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The Scrantonian

Chronicling the Electric City

1840

People

8 profiles in the archive

Scranton was built by hands and shaped by decisions. The ironmasters who gambled on anthracite fuel. The miners who descended into darkness six days a week. The mayors and merchants, union organizers and newspaper editors. Some names appear on street signs and building facades; others are remembered only in census records and cemetery plots.

This archive gathers their stories, not to rank them by importance but to understand the city through the people who lived it.

People

Historical Figure

Bill Courtright

12/1/1957

Bill Courtright was the twice-elected Democratic mayor of Scranton who resigned in 2019 after pleading guilty to federal …

People

Historical Figure

Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden

7/7/1917 – 1/8/2010

The Scranton-born mother of President Joe Biden, Jean Finnegan raised her four children with an Irish-Catholic ethic of …

People

Historical Figure

Charles Sumner Woolworth

8/1/1856 – 1/7/1947

Charles Sumner Woolworth opened his first five-and-ten-cent store on Penn Avenue in 1880 and built Scranton into the …

People

Historical Figure

Clarence Darrow

4/18/1857 – 3/13/1938

Clarence Darrow was the Chicago labor attorney who represented 147,000 striking anthracite miners before the Anthracite …

People

Historical Figure

David J. Wenzel

1945 – 11/5/2025

David J. Wenzel was Scranton’s 27th mayor, a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran who lost both legs and his left arm to …

People

Historical Figure

Elliot S.M. Hill

12/6/1820 – 9/29/1871

Elliot S.M. Hill was a lawyer, newspaper editor, and the first mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Elected in 1866 after …

People

Historical Figure

George Whitfield Scranton

5/11/1811 – 3/24/1861

George Whitfield Scranton co-founded the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company and transformed a five-house hamlet into the …

People

Historical Figure

Robert P. Casey Jr.

4/13/1960

Robert P. Casey Jr. represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate for 18 years, making him the longest-serving Democratic …