To spot the Lackawanna County Children's Library, look for a grand, light stone building with tall columns and wide steps leading up to big doors, right ahead of you.
Now, take a deep breath and imagine the echoes of footsteps on these stone steps, the sun glinting off the Indiana limestone, and banners happily declaring: “Children’s Library.” But rewind over a hundred years, and you’d find yourself in the heart of Scranton’s spiritual life, when this very spot was the proud First Church of Christ, Scientist. Designed by Albert J. Ward, its stained glass glistened, and the inside brimmed with hand-carved wood and sparkling white plaster. Back then, the church hummed with people, led by the one and only Judge S. J. Hanna and later supported by Col. Louis A. Watres, a real Scranton VIP-he’d even been lieutenant governor! Together, they stirred up enough excitement (and money) to turn their dream into a glorious new church, which first opened its doors in 1915.
But time has a way of shuffling stories. By the 1980s, the congregation had faded and the grand building was almost empty, echoing with memories instead of music. Ideas for its future were as wild as a children’s imagination: museum, art gallery, a storage spot for “hidden treasures…” One suggestion that really stuck out? Transforming it into a library for Scranton’s youngest book lovers! Lackawanna County jumped in with both feet, bought the building in 1985, and set out on an adventure of their own. When remodeling began, workers discovered a secret stash hidden in the cornerstone-old Bibles, a crisp Christian Science Monitor, and a trove of books-a perfectly mysterious twist! In 1987, after much transformation, the old church opened a brand-new chapter as the Children’s Library. And in 1988, the nation officially recognized its story by adding it to the National Register of Historic Places.
So here you stand, right by Scranton’s time machine-a place that once echoed with hymns and now buzzes with the laughter of kids discovering their next great story.
