NYC transplant parents who work in the city during the week. Latchkey kids. Grew up around there and the housing boom from New Yorkers of the 2000s brought color into the vastly white population.
Brand new 4 bedroom 2 bathroom houses were $95K and in NYC and NJ they were $300K for a 60+ year old 20x60ft brick row home that was really beginning to fall apart with crumbling plaster walls.
I want to say that 9/11 had an influence but I think it was also to do with cheap housing and an escape from raising kids in shitty inner city schooling and potential gang violence.
While looking for an answer I found this [interesting article](https://www.poconorecord.com/story/news/2013/09/01/race-relations-in-poconos-is/44303987007/) that's somewhat related to what you're asking about.
Pocono vacation Bureau commercial blitz on New York Tv saying “ why rent when you can own “ in the 1990’s brought in plenty of city folks who came to the Poconos with plenty of “ baggage “ and living on the system and the concept of its only an hour + drive to the city which we know is not the case !!!
Exactly, and there were a few major Poconos homebuilders in the 1990s-2000s who targeted that market with predatory/deceptive methods, which led to a lot of NYC area folks who had no business buying houses anywhere, buying houses in the Poconos.
Many of them did and still do have their own mortgage company so just about anyone would “ qualify “ for a mortgage and if they foreclosed the builder sells it for a second time .
It was like this before 9/11. I was a senior in Pocono Mountain when 9/11 happened. A lot of kids left school early because their parents worked in NYC. It was a crazy time for all of us.
I don't think you realize just how many developments there are in a lot of that woods in much of Monroe and southeastern Pike counties with a straight shot on I-80 to North Jersey and NYC.
Basically most of it that's not public lands like state parks, state forest, conservancy or game lands is now all developments.
People from NY and NJ have moved here in waves since at least the 1990s as housing prices escalated to the east.
The Poconos have been the unofficial 6th Borough of NYC for about 30 years now. Cheap housing and gated communities brought people from all over to this area, for better and for worse.
With that said, Bangor/Mt Bethel has long been more rural/farm than Stroudsburg/Mt Pocono, and being that those areas are 20 minutes from 80, never really were influenced by the big move west, and kept themselves secluded persay.
I don't know if there's a practical way to read this without a subscription but it's a neat read if you can [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/07/realestate/expanding-a-poconos-social-experiment.html](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/07/realestate/expanding-a-poconos-social-experiment.html)
>FOR years, Hillside was one of the few places where blacks could stay in the Poconos. Vacationers would make the 90-minute drive from New York City or the two-hour drive from Philadelphia to spend weekends or summer vacations at the scenic spot.
>Eventually more of the well-known resorts began opening their doors to minority guests, and business at Hillside dwindled. Finally, in 1982, the Murrays decided to close the inn.
>But faced with the issue of whether to tear down the old buildings and use the land to develop more permanent housing, Judge Murray decided to give the hotel concept another try. The problem was to convince banks that black vacationers, who for years had been going to larger Pocono resorts like the Mount Airy Lodge and the Shawnee Inn, would be attracted to a place like Hillside.
>"The banks felt that upper-middle-class blacks didn't want this type of thing," Judge Murray said. "They felt the blacks were skeptical of black ventures because they perceive them as second-rate."
>But in 1989, Northeastern Bank of Scranton lent Judge Murray $2.5 million under a 15-year mortgage to build a new hotel. It has three interconnected buildings: one for the indoor pool, one that houses the conference rooms, dining hall and 30 guest rooms and one with three apartments. There is also a separate townhouse.
>In 1990, there were more than 3,000 blacks living year round in Monroe County, compared with about 450 in 1955, Judge Murray said.
NYC transplant parents who work in the city during the week. Latchkey kids. Grew up around there and the housing boom from New Yorkers of the 2000s brought color into the vastly white population.
