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Lewistown, Pennsylvania

borough in Pennsylvania, United States

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ1184736 ↗
Source-derived summary

Lewistown is a borough in and the county seat of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the principal city of the Lewistown, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Mifflin County. It lies along the Juniata River, 61 miles (98 km) northwest of Harrisburg.

The number of people living in the borough in 1900 was 4,451; in 1910, 8,166; in 1940, 13,017; and in 2000, 8,998. The population was 8,561 at the 2020 census.

History

18th century

The borough was incorporated in 1795 and was named for William "Bill" Lewis, a Quaker and a member of the state legislature. He gained designation of the borough, which was known then as the Village of Ohesson, as the county seat of Mifflin County.

19th century

During the late 19th century, Mifflin County became the crossroads of the Commonwealth. Located near the geographic center of the state, the area became a hub for traffic moving in every direction. Early roads crisscrossed the region, but it was the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal and the railroads that followed that gave stimulus to Mifflin County as an economic force in the state.

Editorial summary

“Lewistown, Pennsylvania” enters the record as borough in Pennsylvania, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lewistown, Pennsylvania and borough can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1900, 1910, 1940, 2000—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1790. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Lewistown, Pennsylvania and borough.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Lewistown, Pennsylvania” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lewistown, Pennsylvania and borough provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1184736. Authority coordinates are 40.597, -77.573. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1900, 1910, 1940 and 2000.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Lewistown, Pennsylvania”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Lewistown, Pennsylvania primary sources, Lewistown, Pennsylvania archive and Lewistown research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lewistown, Pennsylvania”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Lewistown, Pennsylvania” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.