Courthouse Square! Piecing Together the Past #5 Traditional Geocache

The Lackawanna County Courthouse on Courthouse Square was built 1881 - 1884 and remodeled in 1896.  The land on which the courthouse stands was originally a cranberry bog called the "Lily Pond" which the children of Scranton forefathers used for ice skating. As part of the land holdings of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, it was donated to the new county.  Before the building could be constructed, the swamp was filled by the construction of a tunnel from the iron furnaces which passed under the Scranton Estate.  Dirt and slag from the iron furnaces was transported to the site by mine cars which ran rails through the tunnel.  The architectural style of the courthouse is Victorian Gothic and Romanesque details.  The building, like all of Scranton's early public structures, is of locally-quarried West Mountain stone, trimmed with Onondaga limestone construction.  Gothic details included tall corner towers, carved stone details and ornamental bultressses.  Romanesque details included round-arched windows and tower openings.    For more information, visit the county website at www.lackawannacounty.org