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Panorama of downtown
Scranton, nestled in the Lackawanna Valley, c.1909
Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress,
Prints and Photographs Division [pan 6a14372] |
The essay title
was once a slogan of Scranton's Chamber of Commerce and
the great roads were the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western,
the Delaware and Hudson, and the Erie railroads, as well
as several others. But Scranton did not begin where commerce
carrying roads met. It had an odd start in a deep valley
without benefit of populace or industry.
In 1771 a pioneer named Isaac Tripp moved up from
the Wyoming Valley to the Lackawanna Valley, becoming
the first European settler in the region. Tripp, family
members, and others established farms and businesses
such as grist mills and forges that serviced farmers
needs. The settlers spread out in the areas of Hyde
Park, Providence, Slocum Hollow and other sections.
In 1800 the census recorded 579 people spread around
the area that would become Scranton. The 1840 census
showed an increase to only 1,169 persons. Little was
attracting new settlers. About this time, Judge Jesse
Fell discovered that the local hard coal, anthracite,
could be burned for domestic use. Anthracite produces
high heat and burns relatively cleanly. Once ignited
with a wood fire, a good draft through a grate, and
fed from above, an anthracite fire burned continuously.
Mines were opened and coal shipped over the mountains
via the Delaware and Hudson gravity railroad and canal
system.
William Henry convinced son-in-law Selden Scranton
and Selden's brothers to relocate to Slocum Hollow from
the iron foundry in Oxford, New Jersey, they were managing.
They thought they could capitalize on the hard coal
and the local iron ore. After two years and much effort
they finally made pig iron, in January 1842. The pig
iron then needed transporting out of the valley to be
processed into nails, tools, horseshoes, and anything
made of iron. Transportation costs priced the pig bars
above market levels. The iron ore was also inferior
and did not produce high quality products. At least
the local coal was of acceptable quality. In a last
effort, the Scrantons entered into a contract with the
New York and Erie Railroad to manufacture rail. Both
companies were desperate. The Erie needed to open lines
across New York and the Scrantons needed economic survival.
The Scrantons built a rolling mill, imported iron ore,
experimented, and in the end they delivered the first
mass-produced rail in North America. They fulfilled
the Erie contract and set the valley on the path to
progress.
Group of Lackawanna freight
engines in Scranton sometime between 1890 and 1901
Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress,
Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing
Company Collection, det 4a07313 . |
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The companies that would eventually become the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Railroad began in 1851. Rails
laid out of the valley carried the products of the Lackawanna
Iron and Coal Company to the outside world. The railroads
that carried iron and coal out brought in laborers and
entrepreneurs. Soon, the backwoods agrarian character
changed to an early industrial base. The Lackawanna Coal
and Iron Company produced pig iron until 1902 when the
company moved closer to iron fields and water transportation
in Buffalo, New York. Coal mining and transportation of
the coal surpassed iron production in economic importance.
In the 19th century and well into the 20th, northeast
Pennsylvania was known as "The Anthracite Capital
of the World." In the early 1850s, the several small
villages merged to form the town of Scranton. Scranton
itself was built upon the twin pillars of iron and coal.
Railroads, the third industry, were developed to move
the iron and coal to market.
Scranton and the surrounding area benefited from immigration
patterns. Businessmen moving in from Connecticut and
New England established banks and retail stores, and
became managers in the coal companies and other industries.
The first bank opened in 1855. First generation European
immigrants arrived from Wales, Ireland, and Germany.
Many of these immigrants, especially the Welsh, were
skilled miners and quickly occupied places within the
mining industry. Even today, this area has the greatest
number of Welsh
descendants of any area in the United States. After the
Civil War, Scranton emerged as the dominant town in northeast
Pennsylvania, Lackawanna Avenue
was the commercial center with railroad stations, mills,
banks, markets, and retail shops lining both sides and
more businesses along the cross streets. Civic leaders
formed the Board of Trade, a precursor to the Chamber
of Commerce, to encourage new businesses and city oriented
projects. Undoubtedly the Board of Trade supported the
formation of Lackawanna County from the older Luzerne
County in 1878.
