Scranton

Tracing its roots back to 1840 on the banks of Roaring brook, Scranton, Pennsylvania is now considered an important industrial and cultural center in the United States.
In 1840, George and Selden Scranton, with William Henry, established their iron furnaces on the banks of Roaring Brook in the wilderness of northeastern Pennsylvania. Anthracite, locomotives, silk, and lace soon followed. In 1847, they successfully mass-produced iron T rails and later emerged as the nation's third largest steel manufacturer. Scranton traces the growth of Slocum Hollow through its rising industrialization into its emergence as the bustling Electric City. In all its urban complexity, Scranton attracted European immigrants and cosmopolitan investors as well as labor leader John Mitchell and entertainer Buffalo Bill. Joseph Albright Jr., a Scranton-born philanthropist, endowed a public library, and Raymond Hood, the architect of Rockefeller Center, designed the Masonic Temple. The footprints of these achievements remain an enduring testament to this important industrial and cultural center.

Cheryl A. Kashuba, a freelance writer, serves as a Lackawanna Heritage Valley ambassador. Darlene Miller- Lanning, director of the Hope Horn Gallery at the University of Scranton, coauthored Jews of Scranton. Alan Sweeney, president of the Lackawanna Historical Society, is a local historian specializing in railroad and anthracite heritage.