Lackawanna

Formed August 13, 1878 (67^th county)

Lackawanna County (215,911), Scranton (76,336)                

The classic stone Romanesque Revival courthouse was built in 1884 and remodeled in 1896 and 1929.  It is sited on Washington Avenue at Spruce Street.  United States Highway 11 is two blocks northeast of the courthouse.  Isaac G. Perry is the courthouse architect.  The building was enlarged in 1974 and renovated in 2008.  Scranton has always been the county seat.  The county was named for the Lackawanna River which comes from the Native American “stream that forks.”  The county seat is named for settler George and Selden Scranton.  Lackawanna County was established on August 13, 1878 from a part of Luzerne County as the 67^th and final county. 

Lackawanna County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Ten Common Pleas Court Judges and Ten Magistrate Court Judges serve Lackawanna County.  Lackawanna County is in northeast Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is southeast and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is southwest of the county.  The Susquehanna River forms its southwest border.  The county center is 6.2 miles Northeast of Scranton nearer Throop.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Susquehanna, Wayne, Monroe, Luzerne, and Wyoming counties. 

The area of the county is 465 square miles.  It is 49 out of 67 in the state.  It ranks 17 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 464.3 persons per square mile making it 14 out of 67 in the state.  Lackawanna County has 78.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 81 passes north to southwest in the county from Susquehanna County to Luzerne County.  Interstate Highway 84 enters from the east, Pike County, and terminates.  United States Highway 6 comes in from Wayne County, northeast, and goes into Wyoming County, west.  The county looks like a fat hatchet.  Scranton is located in the western third of the county.  Scranton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 35.4% of the county population.  The county is pronounced LAK-A-WAN-A.  This county is in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Vandling