East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

East Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Poconos region of the state. Originally known as "Dansbury," East Stroudsburg was renamed for geographic reasons when the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad opened a station in town. It lies east of Stroudsburg and is somewhat more populous than that town. East Stroudsburg is the largest municipality in the East Stroudsburg, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area as designated by the Office of Management and Budget based on data from the 2010 US Census.

Geography

East Stroudsburg is located at 41°0′5″N 75°10′48″W / 41.00139°N 75.18000°W / 41.00139; -75.18000 (41.001442, -75.180111). According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.5 km²), all of it land. When traveling west on Interstate 80, East Stroudsburg is the second town from the NJ-PA border on exit 308.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 11,922 people, 3,145 households, and 1,855 families residing in the borough. The population density was 3,445.6 people per square mile (1,330.2/km²). There were 3,331 housing units at an average density of 1,160.7 per square mile (448.1/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 41.24% White, 52.88%African American, 0.22% Native American, 1.56% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.80% from other races, and 2.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.56% of the population.

East Stroudsburg station

East Stroudsburg is an unused train station built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1856. The station served as the local stop for both East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The depot, recently known locally as the Dansbury Depot for the restaurant that used the building, is located on Crystal Street in East Stroudsburg. The last train to service the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western was on October 16, 1960 and the last through train to Buffalo on the Phoebe Snow ran in 1966. A proposal is currently in place to extend NJ Transit service to a rebuilt East Stroudsburg station.

Station building

Redevelopment

The Stroudsburg area is served by Interstate 80, which links the Pocono Mountains to Northern New Jersey and New York City. High traffic volumes on the highway routinely cause congestion beginning at the Delaware Water Gap (just East of the Stroudsburg area) and extending across New Jersey towards New York City. The former DL&W "cutoff" mainline roughly parallels I-80 across New Jersey, and could potentially alleviate congestion on the highway.