What Happened to Scranton Pennsylvania? 

Corruption is why Scranton is a stagnant city. Businesses can barely afford to operate within the city limits, city government is loaded with nepotism with do-nothing jobs and backroom deals are the norm when it comes to the school district and city hall.

The Capitol Records building has now been repurposed, but at one point every Beatles album sold in the US was pressed in Scranton.

They call it the electric city because of the electricity

We moved here in August 2022, after a hard and long research. We love it! The quality of life and the people are awesome and it has so much to offer! We bought our new and forever home in Dunmore and we're enjoying every single minute of our new community...won't change it at all!!

It was all over for Scranton once the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Co. moved away.

I think it's worth mentioning why anthracite coal put Scranton on the map. Anthracite is a hard coal that burns cleaner and can only be found in extremely specific places. and if you look at a map of Pennsylvania, you can actually see where that specific place is because there's a thin stripe of constant city around the Scranton/Wilkes-barre area, and then almost nothing for at least a 20 minute drive in any given direction.

As someone who was born, raised, and currently lives in Scranton I could honestly say it’s a shame to see how much the city has declined over the last 15 years. At least we’re not as bad as Detroit though

No mention of Dunder Mifflin? (Sorry, someone had to say it)

As someone who once lived there it's quite interesting to see it covered and talked about in this way

I live in scranton, moved up here from are you ready? Orlando Fl running away from tourists and traffic. I like it here its quiet. Relatively crime free and almost traffic jam free. Yes its snows and its cold but i dont really worry about the weather. This is a very decent place to raise a family, the jobs are catching up too.

At 85 years of age and no longer living in Scranton, I have nothing but love for the city despite its economic decline...just like another old family member!

I remember a pizza place there called “Slice of Scranton” …some of the best NY style pizza I’ve ever had. It was a family operated restaurant in a house. We would always go out of our way to stop there.

My family is from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. The anthracite coal comment is really understated. The church my family went to, the altar was made from coal. The coal closures is also part of the reason why my family left. Thanks for the video!

I live in West side Scranton. I love it here. Us millennials have been working hard to bring something great here..our art and music (myself being a part) are awesome. We've worked hard since we were just kids to put on shows and give hope and love to anyone we come in contact with. Is it the best city in the world? No... But it's mine and I'm proud of it.

Personally I think Scranton is a great town - it's situated in the scenic Wyoming Valley, right next door to the Poconos, and a mere 2 1/2 hours drive to both New York City and Philadelphia. It's full of lovely historic architecture, has a couple of universities, several beautiful parks, and some cultural amenities. I pray it makes a comeback. As the song "The Pennsylvania Polka" states - "It started in Scranton, it's now #1!"

I'd love to return back after going to college there! Low prices & great views!

Many government buildings in downtown, not like it used to be. I was born and lived most of my life here except when I moved to San Francisco and lived there for 25 years. Right now, most people can’t even afford senior housing. Nursing homes charge $9k/month for bathing, changing you, feeding you and letting you sleep, nothing else.

Scranton ended up on "forgotten places" channel Feels bad man, I live here. The newer pictures you use I recognize where they are.

Scranton became known as the Electric City because of it being the first U.S. city to have electric trolly cars. Also the population situation is even worse as that 140,000 plus population in the forties did not count the now incorporated communities of Providence or Minooka which were separate communities now incorporated into Scranton with its bore 70,000 population.

I live in the Philadelphia suburbs but worked for the state of Pennsylvania for many years. For some time I was assigned to work in the Scranton area. As noted in the video you can see how the city declined as many industries closed down. However not everything I bad about the city. When I was first assigned to the area it was very depressed. However I did see the city when the downtown mall was relatively new. But just like most malls today has fallen on hard times due to internet shopping and retail expansion outside the city limits. As noted high taxes drive most business to close or relocate and when it comes to manufacturing most of that work was relocated to Asia due to lower costs. I feel there still is hope for the city to improve but like most cities in PA taxes need to go down and leaders need to change their thinking on how to attract new business to the city. By the way the trolley wire you saw is for an active historic trolley museum next to Steamtown Railroad museum and does operate trolleys over a historic route to the Baseball park area.

