The Official NEPA Picture Thread...Post Area Pictures Here Only..Read Before Posting.. (Scranton: architecture, electric)

[Magritte25]

Frank, you should donate copies of those photographs to the local historical societies.

[J5K5LY]

I just LOVE the cars in those pictures!!!!!!!!!!!

[PAhippo]

[PAhippo]

hope I haven't posted this before...

[LILRICK]

beautiful pictures! breathtaking! we've been to jim thorpe. beautiful little town.

[ElectricCityMan]

I have taken hundreds of local pictures. Stay tuned.

[Chaosdriver]

I hope everyone is ready for a blast from the past. I have a bunch of old photographs and post cards of lovely Wilkes-Barre from the turn of the century which I thought everyone would like to take a gander at.

First, we have a view of the River Common Gardens at the old Market Street Bridge.



Next, another view of the gardens of the river common taken from near South Street I believe. Really shows how large the commons really were at the time.



The next bunch of photos are of the Palm House and its accompanying gardens which made up the River Common Park were located near the current day Court House and in front of the Hotel Sterling and continued all the way along the river bank to South St.







The Ellen Palmer Statue in Wilkes-Barre. One of the area's forgotten heroes, or heroines in this case. Mrs. Palmer was a major activist for the plight of the breaker boys and sought to improve their working conditions and education. This statue, which was cultped in Italy, was put in place by the Boys Industrial Association in the 1920s.



Something very interesting in my opinion and something I myself did not know. The old Wilkes-Barre Courthouse was located on the square itself which was known for sometime as Courthouse Square. Looks kind of foreboding lol



One of my favorites of old Wilkes-Barre showing the original fountain we had in the square. I think it was commissioned for the city's centennial. The centerpiece was a Native American maiden statue named Kankakee. Where the name came from I have no clue but apparently the fountain was a major attraction for the area for some time.




This one is kinda interesting. Many people think the Hotel Sterling as being Wilkes-Barre's predominant landmark. Back in the day however that prestige belonged to the Wyoming Valley Hotel which stood roughly where GUARD Insurance is today.




Wilkes-Barre's first downtown grocery store-Percy Browns was across the street from what5 is today Movies 16.



The next bunch are postcards pics of the square downtown from the 1900s up to the 1950s I think. When I first saw these I was surprised how green and well manicured it looked, better then the concrete slab we have today.






Notice the angled parking that the square originally had. Interesting that the city now has plans to go back to angled parking on the square.




Now just some of the immediate downtown area. I love seeing all the activity especially the old time trolleys and horse drawn wagons.

[frank754]

Great pix, I'm a history buff as well. As for the "trolleybuses", W-B started to replace the streetcars with them in the late 30's, and they ran until 1959. You can still see the green poles in Kingston along Market St. which used to support the wires for the streetcars and later the trolleybuses (there are some in Pittston too). There are a few pics at the bottom of this site:
Tom's Trolley Bus Pictures Wilkes-Barre PA
The last rail trolley line was the one from Public Square to Nanticoke which ended in 1950, and served the San Souci amusement park in Hanover Twp. There was rail service over the South Street bridge at one time too, 3 of the 4 small "loops" at the top of the concrete posts at each end are still there.
Here's a site with a few pics from Sans Souci Park (you can find more by Googling):
Sans Souci Pictures Page
The third-rail-powered Laurel Line to Scranton lasted until 1952 (it used overhead wire in W-B). Here's a pic of that line from 1950:
RailPictures.Net Photo: LWV 116 Untitled Interurban at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania by Fred Oltmann
There was even a 3rd rail line all the way to Hazleton which had an elevated station above the Laurel Line (at Pennsylvania & Market), but that quit in 1933.
Wilkes-Barre & Hazleton Electric Railway - NE Rails
Hope I'm not being off topic with the history pics rather than current ones, but Chaosdriver got me started

[ElectricCityMan]

These are all from about 2004 and 2005.



Scranton City Hall.



Inside the Iron Furnaces, Scranton.



Nay Aug Gorge, looking quite lagoon-like.



Nay Aug Gorge, looking decidedly inhospitable.



Nay Aug Gorge in winter.



Davis Trail at Nay Aug Park.



Nay Aug Tunnels.



Nay Aug Gorge.



Dunmore Reservoir No. 1.



Tower in a field near St. Gregory's Academy in Elmhurst. No idea what its story is, would love to know.



Nesbitt Reservoir off of Route 502 in Springbrook Twp.



Another view of Nesbitt Reservoir.



On top of a train under the Interstate 380 Bridges in Dunmore.



Tressle over the Lackawanna River, I believe this is on the Scranton side of the Scranton-Taylor border in Minooka.



Lake Scranton Sunrise.



Everhart Museum, Nay Aug Park, Scranton.



Dunmore Reservoir No. 1.



St. Mary's Cemetery, South Side.



View from Moosic Mountain in Dunmore.



Lake Scranton.

I have a lot more. Will post when I can.

[Gerania]

Chaos, Percy Browns was the first, and as far as I can recall only, "modern" market downtown. They were located on the eastern side of Northampton St. where Movies 14 now stands.

http://wyomingvalleyphotos.blogspot....lkesbarre.html