What to See in Scranton - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Steamtown National Historic Site is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on 62.48 acres in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The museum is built around a working turntable and a roundhouse that are largely replications of the original DL&W facilities; the roundhouse, for example, was reconstructed from remnants of a 1932 structure. The site also features several original outbuildings dated between 1899 and 1902. All the buildings on the site are listed with the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Yard-Dickson Manufacturing Co. Site.

Most of the steam locomotives and other railroad equipment at Steamtown NHS were originally collected by F. Nelson Blount, a millionaire seafood processor from New England. In 1964, Blount established a non-profit organization, the Steamtown Foundation, to operate Steamtown, U.S.A. a steam railroad museum and excursion business in Bellows Falls, Vermont. In 1984, the foundation moved Steamtown to Scranton, conceived of as urban redevelopment and funded in part by the city. But the museum failed to attract the expected 200,000 to 400,000 annual visitors, and within two years was facing bankruptcy.

In 1986, the U.S. House of Representatives, at the urging of Scranton native Representative Joseph M. McDade, approved $8 million to begin turning the museum into a National Historic Site. The idea was derided by those who called the collection second-rate, the site's historical significance questionable, and the public funding no more than pork-barrel politics. But proponents said the site and the collection were ideal representations of American industrial history. By 1995, the National Park Service (NPS) had acquired Steamtown, USA, and improved its facilities at a total cost of $66 million.

Steamtown National Historic Site has since sold a few pieces from the Blount collection, and added a few others deemed of greater historical significance to the region. By 2008, low visitor attendance and the need of costly asbestos removal from many pieces of the collection were spurring discussion about privatizing Steamtown.^[1]

Fraternal organization in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple is a theatre and cultural center in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Cultural Center's mission statement is "to rejuvenate a national architectural structure as a regional center for arts, education and community activities appealing to all ages." The Cultural Center hosts national Broadway tours; professional and local musical and dramatic theatre offerings; local, regional and national orchestral and popular music, dance and opera; comedians, lecturers, art exhibits, a children's and performing arts academy and various classes as well as fundraiser galas and special events including proms, luncheons, private parties and is a popular wedding ceremony and reception venue. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[4]

Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Scranton Iron Furnaces is a historic site that preserves the heritage of iron making in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania and is located in Scranton, near the Steamtown National Historic Site. It protects the remains of four stone blast furnaces which were built between 1848 and 1857. Iron production on the site was started by Scranton, Grant & Company in 1840. Later, the furnaces were operated by the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company. In 1847, iron rails for the Erie Railroad were made at the site. In 1865, Scranton, Grant & Company had the largest iron production capacity in the United States. In 1875, steel production started at the site. In 1880, the furnaces produced 125,000 tons of pig iron, one of the main uses of which was in the making of t-rails. The plant was closed in 1902, when production was shifted to Lackawanna, New York.

The site has been managed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission since 1971 and is part of the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum complex. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, as the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company Furnace.^[6]

The Houdini Museum is located at Scranton, Pennsylvania. Harry Houdini appeared in Scranton and did several special challenges there. His brother, Hardeen, also appeared in Scranton and in its sister city, Wilkes-Barre. The longest engagement of Houdini's career was in this area of northeast Pennsylvania, when he spent two full seasons with the Welsh Brothers Circus. Documents and letters attesting to this are on display in the museum's renovated 125-year-old building and on its website. Houdini performed at Sylvester Z. Poli's theater for in Scranton, which was part of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuit at the time. This would later become the RKO Pictures circuit.

The Houdini Tour, show, and museum attraction is a popular Scranton attraction. The museum features memorabilia, artifacts, mannequins and films of Houdini. The Houdini Tour includes a magic show. A tour and show takes about two and a half to three hours.

The live show at the museum includes two nationally known magicians, Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brooks.^[10]

City or town hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Scranton City Hall is located at Washington and Mulberry streets in the downtown section of that city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is a three-story limestone ashlar Victorian Gothic Revival building with sandstone trim, designed by architects Edwin L. Walter and Frederick Lord Brown and built in 1888.

The main building, on Washington Street, houses the offices of city's mayor and other executive officers — city clerk, comptroller and police chief - and those who work under their immediate supervision. A bridge from the second story connects it to the fire department headquarters, facing Mulberry Street, built at the same time by the same architects in the same style. Since the two form a larger complex, they were listed together when the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 as Municipal Building and Central Fire Station, 340.^[11]

Co-education in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The University of Scranton is a private Jesuit university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1888 by William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. In 1938, the college was elevated to university status and took the name The University of Scranton. The institution was operated by the Diocese of Scranton from its founding until 1897. While the Diocese of Scranton retained ownership of the university, it was administered by the Lasallian Christian Brothers from 1888 to 1942. In 1942, the Society of Jesus took ownership and control of the university. During the 1960s, the university became an independent institution under a lay board of trustees.

The university is composed of three colleges: The College of Arts and Sciences, The Kania School of Management, and The Panuska College of Professional Studies; all contain both undergraduate and graduate programs. Previously, the university had a College of Graduate and Continuing Education, which has been folded into the colleges of the respective programs. The university offers 65 bachelor's degree programs, 29 master's degree programs, 43 minors, and 38 undergraduate concentrations, as well as a Doctor of Physical Therapy program, a Doctor of Nursing Practice program, and a Doctor of Business Administration program.

The university enrolls approximately 6,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Most of its students are from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. In 2016, about 58% of its undergraduate students were women and 42% men. In its graduate programs, about 62% are women students and 38% men. The university has about 300 full-time faculty members, approximately 200 of which are tenured.^[12]

Museum in Taylor, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum preserves the heritage of anthracite coal mining in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania and is located in McDade Park in Scranton. It features exhibits detailing the industrial history of northeastern Pennsylvania.

The museum is part of Anthracite Museum Complex, created in 1971 by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which includes three museums and one historical site located in there communities:

• The Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum and the Scranton Iron Furnaces, both in Scranton, Lackawanna County
• Eckley Miners' Village near Weatherly, Luzerne County
• The Museum of Anthracite Mining overlooking the community of Ashland in Schuylkill County

The museum was featured on The Office episode "The Merger" in Michael and Dwight's parody of Lazy Sunday.

A few museum exhibits are also located at the companion Lackawana Coal Mine Tour.^[15]