You’ve found it! Right in front of you stands a big stone building with a tall five-story clock tower wearing a sharp green-topped hat, edged by deep-set arches and topped with a red-tiled roof-the Lackawanna County Courthouse is hard to miss when you look up.
Now, picture yourself strolling here in 1884: horses clattering by, judges in stately robes, and this brand-new Romanesque Revival courthouse rising from the ground. When they built it, it was only three stories high, but after Scranton stretched its toes, they added another level in 1896, giving the tower a crown and a few more eclectic flourishes. Those roof tiles? Specially made Conosera tiles, courtesy of Ludowici, probably tougher than any umbrella in a Pennsylvanian thunderstorm. This building isn’t just about somber verdicts and gavel-banging, though. In 1902, furious coal miners and powerful bosses watched history unfold inside, as the first session of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission tried to settle labor tensions hotter than a summer furnace. Step outside and you’ll spot a monument to John Mitchell, the miners’ champion-encased in granite and bronze since 1924, standing guard over justice and memory alike. And if you’re curious, yes, even courthouses need an extra room sometimes-a new wing was added in 1964. Quite a place, isn’t it?
