The Albright Memorial Library , also commonly referred to as the Scranton Public Library , is a historic public library located in Scranton , Lackawanna County , Pennsylvania . The library is located on the corner of Vine Street and Washington Avenue. Since the library opened in May 1893, it has served the city of Scranton and the surrounding areas by providing access to books, DVDs, computer services, and more.
122-581: Joseph J. Albright originally came to the city of Scranton as a general coal sales agent for the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad . He would construct a house on the corner of Washington Ave. and Vine St., which he lived in with his wife Elizabeth and their children. After Joseph and Elizabeth’s deaths, the Albright children reached an agreement with the City of Scranton to donate the land to be used as
244-684: A Radisson hotel ) in Scranton the following year. A new terminal was constructed on the waterfront in Buffalo in 1917. The "Lackawanna Railroad of New Jersey", chartered on February 7, 1908, to build the Lackawanna Cut-Off (a.k.a. New Jersey Cutoff or Hopatcong-Slateford Cutoff), opened on December 24, 1911. This provided a low-grade cutoff in northwestern New Jersey. The cutoff included the Delaware River Viaduct and
366-510: A "'grand promenade' was an 'essential feature of a metropolitan park'"; however, its formal symmetry, its style, although something of an aberration, was designed to be subordinate to the natural view surrounding it. Wealthy passengers were let from their carriages at its south end. The carriage would then drive around to the Terrace, which overlooked the Lake and Ramble to pick them up, saving them
488-564: A cost of $ 2 million, including a massive machine and erecting shop measuring 582 by 342 feet. To handle the increasing roster of coal and other freight cars, new car shops were built outside Scranton at Keyser Valley in 1904. A passenger car shop was added in Kingsland, New Jersey, nine miles from New York City, in 1906. The company built a Beaux-Arts terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey , in 1907, and another Beaux-Arts passenger station (now
610-496: A division of the Livonia , Avon , and Lakeville Railroad). Shorter main line remnants are Groveland -Greigsville (Genesee & Wyoming) and Lancaster - Depew (Depew, Lancaster & Western). The Richfield Springs branch was scrapped in 1998 after being out of service for years; much of the right of way was purchased in 2009 by Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley LLC of Richfield Springs, New York, which as of 2022 operates
732-705: A fireplace. The administrative offices, which occupy the former children’s section of the Albright Memorial Library, contain murals painted by Elizabeth Arthur. Painted between 1933 and 1951, the murals depict scenes from fairytales, classic stories, and images from American History. These include paintings showing Robin Hood, Lassie, the Pony Express, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad , also known as
854-441: A friend wrote: "Olmsted is in an unhappy, sick, sore mental state ... He works like a dog all day and sits up nearly all night ... works with steady, feverish intensity till four in the morning, sleeps on a sofa in his clothes, and breakfasts on strong coffee and pickles!!!" His overwork and lack of sleep led to his being in a perpetual state of irritability, which wore on the people with whom he worked: "Exhausted, ill and having lost
976-481: A large passenger traffic for the Lackawanna. All of this helped justify the railroad's expansion of its double-track mainline to three and in a few places four tracks. Changes in the region's economy undercut the railroad, however. The post- World War II boom enjoyed by many U.S. cities bypassed Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and the rest of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. Fuel oil and natural gas quickly became
1098-585: A library card and continued to grow steadily. Between 200 and 350 books were being checked out daily. During World War II, the Scranton Public Library participated in the Victory Book Campaign, which encouraged the public to donate gently used or new books to soldiers fighting overseas. Former library director Harold A Wooster was the chairman of the Victory Book Campaign for Lackawanna County in 1942. A direct telephone line for
1220-457: A library. The original Albright house was demolished in 1890, so the construction of the Albright Memorial Library could begin. On May 25, 1893, the Scranton Public Library was ready to open two months earlier than originally anticipated. An invite only reception was held that night. During the ceremonies, Harry C. and John Joseph Albright handed over the deed for the ground of the Scranton Public Library to Mayor Connell, who accepted on behalf of
1342-679: A merger agreement with the Erie Railroad , the DL&;W's longtime rival (and closest geographical competitor), forming the Erie Lackawanna Railroad . The merger was formally consummated on October 17, 1960. Shoemaker drew much criticism for it, and would even second-guess himself after he had retired from railroading. He later claimed to have had a "gentlemen's agreement" with the EL board of directors to take over as president of
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#17328024699471464-494: A more cultivated taste. Their children were Charlotte, Mary, Owen, Bertha, Ada, and Albert Olmsted. The Olmsted ancestors arrived in the early 1600s from Essex , England. When he was almost ready to enter Yale College at a young age, sumac poisoning weakened his eyes, so he abandoned college plans. After working as an apprentice seaman, merchant, and journalist, he settled on a 125 acres (51 ha) farm in January 1848 on
