History of Scranton, Pennsylvania

Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Lackawant to County in the United States. Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 562,037 according to the 2020 U.S. census. It is the seventh most populous municipality in Pennsylvania. The contiguous network of five cities and more than 40 boroughs all built in a straight line in Northeastern Pennsylvania's urban area function culturally and logistically as one continuous city, so while the city of Scranton itself is a mid-sized city, the larger Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Area contains nearly half a million people in approximately 200 square miles. Scranton is the cultural and economic hub of Northeastern Pennsylvania, a region with over 1.3 million inhabitants.

A federal courthouse for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania is located in Scranton. Conventionally, the city is divided into nine districts: North Scranton, Southside, Westside, Eastside/Hill Section, Central City, Minooka, West Mountain, East Mountain, and Green Ridge; however, none of these districts have legal standing. The city is the geographic and cultural center of the Lackawant to River valley (a local name for a portion of the Wyoming Valley) and Northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as the largest of the former anthracite coal mining communities in a quilt-work that also includes Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke, Pittston, and Carbondale. Scranton was incorporated as a borough in Luzerne County on February 14, 1856, and as a city on April 23, 1866. It became a major industrial city and a mining and railroad hub, attracting tens of thousands of immigrants. It was the location of the 1877 Scranton General Strike.

In 1839, residents of northern Luzerne County desired a new county, but the Wilkes-Barre region resisted losing its assets. Lackawant to County was not granted its independence until 1878. Under legislation allowing residents of the proposed territory to vote on the issue, voters supported the new county by a ratio of 6 to 1, with Scranton residents providing the majority of support. When Lackawant to County was established in 1878, the city was designated as the county seat, and a judicial district was authorized in July 1879.

The nickname "Electric City" originated in 1880, when the Dickson Manufacturing Company introduced electric lighting. Six years later, the first electric streetcars in the United States began operating in the city. Local Baptist minister Rev. David Spencer later dubbed Scranton the "Electric City."

During the 1930s and 1940s, the city's industrial production and population peaked, fueled by demand for coal and textiles, especially during World War II. However, while the national economy grew rapidly after World War II, the demand for the region's coal decreased as other forms of energy became more popular, which harmed the rail industry. The Scranton Plan was created in 1945 by city leaders to diversify the local economy beyond coal, but the city's economy continued to decline. The Knox Mine disaster of 1959 effectively ended regional coal mining. The population of Scranton fell from its peak of 143,433 in the 1930 census to its current level of 76,089 in the 2010 census. The city now has large sectors in health care, education, and manufacturing. Learn about the geography of Scranton PA.

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