Lived in the Scanton area many years ago and going to try to get back in the area again. I was born and raised in little Italy Newark NJ in the heart of little Italy 7th Ave. Left! Joined the Marines and many Italians started moving out to different places like Scranton where I hope to relocate back. If you needed help you can always find help from the Italians, Irish and the Jews it was a good place to live.

OMG. 😂 Never expected to see a video about Scranton. This is my hometown.

Senator Dan Flood did everything he could to support the anthracite mining industry, even getting the US Army to export it to their bases in Europe for heating during the Cold War. He deserved a mention in the video.

I just moved to scranton and my wife and I love it here so many fabulous restaurants and so much to do we love tripps park area and we are so happy we left nnj and it's the best decision we've ever made and not to mention the people here are very nice and the city is revitalizing with the new generation its great here

Nice job narrating -- enjoyed the smooth hand-offs!

They should build a replica of The Office building in Scranton, and people would visit more. There are millions of fans worldwide.

My Great-Aunt formally lived in Scranton, I remember visiting her there a few times, and I’ll admit when I was there, there wasn’t a whole lot to do.

Thanks for considering doing a video on it cause besides the office we're unknown

All those cities in Pennsy suffered from the downturn in Anthracite. Labor is cheaper overseas so the factories closed an we are left with a severly depressed region. There really is nothing left. Reading, Lancaster, Tamaqua all suffered. When the steel left it was another great blow to PA, mostly Bethlehem/Allentown and Easton area, but it was worth driving in to Bethlehem Steel from midstate because steel paid so well. Its depressing. Pennsy used to be great, now it's a shadow of its former self.

I’m from this area. I remember the rise and fall of steamtown mall. Today it is mostly part of a college and doctors offices. What wasn’t touched on was the garment industry. There was a factory almost on every corner. My town had at least 5. I believe that was the final nail in the coffin. In so far as education that’s starting to decline. Scranton has 3 high schools now only rwo. They are combining the elementary schools whic will close some. Higher level education will eventually suffer. Taxes are ridiculous.

Moved here from Philly 3 years ago and the public transit system (Coltsbus) sucks. It doesn't even run on Sundays when there are art classes and church events I can't attend. It seems like most people who live here drive, so I guess there's less incentive for Coltsbus to add evening service and routes to more of the adjoining towns like Jim Thorpe that has a quaint downtown area that I've only seen a little of on TV. The upside is that I was able to get into affordable senior housing very quickly plus I feel safer here than if I still were in Philly.

How much longer can the country go on when we don't manufacture goods. Where does the money come from in a service industry based economy? The Time is now.....

Really enjoyed the style of your vid thanks 🎉

One of the most fascinating videos I have ever seen! I am near Scranton!! Has anyone ever done a video about Clark's Summit PA? That would be fun!!!!

My grandfather worked in Scranton in the 70s and 80s at a meat packing slaughterhouse. But we lived in Wilkes Barra, which I think is a much nicer town 20 miles away. And every time I go back to the area I visit train town. Because I love trains ever since my uncle showed me his train set when I was a boy right there in Scranton, Pennsylvania

They don't call it the rust belt for nothing. It's a depressing city with not much industry outside of health care and services like the video mentioned, high poverty, horrendous taxes, many suspect neighborhoods (I used to live in one), government corruption, terrible weather, the list goes on. As for a recent example of decline, take the Steamtown Mall, which went up in the 90s. When I was a kid, it was bustling with business and was a very popular hangout spot. That changed when I was in highschool when the mall was almost completely abandoned and bought by somebody else because the place was failing rapidly. Despite the aquarium moving in, it's nothing like it used to be. I hear some bozo wants to build a 17 story tower somewhere downtown that's going to double as a multi story mall and apartments. Excellent idea. That'll bring in tourists.. or something. A lot of people I know want to move south to Florida or pretty much anywhere that's not the northeast US. I can't imagine retiring here myself.

I live in scraton just moved here 2 years ago from New York bronx. Good to know this information 👍.

there's definitely some things they can do to make the city more livable and streamlined. unfortunately its overrun with an aging population that hates the idea of modernization. im all for protecting old architecture and such but its annoying watching the council meetings and hearing 80 year old's complain about how we should add another lane to the highway, or give them roadside parking. Instead they should be focusing on getting that Amtrak line from Scranton to new York up, or maybe put some of that tax money into bringing back the trolley system this city was built around? idk, just feels like a ton of wasted potential here anymore.

