This is the fourth in a series of city/region case studies. Previously profiled have been Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Pinellas County, Florida. All photography with the exception of any and all maps are either personal photography or used with permission.This case study promises to stray into the world of inside information seeing as how I lived in Scranton just about every day for 19 years. By the same token, every time I go back I see changes, so I'm as unqualified to talk about things occuring since September of 2000 as the random tourist. I've never stayed in hotel there and only rode the public bus for the first time two weeks ago. Nevertheless, I'll do my best to offer more than just the standard tourism brochure.
Getting to Scranton
To date, I've ever gone to an from Scranton in a personal automobile or charter bus. There are currently no trains servicing the city, however a NJ Transit line to Hoboken is in the works. Interstate 81 is the main North-South route to Scranton from New York state. I-476, the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike connects Scranton to Allentown and Philadelphia. The western terminus of I-84 to Hartford/Boston and I-380 to the Poconos and New Jersey/New York City reside just east of the city.
Martz Trailways buses serve Scranton from New York City, King of Prussia, Hackettstown, Mount Pocono, Panther Valley, Philadelphia, Stroudsburg, Wilkes-Barre, and Atlantic City. Greyhound serves Scranton from almost all Northeast locations.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, located nearby in Pittstown Township near the Borough of Avoca, is the commercial airport for the region. Recent terminal expansions in 2006 have improved the convenience aspects of flying from AVP and it now boasts non-stop service to Cleveland, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Myrtle Beach, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Charlotte.
Downtown Scranton
Bounded by the Steamtown National historic site to the southwest, the Lackawanna River to the northwest, the University of Scranton to the southeast, and Olive Street to the northeast, downtown Scranton is one the twin centers of business and commerce for Northeast Pennsylvania. The county seat of Lackawanna County, Scranton teams with Luzerne County's Wilkes-Barre to create a significant metropolitan area of over 600,000 residents. Due to topography, almost all of these live on a southwest to northeast axis of contiguous towns rather than flat sprawling suburbs.Downtown is home to the Mall at Steamtown, an early 90's development that tied in restoration of three older downtown buildings. Movie theatres, restaurants, and hotels have sprung up around Lackawanna Avenue in the last 15 years, but they belie the true gems of downtown. Scranton saw little to no significant development from 1950 to 1990, a mixed blessing in many regards. What it was able to maintain, and now utilize going forward is an outsized stock of building of various archtectural styles of the late 1800's.
From churches, to historic sites, to the Commercial District, Courthouse Square, and Gothic district, prime examples of Gothic Revial, Second Empire, Victorian Gothic, Chicago Style, Colonial Revival, Richardsonian Romanesque, Beaux Arts, Neoclassical, and Art Deco abound. Rather than go into any more detail in matching buildings to their style, instead I will embed a ten-minute film that I produced with Photographer Justin Jackson, whose images have graced my blog previously.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Case Study - Scranton, PA
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