ERIE, Pa., city, port of entry, county-seat of Erie County, on Lake Erie, and on the Lake Shore, the Pennsylvania, the Erie and several other railroads 85 miles southwest of Buffalo, 100 miles northeast of Cleveland. Erie is on a bluff having a good view of the lake, is laid out with broad streets at right angles with one another, and has several large and attractive parks. It is lighted with electricity, and has a bountiful supply of water from the lake. The peculiarly advantageous location of Erie has given it high rank as a shipping and manufac turing point. It has the largest land-locked harbor on Lake Erie. The harbor has been greatly improved, and is now five miles long by one mile wide, depth 9 to 25 feet. Presque Isle, lying directly in front of the city, furnishes ample protection; three lighthouses stand at the entrance to the harbor, and substantial wharves, where merchandise is transferred directly from vessels to cars, extend along the entire front. The principal industries are manufactures of iron, steam engines, machinery, car-wheels, car work and stoves; flour and grist mill products, brick, leather, organ, pump, furniture and vari ous kinds of woodwork factories, petroleum re fineries, breweries and malthouses. All told, there are 464 manufacturing plants, representing in the aggregate over $40,000,000 capital, employ ing over 16,000 people who receive upwards of $6,500,000 annually in wages, and producing an annual output valued at $30,000,000; the value added by manufacture being about $13,000,000. The leading articles of shipment are lumber, bituminous and semi-bituminous coal, iron ore, petroleum and manufacturing products and these are conveyed by railroads, steamboats and sailing vessels that ply regularly between Erie and other ports on the Great Lakes. Over 1,400
vessels enter and clear annually. Erie ships more than 1,500,000 tons of coal and receives over 1,000,000 tons of ore every year. Among the notable buildings are the city hall, union depot, government building (including post office, custom-house and other departments), State Soldiers' and Sailors' Home on Garrison Hill, Hamot Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital, Protestant Home for the Friendless, United States Marine Hospital and Academy High School. Near the city is a memorial in the form of a blockhouse, erected by the State, in honor of Anthony Wayne. The city is said to ship more freshwater fish than any other port in the world, and to be the leading city in the United States in the output of engines and boilers, has excellent public and private schools, a public library, daily and weekly newspapers, three national and several savings banks. Six banking institutions have a total capital and surplus of $3,700,000 and deposits aggregating over $16,400,000. Erie occupies the site of the old French fort, Presque Isle, built in 1749; was laid out as a town in 1795; had a portion incor porated as a borough in 1805; and the whole was given a city charter in 1851. It was the headquarters of Commodore Perry in the War of 1812; the fleet with which he defeated the British in the battle of Put-in-Bay (10 Sept. 1813) was built and equipped here. Natural gas was discovered in 1889. Pop. (1910) 66,525; (1917) 80,000.