From railroad town to modern campus life on the east side of the Burgs
Separated by the run of the Brodhead Creek, East Stroudsburg is the more populous, eastern counterpart to Stroudsburg, its twin borough and seat of Monroe County. Tied to -- but independent of -- its namesake double, East Stroudsburg has developed from a small, industrial railroad town into a borough of nearly 10,000 residents with twin industry giants of its own: East Stroudsburg University and Lehigh Valley Hospital – Pocono. These major institutions are only part of the outsized reputation of Eastburg, as locals refer to it, and its footprint in the surrounding mountain towns of northeast Pennsylvania. “It’s important to know that there’s an East Stroudsburg borough with a growing town center, but there are also two East Stroudsburg ZIP codes. That area fans out toward Pike County and makes a sharp fishhook that almost surrounds Stroudsburg,” says Bob Kelly, a Realtor with the Kelly Realty Group of Keller Williams Real Estate who lives and specializes in Monroe County. Cradled by major interstate commuter highways and crisscrossed by two-lane country roads, East Stroudsburg is a pocket of historic landmarks and modern developments among the ridges of the Poconos, plugged into its internal college town and commercial centers while also taking strides to better connect with urban hubs as distant as New York City.
In the late 19th century, East Stroudsburg got its name and first significant population boost in the way of many historic Northeast PA municipalities: its stop on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. Manufacturers crafted and shipped matches, cigars, glass and tanned hides by way of Monroe County’s connected waterways and by rail. All around the East Stroudsburg Train Station, commercial buildings and newly platted residential streets catered to a growing population. Passenger rail service stopped by 1970, but the historic East Stroudsburg Train Station has been burned, rebuilt and shifted away from its original foundation, now acting as the seat of the Eastburg Community Alliance after a brief stint as the Dansbury Depot restaurant. Train tracks still carry the occasional regional freight train through the borough. Restoring passenger trains from Scranton through East Stroudsburg toward New York City has long been a goal, and recent federal funding and buzz from Amtrak has renewed hope that service may be restored by 2028.
Beyond being one of the borough’s largest employers, the Lehigh Valley Hospital – Pocono campus has been a fixture for medical care through multiple ownership and name changes since opening as General Hospital in 1915. Expansion by both the Lehigh Valley and St. Luke’s University health networks has brought about an influx of new treatment offices and general hospitals to the once underserved Poconos region in recent decades. The hospital in East Stroudsburg has developed a reputation for excellent cancer treatment through the Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center.
Once a small, industrial railroad town, East Stroudsburg has grown significantly throughout the years.
Lehigh Valley Hospital, a top employer in the area, contributes to the continued growth of Stroudsburg.
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Higher education at East Stroudsburg University
East Stroudsburg Area School District earns a B-minus from Niche. Although the district’s attendance zone stretches into the rural Pike County townships of Lehman and Porter, all borough residents will attend a K-12 pipeline that ends with East Stroudsburg South High School, which earns a B-plus. Notre Dame is a popular private Catholic school system in the area, positioning an elementary school and junior/senior high school on the same 40-acre campus. Smaller class sizes are one reason for the junior/senior high school’s A-rating from Niche, as is its relationship with local houses of worship like St. Matthew’s Church. Other churches within the borough reflect Pennsylvania’s large, blended population of Christian denominations, and a masjid and synagogue hold services across the Brodhead in Stroudsburg.
East Stroudsburg University was established in 1893 as a Normal School, a teaching college that eventually transitioned from private ownership into a member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. In 2023, nearly 5,500 ESU Warriors were enrolled in 58 undergraduate and 23 master’s or doctoral programs, earning degrees in everything from business management and psychology to biology and exercise science.
East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania is a local hive of activity.
East Stroudsburg University is close by to Twin Lake Estates.
Stroudsburg High School in Stroudsburg, PA is know as the Mountaineers.
Notre Dame High School provides diverse educational activities for all students.
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Warrior athletics and Eastburg community events
Warrior pride is felt most at the annual Homecoming Bonfire or graduation ceremony and it fills athletic fields and campus centers throughout the year. “ESU has an amazing women’s field hockey team, they've gone to national championships multiple times in the last five years,” Kelly says. When not attending or competing in games on Whitenight Field or at Eiler-Martin Stadium, students attend arts and cultural events far from AstroTurf and bleacher seating. The Fine and Performing Arts Building is a hub for student art exhibitions and theatrical performances on stages of multiple sizes and types.
While tourists may spill over from Stroudsburg into Eastburg, events in the eastern borough tend toward the family-friendly and firework-filled. The Eastburg Community Alliance takes the lead in blocking off Crystal Street, bringing food trucks, art vendors and musicians in for an afternoon of seasonal fun at the annual Fall Fireworks Festival and summertime Eastburg Big Bang.
Stroudfest is sponsored by Sherman Theater in downtown Stroudsburg.
East Stroudsburg residents buzz with Warrior pride during all of the different sports seasons.
The Fine and Performing Arts Building is gathering place for creatives and spectators.
