Construction

The Board of Trade Building rose eight stories above Courthouse Square in 1896, Scranton’s first skyscraper. New York architect Lansing C. Holden Sr., who also designed offices for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, drew up a Beaux Arts design in limestone with a distinctive double-gabled roof. Steel and stone construction cost $140,000, funded through $100,000 in stockholder subscriptions and $40,000 in bond sales.

The interior held offices, a meeting hall, library, specimen room, and stock exchange on the lower floors. The seventh floor featured quartered-oak wood finishes and a tiled fireplace. An eighth-floor ballroom and parlors commanded views across the city.

The Board of Trade

Scranton’s merchants formed the Merchants’ Association on April 28, 1867, meeting in a room above Fuller’s grocery on Penn Avenue. Welsh immigrant Lewis Pughe served as first president. The group incorporated as the Board of Trade in 1871 and leased space in the new building for $36 per month starting in 1896.

After Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company left Scranton in 1902, the Board of Trade launched the Scranton Plan in 1912. The effort organized the Scranton Industrial Development Company with a $1 million fund to recruit new manufacturers to the city. The Board of Trade reorganized as the Chamber of Commerce on November 21, 1923, and relocated to Washington Avenue and Mulberry Street.

The Electric City

A rooftop sign went up in 1907 reading “Watch Scranton Grow.” In 1913, the message changed to “Scranton, The Electric City.” The name referenced the city’s early adoption of electric power. Dickson Manufacturing Company installed electric lights in 1880, and the Scranton Suburban Railway Company operated the first commercially successful electric streetcars in the United States in 1886.

The sign made the nickname stick. After dark, it could be seen from vantage points across the valley. Scranton became The Electric City.

Later Years

Scranton Electric Company purchased the building in 1926. It became the Scranton Electric Building, and the company maintained the rooftop sign for decades. The sign eventually went dark.

A community fundraising campaign restored and re-illuminated the Electric City sign on December 9, 2004.

Today

Fidelity Bank purchased the building in 2022 for $2.6 million to serve as its new corporate headquarters. Governor Josh Shapiro announced $5 million in state funding for the renovation in 2024. The full project runs approximately $26 million and will bring more than 165 workers to downtown Scranton.

The building at 507 Linden Street still stands on Courthouse Square, its rooftop sign still lit.