The D&H Caboose Pavilion that Will Be Erected in Carbondale
The former Hotel Chellino on River Street in Carbondale will be taken down, beginning in May 2012. On that site, the exhibition pavilion for D&H Caboose 35964, as seen in the above rendering, will be erected.
The funding necessary to erect the pavilion is not yet in place. We will need about $100,000 to make this pavilion a reality. We need help, lots of help, to make this dream come true. Any help that you can provide will be much appreciated.
We Need a Passenger Train
We need a regularly scheduled passenger train up and down the Lackawanna Valley, like the Amtrak train shown here. It would change everything. How can we make this happen?
Facebook Thank You
Many people, in recent days, have told us, via Facebook, that they “Like” the Historical Society webpage. Sincere thanks to all who have taken the time to provide us with feedback on the webpage.
2011 Trolley Tours / Pioneer Nights / Parade
Congratulations and sincere thanks to the Pioneer Nights Committee for organizing and hosting the annual Pioneer Nights community festival--which gets bigger and better every year!
Wendy, Joe, Julie, Megan, and S. Robert prepare for the 3 P.M. departure of the Trolley Tours hosted by the Historical Society during Pioneer Nights, August 2011. Wendy, Julie, and Megan are three of the principal actors in the annual Dunmore Cemetery Tour, which takes place in October. Joe is the Society's treasurer; S. Robert is the Society's executive director.
Richard and Ruthanne, representing Classic Voices, were part of the Historical Society's parade contingent this year. During the celebrations on August 20, Classic Voices performed three concerts, including one at the train station for the 200+ guests who arrived in Carbondale by rail from Steamtown at 11:45 A.M. Included in their musical program was the world premiere of O Carbondale, written by Pat Monahan.
Julie, Richard, Ruthanne, and S. Robert, followed by the Trolley, prepare for the grand promenade down Carbondale's Main Street. Invited guests, members, and friends rode in the Trolley during the parade, among whom were the Jim Racht family, Carbondale City Councilman John Gigliotti, John Michael Gigliotti, Sarah Gillott, Hanna Manarchuk, David Wright, Bill Thiel, and Historical Society treasurer Joseph Pascoe.
(The three photos given above are presented courtesy of Julie Esty)
Good People
We don't know anything about the couple shown above, but everything about their presentation of themselves suggests that they were good people: well brought up, well mannered, respectable, the kind of people who are the life blood of Carbondale--and America. These two young folks had their photograph taken, probably at the time of their wedding, by one of Carbondale's leading photographers, Cramer. All of us can learn a lot about ourselves and our world by thinking about this couple and about the future that they surely built for themselves--and most probably their children--in the Lackawanna Valley of northeastern Pennsylvania. This photo was among a collection of photographs and other memorabilia that was donated to the Historical Society on August 22, 2011 by Carol Datto.
Some Recent Donations to the Historical Society:
The first four "safety" bicycles in Carbondale. In this photograph, taken in August 1891, at the site of the present Carbondale City Hall, are (left to right) H. E. May, Thomas Levison, D. B. Avery, and H. F. Elbrecht. This photograph was included in a collection of May and Crane family memorabilia that was donated to the Historical Society in August 2011 by Richard and Jean May of Hockessin, DE.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game!
Shown below are five historic Northeastern Pennsylvania baseball cards that were donated to the Historical Society in August 2011 by Bill Connor, who served as bat boy for the 1946 and 1947 Carbondale Pioneer Blues baseball team.
Joe Collins: Scranton
Dick Tracewski: Eynon
Stan Palys: Blakely
Joe Grzenda: Factoryville
Paul Foytack: Scranton
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The Historical Society's headquarters are located on the third floor of Carbondale City Hall and Courthouse, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Welcome
The Carbondale Historical Society and Museum is located on the third floor of historic Carbondale City Hall and Courthouse in Carbondale, PA. The building, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is located at One North Main Street.
The first public meeting of the Historical Society, founded in October of 1974 by a group of six Carbondale Area school teachers, was held in January of 1975. On November 6, 1982, the Historical Society and the Committee to Restore Carbondale City Hall merged to form the Carbondale Historical Society and Museum, which was incorporated on March 15, 1983.
The Carbondale Historical Society and Museum is an educational and historical membership organization whose mission is to record, gather, and preserve the history of the city of Carbondale and the surrounding area. Through its genealogical and local history research center and exhibition galleries on the third floor of Carbondale City hall (listed in the National Register of Historic Places on January 6, 1983, through the efforts of the Society) and through an annual series of public lectures, programs, exhibitions, and commemorative ceremonies, in the community and in the public schools, the Society, at the same time, interprets and makes accessible to the public the City's rich, diverse, and unique history and heritage. The Carbondale Historical Society and Museum is committed to the central values of (1) maintaining the highest possible standards in all its endeavors, (2) providing excellent service to the public at all times, and (3) demonstrating leadership and innovation in the field of local history.
Pioneer City
The earliest settlers came into the area which is now Carbondale in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Originally the city was called Ragged Island, then Barrendale, and finally Carbondale.
The true founders of Carbondale were William and Maurice Wurts who arrived in the area from Philadelphia, PA. in 1814. The Wurts brothers were instrumental in the formation of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, in 1823. That company developed the anthracite resources of the area and shipped, via its Gravity Railroad from Carbondale to Honesdale and its canal from Honesdale to the Hudson River, vast quantities of anthracite coal to the New York market, throughout the Northeast, and (via the Erie Canal) the Midwest.
As early as 1822, the area developed by the Wurts brothers began to be known as Carbondale. The City of Carbondale was incorporated on March 15, 1851, making it the oldest (the "Pioneer") city in Lackawanna County, PA, and the fourth oldest city (after Philadelphia, Lancaster, and York) in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.