1586-637: A narrow-gauge tourist railway Richfield Springs Scenic Railway on a portion of the line and a walking trail on another section. The Cortland- Cincinnatus Branch, abandoned by Erie Lackawanna in 1960, was partially-rebuilt for an industrial spur about 1999. As of 2018, the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern operates the former Keyser Valley branch from Scranton to Taylor, as well as the former Bloomsburg branch from Taylor to Coxton Yard in Duryea . The Luzerne and Susquehanna Railway operates
1708-510: A patient at the McLean Hospital , for whose grounds he had submitted a design which was never executed. He remained there until he died in 1903. Drawing influences from English landscape and gardening, Olmsted emphasized design that encourages the full use of the naturally occurring features of a given space, its "genius"; the subordination of individual details to the whole so that decorative elements do not take precedence, but rather
1830-622: A plan for Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan , saying that it "should not be marred by the intrusion of artificial objects". After Olmsted's retirement and death, his sons John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. , continued the work of their firm, doing business as the Olmsted Brothers . The firm lasted until 1980. Many works by the Olmsted sons are mistakenly credited to Frederick Law Olmsted today. For instance,
1952-621: A short segment of the Boonton Branch by Garret Mountain in Paterson, New Jersey , was sold off to the state of New Jersey to build Interstate 80 . Ultimately, the west end of the Boonton Branch was combined with the Erie's Greenwood Lake Branch, while the eastern end was combined with the Erie's main line, which was abandoned through Passaic, New Jersey . Sacrificed was the Boonton Branch, a high-speed freight line thought to be redundant with
2074-518: A similar fashion for their private enjoyment, such as that of Frederick T. van Beuren Jr. in New Jersey. He is a descendant of a Dutch physician who settled in Manhattan in 1700 and whose family members became prominent property owners in the city and various other locations. Initially, that country estate was one of several self-sufficient retreats from Manhattan held by the family that included
2196-754: A son Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (born July 24, 1870). Their first child, John Theodore Olmsted, was born on June 13, 1860, and died in infancy. In recognition of his services during the Civil War, Olmsted was elected a Third Class member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) on May 2, 1888, and was assigned insignia number 6345. Olmsted's election to MOLLUS
2318-475: A soothing, restorative effect on the viewer. The picturesque style covered rocky, broken terrain teeming with shrubs and creepers, to express nature's richness. The picturesque style played with light and shade to lend the landscape a sense of mystery. Scenery was designed to enhance the sense of space: indistinct boundaries using plants, brush, and trees as opposed to sharp ones; the interplay of light and shadow close up, and blurred detail farther away. He employed
2440-525: A standard of excellence that continues to influence landscape architecture in the United States. He was an early and important activist in the conservation movement , including in his work at Niagara Falls, the Adirondack region of upstate New York, and the National Park system . As head of the U.S. Sanitary Commission , he also played a major role in organizing and providing medical services to
2562-466: A supporting farm for produce, livestock, and a livery as well as several houses for permanent staff. The estate later became a more permanent residence as van Beuren's career shifted to founding a hospital in the growing community nearby . At that time the shingled structure in New Vernon was renovated into a brick structure that is described as one of the notable mansions of the area. At the time of
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#17328024699472684-513: A tremendous financial drain on the Lackawanna and other railroads that ran through the state: a situation that would not be remedied for another two decades. To save his company, Lackawanna president Perry Shoemaker sought a merger with the Nickel Plate Road , a deal that would have created a railroad stretching more than 1,100 miles (1,800 km) from St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois to New York City and would have allowed
2806-408: A vast expanse of greenery at the end of which would lie a grove of yellow poplar; a path that winds through a bit of landscape and intersects with others, dividing the terrain into triangular islands of successive new views. Subordination strove to use all objects and features in the service of the design and its intended effect. It can be seen in the subtle use of naturally occurring plants throughout
2928-423: Is shown seated wearing a black suit and a bowtie. Both of these portraits were done by Theobald Chartran . The final portrait on the second floor of the library depicts Joseph J. Albright, painted by Bayard Henry Tyler. Albright is shown seated while wearing a suit. In the circulation department, a painting by V. Olbert showing three women working on a needle point craft while another woman prepares drinks hangs above
3050-677: Is significant in that he was one of the few civilians elected to membership in an organization composed almost exclusively of military officers and their descendants. In 1891 he joined the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution by right of his descent from his grandfather Benjamin Olmsted who served in the 4th Connecticut Regiment in 1775. In 1895, senility forced Olmsted to retire. By 1898 he moved to Belmont, Massachusetts , and took up residence as
