Scranton

Industrial city, Pennsylvania, USA, on the Lackawanna River, 217 km/136 mi northwest of New York; population (2000) 76,400. Anthracite coal is mined nearby and beneath the city, but production has declined sharply. Long-established iron and steel industries have been overtaken by the manufacture of electronic equipment, fabricated metal, clothing, plastic goods, and printed materials. Revitalization of the economy has been aided by the development of interstate highway connections with New York and Philadelphia, establishing the city as a haulage centre.

Scranton was settled in 1771, but developed chiefly with the erection of anthracite-fired iron and steel furnaces in 1840. Its principal product was railway lines. Its mines closed in 1901.

Scranton houses the Henry Houdini Museum. The University of Scranton is here.