Reminds me of Binghamton NY in how it lost a lot of business.

Pretty much the only reason the town is there is because that’s where the coal was/is. If you check out a mine map, the entire town is mined out underneath. Grid after grid of room and pillar, solid across the entire valley.

Scranton is a success story compared to whats happened to many other towns in NEPA

I'll tell you exactly what happened. Dunder Mifflin moved to the West Coast and since they were one of the biggest businesses there the whole area shuttered down. Bad business decision imo...makes the while company look greedy.

Here to give a shout-out to my man Michael Scott

All went to shit after Michael left

As an NEPA resident, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre are nice cities. Sure, they may be old, but I feel pretty safe living in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area.

SCRANTON...if you can make it here you can make it anywhere!

Scranton is actually having a bit of a resurgence. Great mayor and progress being made to bring in a larger a variety of cultures to the area. One of the biggest issues is the University of Scranton which gets around real taxation by making donations to the city every year. They own such a large swath of land, but are a religious school to skirt around some of the rules.

I was born in Scranton Pennsylvania, but we moved back to Texas when I was still just a baby, I am 50yrs old now and would love to travel back to see where I was born. If not mistaken i was born in lakawanna

Love my sweet Scranton - hope to one day move to the mountains and live it out there🏔

Lived here my whole life and this made me depressed i never knew that much of the backstory before

My advice to Scranton Toniann’s is to consider yourself a distant suburb of New York City and try to get a speed rail line to make this happen. Would be a boom for the region bringing in much needed high-end wage earners. That is people making more than 100,000 a year.

As a person who lives outside of Scranton I can say that this video paints the city in a nicer way than it actually is

What happened to most of PA? The resource and manufacturing industries left, and the place contracted heavily. I'm from a small, dying steel town in western PA, same general story.

The Scranton lace copy omg. I remember always asking what it was and why it closed so on…I know they started doing construction on it like three years ago or so. It’s so strange seeing all these pictures, some very familiar or some that I’ve literally walked by several times be in this video.

Fantastic 😍

Well done!

as a student of the university of scranton, it’s on the rise once again

I enjoy living here. (well, near scranton, I happen to be in Carbondale) but i've met some really amazing people here. Plus, the NUMEROUS family owned restaurants. The food in this area is TOP NOTCH!!

We have an amazing art culture..restaurants, skiing and many amazing opportunities. University of Scranton, Marywood college, Johnson school if technology

Ayyyy we’re still going strong out here!

My grandfather from Italy lost his life in the coal mines in Scranton Pennsylvania.

Scranton is a beautiful city and is coming back!

PA is the best place to live….as long as you have a good job. Taxes are nothing compared to NJ or NY. My mortgage was cheaper in pa than my taxes were in nj

i have been a resident of Scranton for nearly 16 years now, not amazing, there are our fair shares of great businesses like Coney Island, which i actually worked at previously, but other than that we are quite corrupt and quite boring. pretty good amount of crime that happens here, but most of us know each other, and are tight-knit.

This is a good facts based report on Scranton. As a lifelong Scrantonian, I can truly say that I love our city. There has definitely been an uptick over the past 15 years for Scranton as a whole. The neighborhoods are much safer than they were a decade and a half ago. For it's size, Scranton is a relatively safe city to live in. Immigration has created a much improved atmosphere in the city. Immigrants from Asia as well as Latin America, Africa, and New Jersey have formed strong family bonds here and have improved the atmosphere in the city. We have been a hotbed for corruption politically through the years, but our current leadership is really trying to improve the city and it's surroundings and is doing a good job. The arts scene is growing and expanding, and the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. We are a unique bunch as a people and are willing to laugh at ourselves, as evidenced by the overall acceptance of "The Office" as a Scranton thing. Many of my friends have moved away and gone around the world to live and produce, but I have been grateful to be able to raise my family here and have lived an incredible life. This was a good video to see!

Scranton needs to capitalize on the Office and increase tourism, pull some people out of the Poconos too.

I know a guy that moved there from NYC and he's doing really well.

