Great Bend, PA

Great Bend is a Susquehanna County borough on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, less than two miles from the New York line and just off Interstate 81. The name comes from the river’s long arc through the valley, and the borough was incorporated on November 19, 1861, from parts of Great Bend Township. The river and the road make the geography easy to read: this is a northeastern Pennsylvania place with direct ties toward Binghamton, Scranton, and the towns along the Susquehanna.

Billy Greenwood Memorial Park and Veterans’ Memorial Park overlook the river, giving Great Bend a pair of local vantage points above the water. The borough also sits within the Blue Ridge School District and has a small manufacturing base mixed into its residential streets. Down by the river, the broad valley, wooded hills, and state line give the town a different feel from the larger Interstate corridor nearby. Great Bend is the kind of place where the bend in the river is more than a name; it is the feature that set the town’s history, views, and routes in motion.