Erie

Erie, city, Pennsylvania, United States. A commercial and manufacturing centre, Erie serves as a shipping point for coal, iron ore, petroleum, timber, and industrial and agricultural products. Machinery, transport equipment, paper, printed materials, metal, plastic, and rubber products, electrical goods, and processed foods are manufactured in the area. Mercyhurst College (1926) and the Pennsylvania State University Behrend College (1926) are the main educational institutions.

In 1753 a French military expedition built Fort de la Presque Isle on the peninsula whose curve forms Erie's harbour. The French abandoned the fort in 1759 and subsequently the British occupied the site and rebuilt the fort. To drive the British from their frontier possessions and re-establish Native American autonomy, the Ottawa leader Pontiac organized a confederacy of Great Lakes and Ohio Valley tribes in 1763. His forces defeated the British and destroyed Fort de la Presque Isle. A permanent white settlement at Erie was laid out in 1795. The main growth of the community began with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 and arrival of the railways in the 1850s. It is named after the Erie Indians. Population (1980) 119,123; (1990) 108,718.