In 1904 President William Truesdale of the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad oversaw numerous projects on the line which not only made the railroad more efficient, but greatly improved the safety of the entire route from Hoboken, NJ to Buffalo, NY. One of the major goals of the work was to eliminate as many of the at-grade crossings as possible. An at-grade crossing was where pedestrian, horse-drawn and vehicular traffic would have to cross directly over the railroad tracks. One of the places where a particularly dangerous crossing existed was on West Lackawanna Ave. in Scranton. This problem was alleviated by the building of the Lackawanna Ave. viaduct between 7th and 9th Streets. Most major projects on the D. L. & W. where documented on a weekly basis photographically as work progressed. The West Lackawanna Ave. viaduct was no exception.
Three years ago, Ted Baird was asked to scan the original 1904 glass negatives from this interesting engineering feat for the Lackawanna Historical Society. The result was some surprisingly clear images that show how the work was done, the men who did the work and how the construction impacted on the residents. While the photographs were taken primarily to show progress to the railroad executives, the end result for us is a window to urban life over 100 years ago.
On Sunday, February 26th, we will be able to look into this fascinating piece of the past when Mr. Baird presents a power point slide presentation at the Society’s headquarters, the Catlin House at 2 pm. Mr. Baird is a member and current treasurer of the Frances Dorrance Chapter of the Society of Pennsylvania Archaeology and of the Lackawanna Historical Society. He was born in Moscow, PA and raised in Baltimore Md. but moved back to the area he loves 33 years ago. He has a Bachelors Degree in Biology from Towson State College and worked for the Social Security Administration for 32 years. His presentation is free and open to the public. For additional information call the Society at (570) 344-3841