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Prewar blocks and rural New Traditional homes in East Stroudsburg
Homes near East Stroudsburg’s town center trend older, taking on familiar prewar styles on closely plotted, sidewalk-lined blocks that range from simple bungalows and national gable-fronts to peaked, attached twin homes and larger Queen Annes. Midcentury suburban styles like ranch-style homes popped up over the years, and New Traditional construction in either new subdivisions or remote, forested lots become more common outside of the borough, deeper into the East Stroudsburg ZIP codes. The median price for a home is $310,000, significantly below the National Association of Realtors' reported national cost of $416,700. Homes sell in around 46 days on average, similar to the national turnaround of 44 days.
Single family homes of all styles can be found around Downtown Stroudsburg.
Residents of Lake Valhalla take great pride in their homes.
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Parks and recreation along the Brodhead
When late spring settles over Brodhead Creek, the air fills with looping, whizzing casts as fly fishers return to one of the waterways that established the tradition in America. Organizations like the Pocono Heritage Land Trust and Brodhead Watershed Association and catch-and-release anglers help maintain the waterway’s historic and modern reputation for excellent trout fishing. Many popular access spots are north of the borough at preserves like ForEvergreen, but East Stroudsburg’s own waterfront parks, like Dansbury Park, offer creek access between classic community park facilities and the grass-and-gravel run of the Levee Loop Trail. All around East Stroudsburg, countless four-season recreation centers fill the forested hills of the Poconos, from the snowy ski slopes of Shawnee Mountain to the long, rhododendron-shaded hiking trails near Delaware Water Gap borough’s stretch of the Appalachian Trail.
The four seasons in question are temperate. Summer highs reach the mid-80s and winter lows dip below freezing. Residents will see snow in the winter and rain throughout the year.
Residents can walk along sections of the Appalachian Trail in East Stroudsburg.
Get some air time at the skate park at Stroudsburg Borough Park in Stroudsburg, PA.
Camelback Resort is a water park and winter ski destination nearby to Pocono Haven, PA.
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The Crystal Street Streetscape Project
One-way traffic patterns implemented in 2024 marked the first stage of the Crystal Street Streetscape Project, a borough-led push to make its revitalizing small business district as pedestrian-friendly and picturesque as possible. Widened sidewalks and a raised pedestrian crosswalk will join enhanced, decorative lighting to illuminate trendy small businesses like the farm-to-table Farmhouse Eatery and Trackside Grill & Bar that already stand down the block from the preserved East Stroudsburg Railroad Switch Tower. Further businesses pocket the intersection of Courtland and Washington streets, from bars and cafes to the historic Pocono Cinema and Cultural Center to a costume and horror showroom shop so popular around Halloween that it’s started charging admission. Big box names like GIANT and Walmart anchor strip malls off U.S. Route 209 in Pocono Plaza.
Farmhouse Eatery is a popular dining spot for East Stroudsburg residents.
The East Stroudsburg Borough has made great efforts to revitalize Crystal Street.
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New York City commuting and the I-80 Reconstruction Project
Route 209 has long ushered traffic between Poconos destinations like Jim Thorpe and New York City, and cuts through the Burgs on a business route. State Route 611 has a similar regional highway role, accessible just west of the borough. Interstate 80 is a fixture for tourists and local traffic, offering a roughly 75-mile drive to New York City.
After a long period of study, implementation and mixed expressions of public opinion, the Interstate 80 Reconstruction Project is underway, seeking to improve safety and decrease congestion on a 3-mile stretch lined with Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg exit ramps. While the full project has a wide scope and is slated to take over a decade, notable changes to Eastburg’s immediate surroundings include bridge reconstructions, roundabout and signal reconfigurations around Exit 308 and a widening from four lanes to six lanes.
Pocono Pony buses offer public transit routes throughout Monroe County. From the Stroudsburg/Delaware Water Gap terminal, Martz buses have a roughly 90-minute trip to New York City on limited commuter routes. To board commercial flights, passengers are likely to head nearly 40 miles away to Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown.
Flood risk and crime rates in East Stroudsburg
Disaster struck the Burgs in 1955 when the connective bridge spanning the Brodhead Creek was among many in the Poconos that was washed away by back-to-back storm surges that took dozens of lives. Anti-flooding infrastructure is marked by signs for the Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg Flood Protection projects and the physical dams, levees and spillways that help maintain safe water levels. The creek still carves a higher-risk flood zone along the borough’s western edge, covering low-lying residential areas, parks and commercial buildings.
According to the FBI’s crime data, the region's violent crime rate of 164.18 per 100,000 people for 2023 was above the national average and significantly higher than Pennsylvania’s rate of 68.72. Property crime was much closer to state rates at 187.64 per 100,000 people compared to Pennsylvania’s 127.42 per 100,000. Crime rates are reported by the Stroud Area Regional Police Department which covers both Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg as well as Stroud Township.
Written By
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Video By
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On average, homes in East Stroudsburg, PA sell after 38 days on the market compared to the national average of 52 days. The median sale price for homes in East Stroudsburg, PA over the last 12 months is $315,000, up 3% from the median home sale price over the previous 12 months.
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