|
Two photographs of the
Lackawanna County Courthouse, and one of the John Mitchell
Monument
Photographs by Kristen
Carsto
Closeup of the John Mitchell Monument
Photograph
by Kristen Carsto
|
The Lackawanna County
Courthouse is historically significant as the site of the first
session of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission, appointed
by President Theodore Roosevelt in the fall of 1902 to end the
"Great Strike" of the anthracite coal workers. This strike was
one of the largest and most important strikes in American history.
The Strike Commission hearings represented the first non-violent,
even-handed intervention by the Federal government in a labor
dispute. The most celebrated witness to testify in the hearings
was the legendary labor leader John Mitchell, organizer and
leader of the anthracite coal workers and President of the United
Mine Workers of America (UMW). Mitchell's role in the "Great
Strike" and other endeavors gained him hero status in the anthracite
region, and in 1924 the UMW erected a posthumous memorial to
Mitchell in the courthouse square.
The Lackawanna County Courthouse occupies a 4.7-acre lot
bounded by Washington Avenue, Linden Street, Adams Avenue,
and Spruce Street in downtown Scranton. The Courthouse is
a three-and-one-half-story, rectangular plan, masonry building
measuring approximately 100 by 140 feet with a raised basement,
hipped roof, and a five-story clock tower. The foundation
and walls are finished with rough-cut, coursed, local stone
and the roof is sheathed with tile shingles while the water
table, stringcourses, window sills, lintels, and buttress
caps are trimmed with Onondago limestone. The courthouse property
includes the stone courthouse, originally built in 1884 in
the Romanesque Revival style and enlarged in 1896 with the
addition of a third story and the reconstruction of the roof,
and the 1924 John Mitchell Monument, sculpted in bronze and
granite. The 1924 John Mitchell Monument fronts Adams Avenue
southeast of the courthouse. The monument consists of four
sections: a heroic-sized bronze statue, a granite monolith
containing a niche in the southeast facade, and two low, curved,
granite benches flanking either side of the granite monolith.
A bronze statue of John Mitchell stands atop a granite block
that is inscribed with the words "John Mitchell (1870-1919)."
The Lackawanna County Courthouse and John Mitchell Monument
are located in a square surrounded by Washington Avenue, Linden
Street, Adams Avenue, and Spruce Street in Scranton. The Courthouse
is open during normal business hours. |