Dover, Pennsylvania

**Dover** is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,954 at the 2020 census. The United States Census Bureau says the borough has a total area of 1.4 km² (0.5 mi²). All of it is land. There are no lakes or rivers in Dover.

## History

James Joner bought 203 acres of land in 1764. On this land, he created the town of Dover. It was known as **Jonerstown** until 1815, when the name was changed to Dover. Dover was incorporated in 1864, exactly 100 years after its founding.

## Intelligent design controversy

Dover is most well known for something that happened in 2004-05. The Dover Area School District voted to include a statement about intelligent design in what is taught on about biology in its schools. This action led to the court case _Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District_ in late 2005.

On December 20, 2005, Judge John E. Jones III decided in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that a public school district in Pennsylvania cannot teach Intelligent Design in a science class room. He said it was because it is based on a religious belief. The first amendment in the United States Constitution does not allow the government to deal with anything that deals with religious points of view.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/20/intelligent.design.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4545822.stm http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1424896

## Other websites

- Dover Township official site
- Dover School District

## Infobox (settlement)

- **official name**: Dover, Pennsylvania
- **settlement type**: Borough
- **image skyline**: Englehart Melchinger House from SE (rear) Dover PA.JPG
- **image caption**: Englehart Melchinger House
- **image map**: York County Pennsylvania incorporated and unincorporated areas Dover highlighted.svg
- **mapsize**: 260px
- **map caption**: Location in York County, Pennsylvania, York County and the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
- **pushpin map**: Pennsylvania#USA
- **pushpin label**: Dover
- **pushpin map caption**: Location of Dover in Pennsylvania
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Country
- **subdivision name**: United States
- **subdivision type1**: U.S. state, State
- **subdivision name1**: Pennsylvania
- **subdivision type2**: List of counties in Pennsylvania, County
- **subdivision name2**: York County, Pennsylvania, York
- **government type**: Borough Council
- **established title**: Settled
- **established title1**: Incorporated
- **unit pref**: Imperial
- **area total km2**: 1.41
- **area land km2**: 1.41
- **area water km2**: 0.00
- **area total sq mi**: 0.54
- **area land sq mi**: 0.54
- **area water sq mi**: 0.00
- **population as of**: 2020 United States Census, 2020
- **population total**: 1954
- **population density km2**: 1390.20
- **population density sq mi**: 3598.53
- **timezone**: Eastern Time Zone, Eastern (EST)
- **utc offset**: -5
- **timezone dst**: EDT
- **utc offset dst**: -4
- **elevation ft**: 443
- **postal code type**: Zip code
- **postal code**: 17315
- **area code**: Area code 717, 717; prefixes 292, 308
- **blank name**: Federal Information Processing Standards, FIPS code
- **blank info**: 42-19696