Scranton to throw itself a 160th birthday party

SCRANTON - Scranton and what today are its neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Providence each were boroughs before they joined together to become the city of Scranton in 1866.

Now 160 years old, Scranton will hold a birthday party on Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. at the Everhart Museum in Nay Aug Park, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said.

"We wanted to make sure that we do a real celebration for Scranton's 160th birthday, since it's happening especially in the same year that America turns 250″ years old, she said. "We think that's a neat confluence of milestones."

The birthday party, which will be open to the public and have free admission, will feature music, food trucks, activities for kids and historical exhibits.

Providence was the first area of the city settled in the late 1700s by colonial settlers, including Isaac Tripp and his descendants, said Lackawanna Historical Society Assistant Director Sarah Piccini. The historic Tripp House, built in 1778 by Isaac Tripp II at 1011 N. Main Ave., remains the oldest house in Lackawanna County.

In the 1800s, Scranton became a cradle of the Industrial Revolution at the now-historic Scranton Iron Furnaces site at 159 Cedar Ave. Still standing from a bygone era, the massive, now-mute furnaces originally were operated by the Lackawanna Iron and Steel Co. between 1840 and 1902. It was the site of the first mass production in the United States of iron T-rails for railroads. The four surviving stone blast furnaces are remnants of an extensive operation and represent the early iron industry in the United States. In 1902, the company dismantled the plant and moved it to Lackawanna, N.Y., to be closer to high-grade iron ores.

Other historical sites and buildings abound throughout the city. Coal mining, silk mills and manufacturing also mark the city's history.

The Everhart Museum, which is the region's only natural history, science and art museum, dates to 1908 and endures as a cultural gem of Scranton. The 160th birthday party also will showcase the museum and Nay Aug Park.

"It's a way to bring the community together, importantly at a place like the Everhart that itself has had a real renaissance in the last few years," Cognetti said of the birthday party. The museum is "a place that's been around for a long time and has seen many different phases, but it's absolutely in a new phase of growth and excitement in parallel to how the city has added lots of new festivals and events, as people get a renewed sense of pride and place in Scranton."

The birthday party also will "kick off a whole spring, summer and fall of America 250 events," the mayor said.

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