Scranton, PA

Located in northeast Pennsylvania, Scranton was once a powerful city-home of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (D&), and a flourishing center of the American coal and textile industries. But after World War II, with its landscape scarred by strip mining and a sharply declining economic base, the city fell on hard times. Population has declined from 100,000 in 1970 to a little over 70,000 today.

Today Scranton is steadily working to restore its quality of life. Although most economic measures still place Scranton well below the rest of the country, the city has much to offer, including historic neighborhoods, innovative development, and an emerging business base. In 2008, Money magazine ranked Scranton as one of the ten fastest-growing real estate markets in the United States.

ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES

Scranton's economy still depends primarily on manufacturing, but it is beginning to diversify. Proctor & Gamble and Techneglas are two major employers in the area, and over the past decade, financial and professional services corporations have begun to create new jobs in Lackawanna County. Companies that have moved to the area since 2005 include:

• Fleet Financial Group
• Cigna Health Care
• Alliance Fund Services

The number of people employed in the health, education, and social services industry has also increased, and today nearly 25 percent of Scranton's workforce is employed in these industries. Construction, retail, and government are all growing parts of the economic base, as is tourism.

NEIGHBORHOODS AND DISTRICTS

The development of sophisticated downtown residences and affordable suburbs is part of the reason for Scranton's comeback. Also important is the return of Scranton natives who left for college and big-city careers but now seek a return to small-town values. This trend has been gradually adding to Scranton's population-up about 3,000 over the last two years-and new businesses are being created by these returning professionals.

Among the many types of projects underway in the city are:

• improvements to Scranton's infrastructure (with repairs to paving, bridges, levees, pumping stations, etc.)
• revitalization of the downtown area
• restoration of the parks (including Nay Aug, a park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, famed architect of Manhattan's Central Park)
• initiatives to attract investment

COMMUNITIES

The city has four major sections (North Scranton, South Side, West Side, and the Hill Section) and a variety of neighborhoods, ranging from wealthy Green Ridge, where some of the coal barons' mansions have survived, to Bull's Head, where there is still a strong Portuguese and Italian flavor. Catholic and Orthodox churches are scattered throughout the older areas, reflecting the city's immigrant history.

The Scranton School District operates two high schools and serves a total population of 10,000 children at all grade levels, with enrollment steadily increasing.

BEST BETS

Taking a renewed interest in its history, Scranton is busily preserving and developing its older properties. Steamtown National Historic Site anchors restoration projects such as the former D& train station (now the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel) and attractions including the Electric City Trolley Museum and the Mall at Steamtown.

Additional attractions that celebrate Scranton's industrial and ethnic heritage include:

• Scranton Iron Furnaces, which provide a glimpse of Scranton's early importance in American industry
• Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour, conducted inside a former mine
• 1929 Basilica of the National Shrine of Saint Ann, which attracts thousands of people each year
• Saint Stanislaus Cathedral, the national seat of the Polish National Catholic Church in North America

Snö Mountain Ski Resort is another local tourist draw, along with the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain (a concert venue seating 17,500). And for recreation a little further afield, Scranton residents can reach New York City, Philadelphia, or the scenic Pocono Mountains in less than two hours.

EVENTS

Since 1862, residents of Scranton have celebrated Saint Patrick's Day with an annual parade that attracts more than 100,000 spectators and participants.

For more than 30 years, La Festa Italiana has attracted thousands to Courthouse Square on Labor Day weekend. The three-day festival features the food, music, and culture of the Italian heritage.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Scranton Cultural Center (housed in an architecturally striking Masonic Temple) has several auditoriums and provides a home for performances by the Northeast Philharmonic, as well as a variety of touring shows. In addition, Scranton residents can enjoy professional performances at Electric Theatre Company and explore art, science, and history at Everhart Museum.

FUN FACTS

• The word "lackawanna" is derived from the language of the native Lenape tribe that originally inhabited the area and means "stream that forks."
• Scranton was nicknamed "The Electric City" when it built the nation's first successful electrified trolley system in 1886.
• The hit television series The Office takes place in Scranton, and the city was also the setting of Jason Miller's award-winning play That Championship Season. The drama, which followed fictional lives of Scranton's 1957 state basketball champions, was made into a movie, with exterior filming done entirely in Scranton.
• Scranton has been home to a surprising array of political figures (Vice President Joseph Biden) and an assortment of well-known artists and scholars (psychologist B. F. Skinner), as well as commentator Bill O'Reilly.