Scranton, Pennsylvania
city in and county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States
Scranton is a second A class city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 at the 2020 census (estimated at 75,514 in 2025), Scranton is the sixth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is part of the Wyoming Valley metropolitan area, which includes five cities and more than 40 boroughs forming a contiguous urban corridor with an estimated 574,000 residents. It is located 56 miles (90 km) north of Allentown, 104 miles (167 km) north-northwest of Philadelphia, and 99 miles (159 km) west-northwest of New York City.
Scranton is located in the Lackawanna River valley and was historically the largest of several anthracite coal mining communities in the area, including Wilkes-Barre and Nanticoke. It was incorporated as a borough in 1856 and as a city in 1866, later becoming the seat of the newly formed Lackawanna County in 1878. The city contains a federal courthouse for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The city is conventionally divided into nine districts, namely North Scranton, Southside, Westside, Eastside/Hill Section, Central City, Minooka, West Mountain, East Mountain, and Green Ridge.
Scranton was a major center for industry, mining, and rail transport in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was one of the first cities in the United States to implement electric streetcars, earning the nickname "Electric City".
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Scranton, Pennsylvania” is city in and county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Scranton, Pennsylvania and city, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “city in and county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q271395. VIAF identifies the subject as 300276349. The Library of Congress control number is n80026833. Authority coordinates are 41.409, -75.662. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2025, 1856 and 1866.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. 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 “Scranton, Pennsylvania”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Scranton, Pennsylvania primary sources, Scranton, Pennsylvania archive and Scranton 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 “Scranton, Pennsylvania”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Scranton, 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.