Facts about Lackawanna County

Lackawanna County, situated in northeastern Pennsylvania, was created in 1878 from the northern portion of Luzerne County. The name "Lackawanna" stems from the Algonquin Indian word meaning "where the streams meet."

Lackawanna County’s 1990 population was 219,039, with 81,805 (37 percent) residing in the city of Scranton, the county seat. The northwestern and southeastern thirds of the county are generally rural areas of woodland and approximately 250 dairy and vegetable farms (23 percent of the county’s population). The majority of the population (77 percent) lives in the middle third of the county, the "Lackawanna Valley."

In this valley, anthracite coal was discovered in the 1820s, and as a result, the county’s population grew. Coal-mining and the development of railroads, iron works, and textile mills transformed this rural area into an urban area anchored on the south by the city of Scranton and on the north by the city of Carbondale.

Today diversified manufacturing, corporate bank-office and service industries have replaced the coal-mining and railroading operations as the basis of the county’s economy. Several industrial parks and office parks are located throughout the county. Tourism has also begun attracting millions of visitors to the several historic and family attraction landmarks including the Steamtown National Historic Site, the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour, and Montage Mountain Ski Resort and Outdoor Performing Area. Montage Mountain is also home of the Lackawanna Stadium, featuring the AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, the Phillies’ top farm club. Newly open on Montage Mountain is the Ice Rink at the Lackawanna Stadium and the Glenmaura National Golf Club.

With the designation of the Lackawanna Valley as a corridor for the development of a Heritage Park under the state-wide heritage park system, a plan for the conservation and development of the "Lackawanna Heritage Valley" was adopted in 1991. The plan’s focus is on the creation of programs to preserve historical and natural assets; interpret their lessons to residents and visitors; reclaim devastated mining areas; and encourage economic, educational, and tourism development and productive use of the valley’s natural, cultural, and recreational resources.

With a mix of urban and rural lifestyles, a diverse ethnic population, and a recent boom in all types of development including the construction of the Lackawanna Valley Industrial Highway, a
15-mile limited access roadway, Lackawanna County is beginning to experience a "second birth," and its future appears as promising as the success of its past.

Source: Lackawanna County Regional Planning Commission

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County Statistics

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