Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
county in Pennsylvania, United States
Lackawanna County (; Unami: Lèkaohane) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It had a population of 215,615 in 2022. Its county seat and most populous city is Scranton. The county is part of the Northeast region of the commonwealth.
The county was created on August 13, 1878, following decades of trying to gain its independence from Luzerne County. Lackawanna was Pennsylvania's last county to be created, and the only county to be created after the American Civil War. It is named for the Lackawanna River.
Lackawanna County is the second-largest county in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton, PA Metropolitan statistical area. It lies northwest of the Pocono Mountains approximately 40 miles (64 km) from the New Jersey border in Montague Township, and approximately 25 miles (40 km) from New York state in Kirkwood. The Lehigh River, a 109-mile-long (175 km) tributary of the Delaware River, flows through Lackawanna County.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania” as county in Pennsylvania, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as county in Pennsylvania, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q501350. VIAF identifies the subject as 143052934. The Library of Congress control number is n79043297. Authority coordinates are 41.440, -75.610. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2022 and 1878.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania primary sources, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania archive and Lackawanna research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.