This year, we surprised my parents with a prepaid two-night stay for the four of us at a charming Bed & Breakfast in the small town of Hawley, PA, at the northern end of Lake Wallenpaupack, about about 45 miles ENE of Scranton. From Binghamton, this would be a easy drive south on Interstate 81. "Can we take the back roads?" the Admiral asked. I much prefer to avoid highways whenever possible; the 'scenic routes' are much more appealing to me. I planned a route that promised to take us along small roads passed posted woods, derelict barns, Trump signs, confederate flags, and the occasional meth lab.
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| Our route to Hawley, PA |
One of the things I like about traveling back roads is the opportunity to learn about local history. We crossed the mighty Susquehanna River at Oakland, PA, about twenty miles SE of Binghamton. Back in the 1820s, Joseph Smith had lived here for a short time, dictating parts of what would become the Book of Mormon. Across the river, on the southern bank, lay the small town of Susquehanna, dominated by the towering spire of a large church atop a tall hill.
Although the 2010 census put its population at only 1643 (with a median household income of $35,197), the dates and names on the facades of some of the large old buildings along Main Street suggested it once had been a place of some importance. "This must have been someplace special once," I said to the Admiral. "Why don't you look it up?" What she discovered astonished me. This was the birthplace of famed behavioral psychologist, BF Skinner.
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| Main Street, Susquehanna, PA |
The area was first settled in the 1790s. Half a century later, the farms of the area were purchased by the NY & Lake Erie Railroad Company, and a town and tracks were laid out in the late 1840s. By 1853, the settlement had been incorporated as the borough of "Harmony" (renamed 'Susquehanna' in 1869). Tax records from the time of incorporation list some 270 residences, as well as six taverns, two saloons (one with bowling alley), eleven shops, thirteen storerooms, two barns, and a slaughter house. Many of the settlers who came here were employed by the railroad, or in service industries that catered to the railroad. |
| Vintage Postcard of Main Street, Susquehanna, PA |
During its heyday of the latter nineteenth century, Susquehanna (Depot) was the mechanical headquarters of the Erie Railroad. Its rail yard, which included a 33-stall roundhouse, was large enough to accommodate 200 locomotives. The town was a manufacturing and service center for locomotives and railway cars. By 1887, five locomotives were being produced here each month.
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| Vintage Post Card of the Locomotive Manufacturing Shop |
Several thousand workers were employed in the numerous workshops, foundry, gas works, oil works, ice house, and huge freight house, while an enormous passenger station, the Starucca House, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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| The old Starucca House, once with hotel and restaurant. |
By the early 1870s, the local economy was booming, and the town sported five hotels, two banks, three newspapers, a library, lecture hall, and opera house. Agricultural products from the surrounding county were shipped to New York City via the railway, and Susquehanna became a leading producer of eggs and milk in Pennsylvania. The town and depot began to decline in the mid-twentieth century, as the railroad transitioned from steam locomotives to heavier diesels, for which the facilities were ill-equipped to handle.
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| The railyard at Susquehanna Depot. Most of these buildings were demolished in the early 1980s |
By 1960, the workforce at Susquehanna Depot had shrunk to only ten electricians. Businesses closed, buildings became vacant and fell into disrepair, folks moved away, and the once proud community became a shadow of its former self. I still recall traveling, as a young child, with my family by train from Binghamton to visit grandparents in New York City in the 1960s. Although I had no clue at the time, the train must have come through Susquehanna. Trains still run through here, but they no longer stop.
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