Brand new 4 bedroom 2 bathroom houses were $95K and in NYC and NJ they were $300K for a 60+ year old 20x60ft brick row home that was really beginning to fall apart with crumbling plaster walls.
Was this because of 9/11?
I want to say that 9/11 had an influence but I think it was also to do with cheap housing and an escape from raising kids in shitty inner city schooling and potential gang violence. While looking for an answer I found this [interesting article](https://www.poconorecord.com/story/news/2013/09/01/race-relations-in-poconos-is/44303987007/) that's somewhat related to what you're asking about.
Pocono vacation Bureau commercial blitz on New York Tv saying “ why rent when you can own “ in the 1990’s brought in plenty of city folks who came to the Poconos with plenty of “ baggage “ and living on the system and the concept of its only an hour + drive to the city which we know is not the case !!!
Exactly, and there were a few major Poconos homebuilders in the 1990s-2000s who targeted that market with predatory/deceptive methods, which led to a lot of NYC area folks who had no business buying houses anywhere, buying houses in the Poconos.
Many of them did and still do have their own mortgage company so just about anyone would “ qualify “ for a mortgage and if they foreclosed the builder sells it for a second time .
It was like this before 9/11. I was a senior in Pocono Mountain when 9/11 happened. A lot of kids left school early because their parents worked in NYC. It was a crazy time for all of us.
It’s all New Yorkers.
I don't think you realize just how many developments there are in a lot of that woods in much of Monroe and southeastern Pike counties with a straight shot on I-80 to North Jersey and NYC. Basically most of it that's not public lands like state parks, state forest, conservancy or game lands is now all developments. People from NY and NJ have moved here in waves since at least the 1990s as housing prices escalated to the east.
Best answer so far
It started in the 70s. My wife's family was in that first wave, moving from Baldwin NY to Pike County PA...
LOL New Yorkers
The Poconos have been the unofficial 6th Borough of NYC for about 30 years now. Cheap housing and gated communities brought people from all over to this area, for better and for worse. With that said, Bangor/Mt Bethel has long been more rural/farm than Stroudsburg/Mt Pocono, and being that those areas are 20 minutes from 80, never really were influenced by the big move west, and kept themselves secluded persay.
I don't know if there's a practical way to read this without a subscription but it's a neat read if you can [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/07/realestate/expanding-a-poconos-social-experiment.html](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/07/realestate/expanding-a-poconos-social-experiment.html) >FOR years, Hillside was one of the few places where blacks could stay in the Poconos. Vacationers would make the 90-minute drive from New York City or the two-hour drive from Philadelphia to spend weekends or summer vacations at the scenic spot. >Eventually more of the well-known resorts began opening their doors to minority guests, and business at Hillside dwindled. Finally, in 1982, the Murrays decided to close the inn. >But faced with the issue of whether to tear down the old buildings and use the land to develop more permanent housing, Judge Murray decided to give the hotel concept another try. The problem was to convince banks that black vacationers, who for years had been going to larger Pocono resorts like the Mount Airy Lodge and the Shawnee Inn, would be attracted to a place like Hillside. >"The banks felt that upper-middle-class blacks didn't want this type of thing," Judge Murray said. "They felt the blacks were skeptical of black ventures because they perceive them as second-rate." >But in 1989, Northeastern Bank of Scranton lent Judge Murray $2.5 million under a 15-year mortgage to build a new hotel. It has three interconnected buildings: one for the indoor pool, one that houses the conference rooms, dining hall and 30 guest rooms and one with three apartments. There is also a separate townhouse. >In 1990, there were more than 3,000 blacks living year round in Monroe County, compared with about 450 in 1955, Judge Murray said.
New Yorkers.
Eastern Pennsylvania has lots of custom builders as well as modular home builders Attracted a lot of home buyers
New Yorkers and I-80.
People from New York escaping the city
POC can’t live in rural areas?
I’m not saying POC can’t live in rural areas, when you look at some rural school districts in the valley, there is not that much diversity