Owners of New England textiles mills developed in
similar mills here. The prevailing industries hired
men and boys while the silk and garment mills would
hire women and girls. The Sauquoit Silk Mill hired 2,000
workers, mainly female. As the Welsh moved into supervisory
positions, they were replaced by other immigrants recently
arrived from southern and eastern Europe. Those in this
second wave of immigration were escaping grinding poverty,
usually did not speak English, were marginally educated,
and had few employable skills. In 1900 more than one-third
of the 100,000 people living in Scranton were foreign
born. Technological progress within the mining industry
required more general laborers and fewer skilled miners.
Coal has been called the blessing and the curse of
the area. Mining was the main wage-producing industry
and labor was the greatest cost incurred in operating
a mine. Before World War II, anthracite coal was replaced
by cheaper, more easily obtainable, and cleaner burning
fuels. Before the collapse of the market, the employees
of the two primary industries in Scranton, coal mines
and railroads, participated in several nationwide strikes
over a 25-year period and through a collective voice
let the nation know of their plight regarding unsafe
working conditions, long hours, and low pay. Terence
V. Powderly, elected twice as mayor, was president
of the Knights of Labor, an early union.
Courthouse
Square with the Lackawanna County Courthouse
on the right, c.1902
Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress,
Prints and Photographs Division [pan 6a09448 ] |
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The miners' plight reached a national audience with the
1902 Anthracite Strike. Anyone with a bit of money could
buy a mine and hire laborers, but most mines were owned
by railroads in a vertical monopoly. At least half of
the mine workers were immigrants whose loyalties were
fragmented along ethnic and religious lines. John Mitchell,
from Illinois, had the charisma and skill as president
of the United Mine Workers of America to organize these
diverse and quarreling groups as 80 percent of the 140,000
hard coal miners participated in the 1902 Anthracite Strike.
Supporters reached President Theodore Roosevelt who then
forced representatives of the mine operators to accept
arbitration. Before his death in 1919 at the age of 49,
Mitchell requested burial in Scranton because he had a
good relationship with the people of the city. He is buried
in Cathedral Cemetery and there is a statue
in his honor on the county courthouse lawn.
Anthracite mining peaked in 1917. This was also about
the time when the textile industry began its decline
as natural fibers were replaced by synthetics. In 1920
about 30,000 men were employed in the regional coal
industry and when this industry began to decline so
did the economic base of the region. The year 1920 represents
the city's economic apex. Even with the development
of other businesses, the area remained dependent on
the labor intensive industries demanding muscle and
sweat. Likewise, the 1920 census recorded the height
of Scranton's population with 137,900 people living
within the city limits. Out-migration was documented
in each subsequent census with the 2000 census showing
about 70,000 residents.
The "Electric City" is a nickname recognizing
Scranton's claim for the operation of the first electric
streetcar in the United States. The first run was on the
evening of November 30, 1886 when passengers boarded after
a lecture by African explorer Henry M. Stanley at the
Academy of Music (on Wyoming Avenue opposite St. Luke's
Episcopal Church) and rode to the Green Ridge section. Recently reelectrified, the
"Electric City" sign atop
the Board of Trade building dominates the north side of Courthouse
Square. The eight-story building was once the tallest
structure in Scranton.
At one time, Scranton was well known for the International
Correspondence School (ICS). The state legislature required
a mine foreman to pass a knowledge test. Thomas Foster
realized that all the required information was in his
"The Colliery Engineer." He quickly created
a correspondence school. By 1901 ICS was incorporated
and soon branched out into many areas including the
Women's Institute. ICS has reached millions who wished
to improve marketable skills. The original buildings
are on Wyoming Avenue, one of which is now a parochial
high school. ICS itself is still involved in distance
learning.
But not all was earnest business. Theaters brought in
traveling entertainment companies ranging from opera to
Buffalo Bill Cody. Historical societies and museums celebrate
the area's history. Much of the architecture from 1880
to 1930 still exists. Some of the vernacular houses in
West Side for the Welsh and later the Lithuanians are
in use as homes. Well-built churches, former department
stores, the Lackawanna Railroad passenger
station, the Masonic Temple,
and other grand buildings remain in place adaptively reused
for a second life not planned when built.
Written by Ella S. Rayburn, Curator, Steamtown National
Historic Site |