Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

Luzerne County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Etymology - Origin of County Name

named for the Chevalier de la Luzerne, French minister to the United States.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Created on September 25, 1786 from part of Northumberland County and named for the Chevalier de la Luzerne, French minister to the United States. Wilkes-Barre, the county seat, was laid out in 1772 and named for two members of the English Parliament, John Wilkes and Isaac Barre, both advocates of American rights. It was incorporated as a borough on March 17, 1806 and as a city on May 4, 1871.

Pennsylvania settlers, Indians, and a Connecticut settlement company engaged in a three-way struggle for the Wyoming Valley. The Yankee Pennamite Wars were fought here from 1769 to 1782. In 1786 Connecticut's acceptance of the federal award to Pennsylvania allowed Pennsylvania to form the county, and a 1799 statute compromised the land titles claimed by Connecticut families. Led by the Delaware, "King" Teedyuscung, Indians committed the first Wyoming Massacre of settlers on Oct. 15, 1763; with British assistance Indians perpetrated the second Wyoming Massacre on July 3, 1778. In 1808, Judge Fell proved anthracite coal's burning potential, and in 1834 the North Branch Canal began to make coal exporting practical. Many canals and railroads followed, and Luzerne's two anthracite fields flourished. In time the city of Scranton rivaled Wilkes Barre, which led to the creation of Lackawanna County in 1887. Textiles and metal products manufacturing developed. Textile factories depended on miners' families for their laborers. Coal strikes of 1902 and 1925–1926 were so bitter that consumers sought alternate fuels, and mining declined. World War II revived anthracite prices, but the Knox Mine disaster of January 22, 1959, was the death knell of deep anthracite mining. Presently, Luzerne produces about one-fourth of the anthracite coal in the state, mostly by surface operations. Economically, the county has had heavy unemployment since World War II, although new mining machines had made mining labor-efficient long before the market diminished in the 1960s. Only about one-eighth of Luzerne is farmed; harvested crops are more valuable than animal products, especially potatoes.
 

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