A history of Scranton,
since 1869
Postcards, papers and photographs of Scranton from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Scranton was platted in 1869, shortly after the Cedar Rapids & Missouri River Railroad was built through that territory. It was named for Joseph H. Scranton of Scranton, Pennsylvania, who supplied most of the iron rails in the construction of the railroad. Scranton was incorporated in 1880.
Scranton's water tower, built in 1897, is the oldest working water tower in Iowa and ninth oldest in the United States. A fire occurred at the tower in 1907, initially started to melt ice that had caused the town to be without water. Three men were injured attempting to put the fire out, although the tower itself did not suffer any major damage.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Scranton’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewScrantonIowa1921AutosCigars, 1921: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Scranton
See all 1 →Scranton, decade by decade
1990s
Nothing in Scranton is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Scranton has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Lincoln Highway-West Greene County Rural Segment in Ralston, 3.8 miles away.
Scranton and the nearest listed places
Closest to Scranton
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as ScrantonIowa1921AutosCigars (1921) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1) and the Library of Congress (5). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.