Pennsylvania State...
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Pennsylvania Counties
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Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
Lackawanna County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Scranton
Year Organized: 1878
Square Miles: 459 |
Court House: 200 Adams Avenue
County Courthouse
Scranton, PA 18503-1607
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
It was named for the Lackawanna River, a name meaning "stream
that forks."
Demographics:
County QuickFacts:
Census Bureau Quick Facts
History
Created on August 13, 1878 from part
of Luzerne County, was the last county to be created. It was named for the
Lackawanna River, a name meaning "stream that forks." Scranton, the county seat,
was laid out in 1841, incorporated as a borough in 1856, and became a city on
April 23, 1866. It was named for the Scranton family, its founders. The county
adopted a home rule charter in April 1976.
The last county created, Lackawanna lies in the area bitterly disputed with
Connecticut settlers in the Yankee Pennamite Wars and with the Indians who
treasured the Wyoming Valley. Scranton, founded 1840 at Slocum Hollow, was
Wilkes Barre's rival and as the northern anthracite field expanded became
wealthier. The Scranton family has been leaders for more than a century. The
Scranton brothers developed anthracite iron smelting which led to the Lackawanna
Iron and Steel Company, a major economic factor until it was moved to New York
in 1902. The area was a center of labor unrest in 1877 and in all the major
anthracite mine strikes. The coal industry declined greatly in the late 1920s,
revived during World War II, and fell again in the 1960s. A small amount of coal
is still surface mined. Railroads once flourished, as the principal means of
exporting the coal. Textiles—silk, succeeded by rayon, followed by nylon—have
been important products. Lumber is still produced, but Lackawanna is not a
significant farming county; 14 percent of the land is farmland. Unemployment
became a problem for the region after World War II. William Warren Scranton,
banker and politician, was among the first to plan an economic recovery after
the coal industry collapsed in the 1960s, emphasizing a diversified business
environment.
Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
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- Archbald |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Blakely |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Carbondale |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Clarks Green |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Clarks Summit |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Clifton |
township |
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- Dalton |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Dickson City |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Dunmore |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Elmhurst |
township |
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- Fell |
township |
|
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- Glenburn |
township |
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- Greenfield |
township |
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- Jermyn |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Jessup |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- La Plume |
township |
|
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- Mayfield |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Moosic |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Moscow |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Newton |
township |
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- North Abington |
township |
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- Old Forge |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Olyphant |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Ransom |
township |
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- Roaring Brook |
township |
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- Scott |
township |
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- Scranton
(County Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- South Abington |
township |
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- Spring Brook |
township |
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- Taylor |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- Throop |
borough |
Incorporated Area |
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- West Abington |
township |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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Penn Foster High School
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