with the idea that the West Branch Canal would eventually connect to the Allegheny River in western Pennsylvania.