We found the Scranton Iron Furnaces by chance as we were driving by to go to another location and…read moredecided to pull in. I'm so glad we did because the stop was educational and unique, even if it was really really cold on the particular day we chose to visit. The original reviewer, actually the only other reviewer at the time of me posting this, gave so much information and history about this location that I will try and keep it quick. There definitely is a lot to read and a lot to learn here. The furnaces are huge, not like anything I expected, and reading the plaques makes you think about how intense it must have been here back when this place was active. Is really interesting. It's also a large open space so it was dog friendly and our dog liked walking around and sniffing the paths. There was a nice grassy area down at the bottom for her to run around in as well. It was also helpful that we were the only people there, with the exception of a city cop who seemed to be sleeping in his car or hiding from the general public. It was definitely a unique place to visit and these furnaces are worth checking out if you're in Scranton, especially if you're a history buff, but between the open space and the stairs, it's also just a good place to wander and get some steps in.

The Scranton Iron Furnaces, aka the The Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company Furnaces, represent the…read more19th century iron industry in the United States at it's finest. The four massive stone blast furnaces are the remnants of a once extensive plant operated by the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company. Started in 1840 as Scranton, Grant & Company, the firm began as a partnership between William Henry (he had already been experimenting in New Jersey will the concept of using a "hot-blast technique" to make steel), his son-in-law Seldon Scranton, George Scranton and Sanford Grant. Henry with help from the Scrantons and other investors bought 500+ acres of land in what was then called Slocum Hollow along the Roaring Brook and set up shop building their first blast furnace in 1841. Initially the operation hemorrhaged money and had numerous production issues that plagued the company for its first few years almost driving it to bankruptcy on several occasions. Eventually by 1844 more investors were brought in so that capital could be raised for upgrades and to take care of any lingering flaws in their production model. By the summer of 1844 the furnace averaged five to seven tons of pig iron a day, but the company soon went into the more profitable business of producing T-rails for the railroad industry as there were no facilities in America where rails were capable of being produced. Everything at that point had to be ordered and shipped from Europe. In 1851, the town of Slocum's Hollow changed its name to Scranton in honor of the majority owners of the iron works for their success. (Scranton had other names in between like Harrison in honor of Presidential candidate William Henry Harrison and Scrantonia but I'm just focusing on what stuck.) By 1865 the company had the largest iron production capacity in the United States and were the second largest independent steel making operation in America.. After a long and successful run the fortunes of the company began to change due to higher labor costs, multiple strikes, higher shipping costs, changing markets and more efficient steel making processes in Europe all of which caused the company to move the operation to the Buffalo area in at the beginning of the 20th century. (The operation in the Buffalo area lasted all the way thru several mergers until Bethlehem Steel shut it down in the 1980's.) In 1903 the Scranton property was sold to the Wyoming Valley Railroad, which contracted with a Philadelphia company that scrapped all of the equipment, and tore down all the structures except the stone blast furnaces that you still see today. From the Internet: "In the late 1960s the furnaces were acquired by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and were administered under the State park system. The furnaces were transferred to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1971. Today the four connected stone blast furnace stacks are surrounded by 3.84 acres. The furnaces are set into the south side of a hillside with a 10 foot wide bridge, supported by masonry arches connecting them to the rock cliff. The two easternmost furnaces, dated 1848-1849, are built of smooth dressed stone blocks and stand 40 feet high and are 40 feet wide at the base. No. 3 and No. 4 furnaces were constructed c.1852 and c.1857 respectively, and are constructed of rough dressed stone blocks and also stand 40 feet high. Furnace No. 3 is 46 feet wide at the base, and furnace No. 4 is 48 feet wide at the base. All of the furnace stacks still contain vestiges of their firebrick linings. The first, third and fourth stacks contain ruins of their 19th-century hearths." If you go today what you see quite honestly isn't a whole heck of a lot. The entrance to the furnace site has two small brown NPS style signs that lead you up a narrow driveway to the parking area which has space for maybe 15-20 cars. You've got what's left of the four blast furnace stacks, an example of a T-rail along the walkway the leads from the parking lot to the upper viewing platform and an acre or two of grassy park land that sits along Roaring Brook. Worth mentioning is that there are plenty of displays at the site explaining what you're looking at but if you need more your best bet would be to head over to the Anthracite Heritage Museum which is about four miles away over in McDade Park on the other side of town. If you go: The site itself is free and open to the public daily from sunrise until sunset. There are no amenities on site although you are very close to all the fun (LOL!) that downtown Scranton has to offer including the foamtastic fun over at Steamtown. There are a few special events that occur on the grounds annually. Most notably would be the Scranton Bonfire Festival which happens every year in October.

The Back Mountain Memorial library has an excellent, helpful and friendly staff. They will always…read morego out of their way to assist you. If you want a book or other item that the library doesn't have, they can obtain it from another library in the Luzerne County Library System or make a request through an inter-library loan. The library is comfortable and feels like home. If you don't have the money to buy books, this is the place to go. With a library card, they are free to borrow for one, two or three weeks, depending on the age and other people's requests for a particular book. I have been using the library for all of my life, and if you don't have the money, you can really describe it as the People's University.

Great library with nice librarians/staff! Came here to use the wifi and I didn't need a library…read morecard/membership, just picked up the password by asking the front desk. Plenty of seating and good bathrooms.

Spoke with a young woman who was extremely personable & helpful in dealing with a frustrated old…read morelady (me)! Did not think to ask her name, but she was super understanding of my plight to get my deposit information for my account straightened out. So nice when you work with someone who cares!!!

I had a traffic stop from an officer Greenfield, I am a 70 year old retired nurse, when he found…read moreout I was on my way to feed homeless cats, he told me he was an animal lover and I was going straight to heaven, what a beautiful experience. The Scranton Police are truly blessed to have him on their force.

Best Damn Men & Women around. You can Hate all yous want show them the Respect they deserve and you…read morewill get it back. They are lead by a true Warrior if the city official/officials who NEVER WERE POLICE or WENT TO WAR would just unleash him and stay the hell out of his way this city would be even better and the officers would love their jobs even more.