Awesome

Wilkes-Barre, Scranton are in the Wyoming Valley. I grew up in the mountains out side of the Wyoming Valley. I had to leave in the late 70 ' s to find work I said I always say I am from the Valley.

Interesting photo of Old Main at 1:02 - that was the original University of Scranton campus. The opening shot took me a minute to figure out for the location as I don't think I've ever seen a view of downtown from that direction. Since I worked there for several years and recognized many of the buildings. I grew-up on a dairy farm just north of the city. I ultimately moved away because of so much attitude against improving anything. At the time I left young to middle-age adults were one of the smaller population segments and a number of the local elderly residents took expressed attitudes of "I'm against the proposals because they won't improve anything in my lifetime." At the same time they would complain about how so many of us graduated then moved away - I tried a few times to explain why but they dismissed everything, insisting the attraction of higher wages elsewhere was "just greedy."

Jesus. The first video I see is my hometown

I still heard the music even though you didn't play it...

Do one for Glen Lyon, PA

Oh we’ve had a very productive chewy and Amazon warehouse open up in nearby Throop/Archibald. Seems like that’s where most of the jobs are being created now. I’ve seen few interesting places open and stay open in the last decade not sure if the city’s really on the up swing but there is a few promising signs.

It's been all downhill (pun intended) since the town had 30,000 pounds of bananas dumped on it 😆

Can you do what happened to Cumberland Maryland

Lived here all my life it’s not bad there just isn’t much to do.

It's worse than ever. Democratic run,taxes off the charts, they charge me to work there because they can't run the city.

I lived there in 2010-2011.

I've lived in Scranton my whole life ( I'm 20 now ). Scranton and the boroughs in the valley area surrounding it are practically hard froze in the 70s. There is no nightlife, it's called the electric city but your only going to see about 20 ppl out on downtown Scranton at a time. Apart from The Office we are also famous for Eric Frien (the state trooper killer). The local government doesn't really care and likely thrives on the fact that there isn't anything to go out and do for free to enjoy with friends or family

There are numerous formally prosperous places in PA. when mining and steel industries started dying.

I live in Scranton now there's not much out here now a small mall called Steamtown mall

On a positive note there is a lot of distribution centers in the area because to ship in or out of the north east you almost have to pass through Scranton and that has become one of the industries that sustains the area. What has killed Scranton however is the problem that is killing America as a whole we simply don't manufacture hardly anything here at all and the majority of work people are doing produces little to no value, more people are going to be in for a rude awakening if the U.S. dollar looses its status as the world reserve currency.

Nay Aug park needs Tennis courts racket ball hand ball Basket Ball and baseball field’s . The new mayor covered the swimming pools up with asphalt can you imagine

They have a great paper and office supplies wholesale company

Just had dinner tonight in a very nice Italian restaurant in Scranton. The place was packed; not an empty seat anywhere. The town is clean with well maintained houses and buildings. Soee parts of Lackawanna Ave. are now closed, but overall the city isn't anything like Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, etc.

Born & raised. Scranton is special. There are incredible minds there.

2nd largest St Patricks day parade in the country, so if you like puke, piss, and fighting people that have been cooped up for about 6 months of shitty weather, it's the place to be in the middle of March😁

30,000 Pounds Of Bananas...... "1965, Gene Sesky lost control of the truck he was hauling 30,000 pounds of bananas in Scranton, which inspired a Harry Chapin song."

the economy fell apart after the Michael Scott Paper Company ended operations

The office here?

Good quality paper came from there

I love scranton pennsylvania i like every city new york city los angeles every city even baltimore chicago paris florida every city in the world i love earth judt be happy where you live love your life enjoy your life and enjoy wherever u live no matter what 😊😊😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ i love everyone

Can you do a video on Lansing, Michigan. We lost a lot of jobs in the Automotive industry, birthplace of the Oldsmobile

Scranton has new skyscrapers, real Wall Street, new underground subway trains, new entertainment, new food, new shopping mall & so much more!🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Is Scranton worth visiting as an English guy who loves the office?

Dundee- Mifflin moved its call center to Delhi, India eight years ago?

When I was a child I used to hear the adults joking on election day. They would say "Don't forget to vote early, AND OFTEN, lol". I didn't understand then. I'm angry that I understand it now.

Nothing happened to Scranton. We are still here.

I pray for the city daily.