The
United Methodist
Church of Chinchilla
411 Layton Road & Church Street, Chinchilla, PA
Pastor: Anthony "Tony" Schwartz
|
homepage
| worship
schedule | meet
the pastor | about
the church | calendar
| Newsletter
|
| youth news | resources | about chinchilla | cooks corner | meet the staff | contact us - find us |
About Chinchilla
Chinchilla is located in South Abington Township, Lackawanna County of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
The population is approximately 10,000.
Links to Chinchilla (also transitioning to be known as "South Abington Township") :
South Abington Township's Home Page
South Abington Police Department
A Brief History of Chinchilla
The first settlement in what is now known as Chinchilla was made in 1799. Ephraim Leach, a tanner's apprentice from Plainfield, Connecticut, journeyed into the wilds of Pennsylvania in 1790 with a group of fur trappers. He settled near the Gap, or "Notch", as it is often called, building his little log house near the present entrance to the Northeastern extension of the Pennsylvania turnpike. Mr. Leach, however, owned the valley from the Notch, to his homestead. It was called "Leach's Flats".
In 1880 Leach's Flats was renamed "Chinchilla". Local history has two different stories as to how this interesting name was chosen. One such story is that it was decided to select a name by opening a dictionary and choosing a name at random. The other and more widely accepted account is that Chinchilla received its name from the beautiful chinchilla fur coat owned by the postmaster's wife. (A purely fictional tale is that when men would stop in the village after long cold trips from Providence, they would rub their chins and say "chin-chilly"!).
During the first world war, Chinchilla was known briefly as "Pershing" in honor of the famed General Pershing. However, popular sentiment won over patriotism, and the name again changed to Chinchilla.
During the years 1920 to 1950, Chinchilla showed the biggest and most consistent population gain of any municipality in Lackawanna County, growing from 996 in 1920 to 2,648 in 1950. The population in 1977 was 5,700. In 2001, the population was approximately 10,000.
This page was last updated on: June 27, 2008
Our thanks to William Kerber for providing this space!