Mount Joy is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 7,410 at the 2010 census, and an estimated 8,278 in 2019.
Name and origin
The name is often shortened to "Mt Joy", as in Mencken (1963). However, citizens of the town often point out that this abbreviation is not proper because the town is not named for a mountain but is named after the "Good Ship" Mountjoy which famously broke a Catholic siege during the Siege of Derry. Due to the early settlement of the Protestant Scots-Irish in this region of Pennsylvania, many of the municipalities in the area were given names common to the North of Ireland, such as Derry Township, Londonderry Township, South Londonderry Township, Mount Joy Township, East Donegal Township, West Donegal Township, and Rapho Township.
Mount Joy is often named in lists of "delightfully-named towns" in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, along with Intercourse, Blue Ball, Lititz, Bareville, Bird-in-Hand and Paradise.
General information
ZIP code: 17552
Area code: 717
Local phone codes: 492, 653, 928
Geography
Mount Joy is located in northwestern Lancaster County at (40.109895, -76.510977). Pennsylvania Route 230 passes through the center of town as Main Street, leading southeast to Lancaster, the county seat, and northwest to Elizabethtown. Harrisburg, the state capital, is to the northwest via PA-230. PA-772 crosses PA-230 west of the borough center and leads northeast to Manheim and southwest to Marietta on the Susquehanna River.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of , of which , or 0.64%, are water. Little Chiques Creek, a south-flowing tributary of Chiques Creek and part of the Susquehanna River watershed, crosses the eastern side of the borough.
In the 1970s, Mount Joy was chosen as the site of one of ten Decision Information Distribution System radio stations, designed to alert the public of an enemy attack. The system was never implemented and the station was not built.
Demographics
The 2010 United States Census reports the following demographics for Mount Joy Borough:
Total population: 7,410
Male: 3,624
Female: 3,786
Hispanic or Latino: 549
White: 6,809
African American: 187
Asian: 58
American Indian and Alaska Native: 20
Identified by two or more: 170
Museums and historic sites
Bube's Brewery and Central Hotel
Donegal Mills Plantation
George Brown's Sons Cotton and Woolen Mill
Nissly Swiss Chocolate Company
Notable people
Kaufman Thuma "K.T." Keller, president and CEO, Chrysler Corporation
Joseph F. Knipe, brigadier general, 46th PA Infantry, during the American Civil War
Donald Kraybill, researcher and author on Anabaptist groups
Clarence Charles Newcomer (1923–2005), United States federal judge
Winfred Trexler Root, historian
Mike Sarbaugh, coach, Cleveland Guardians
Clarence Stoll, president, Western Electric Company
