Scranton

About Scranton

Scranton grew from a settlement on the Lackawanna River, where Isaac Tripp built a home in 1771. The Scranton family arrived in the 1840s and founded the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, and the city takes its name from brothers George and Selden Scranton. It incorporated as a borough in 1856 and as a city in 1866. It is the seat of Lackawanna County and the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Anthracite coal and railroads built Scranton. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was headquartered here and was the city's largest employer for close to a century. In 1886 Scranton opened the first successful, continuously operating electric streetcar system in the country, which earned it the name the Electric City. Immigrant families from across Europe filled its neighborhoods during the coal era.