3172-541: Is the use of sunken roadways which traverse the park and are specifically dedicated to vehicles as opposed to the winding pathways designated specifically for pedestrians. An example of this mix of principles is seen in the Central Park Mall , a large promenade leading to the Bethesda Terrace, and the single formal feature in Olmsted and Vaux's original naturalistic design. The designers wrote that
3294-787: The American South and Texas from 1852 to 1857. His dispatches to the Times were collected into three volumes ( A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), A Journey Through Texas (1857), A Journey in the Back Country in the Winter of 1853–4 (1860). These are considered vivid first-person accounts of the antebellum South. A one-volume abridgment, Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom (1861),
3416-624: The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina ; the master plans for the University of California, Berkeley , the University of Maine , Stanford University near Palo Alto, California , Mount Holyoke College , The Lawrenceville School ; and Montebello Park in St. Catharines , Ontario . In Chicago his projects include Jackson Park , Washington Park , the main park ground for
3538-715: The Central Railroad of New Jersey abandoned all its operations in Pennsylvania (which by that time were freight-only), causing additional through freights to be run daily between Elizabeth, NJ on the CNJ and Scranton on the EL. The trains, designated as the eastbound SE-98 and the westbound ES-99, travelled via the Lackawanna Cut-Off and were routed via the CNJ 's High Bridge Branch . This arrangement ended with
3660-1069: The DL&;W or Lackawanna Railroad , was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York , and Hoboken, New Jersey , and by ferry with New York City , a distance of 395 miles (636 km). The railroad was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1853, and created primarily to provide a means of transport of anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeast Pennsylvania to large coal markets in New York City . The railroad gradually expanded both east and west, and eventually linked Buffalo with New York City. Like most coal-focused railroads in Northeastern Pennsylvania, including Lehigh Valley Railroad , New York, Ontario and Western Railroad , and
3782-610: The Erie Lackawanna Railroad that would be taken over by Conrail in 1976. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was first incorporated as Leggett's Gap Railroad on April 7, 1832, though it was dormant for several years following its incorporation. The company was chartered on March 14, 1849, and organized on January 2, 1850. On April 14, 1851, its name was changed to Lackawanna and Western Railroad . The line opened on December 20, 1851, and ran north from Scranton, Pennsylvania , to Great Bend, Pennsylvania , just south of Pennsylvania 's border with New York state . From Great Bend,
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3904-594: The Kearny Connection , opened in 1996. This facilitates part of NJ Transit's popular Midtown Direct service. Formerly, the line ran solely to the DL&W's historic terminal in Hoboken and a transfer to underground rapid transit was required to pass under the Hudson river into Manhattan, or a ferry. This is the only section of former Lackawanna trackage that has more through tracks now than ever before. Since
4026-543: The Lehigh & New England Railroad , the DL&W was profitable during the first half of the 20th century, but its margins were gradually hurt by declining Pennsylvania coal traffic, especially following the 1959 Knox Mine Disaster and competition from trucks following the expansion of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1960, the DL&W merged with rival Erie Railroad to form
4148-557: The North Jersey suburbs to Hoboken on the Boonton , Gladstone , Montclair and Morristown Lines. Early publicity for the passenger service featured a young woman, Phoebe Snow , who always wore white and kept her clothing clean while riding the "Road of Anthracite", powered by the clean-burning coal known as anthracite . The most profitable commodity shipped by the railroad was anthracite coal . In 1890 and during 1920–1940,
4270-630: The Panic of 1857 . Olmsted provided financial support for, and occasionally wrote for, the magazine The Nation , which was founded in 1865. "Olmsted spent much of his free time working without pay as an editorial assistant to [the magazine's first editor, Edwin L.] Godkin . It was a labor of love." Andrew Jackson Downing , the landscape architect from Newburgh, New York , was one of the first to propose developing New York City's Central Park in his role as publisher of The Horticulturist magazine. A friend and mentor to Olmsted, Downing introduced him to
4392-618: The Paulinskill Viaduct , as well as three concrete towers at Port Morris and Greendell in New Jersey and Slateford Junction in Pennsylvania. From 1912 to 1915, the Summit-Hallstead Cutoff (a.k.a. Pennsylvania Cutoff or Nicholson Cutoff ) was built to revamp a winding and hilly system between Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania , and Hallstead, Pennsylvania . This rerouting provided another quicker low-grade line between Scranton and Binghamton. The Summit Cutoff included
4514-773: The Red Cross . He tended to the wounded during the American Civil War . In 1862, during Union General George B. McClellan 's Peninsula Campaign , he headed the medical effort for the sick and wounded at White House plantation in New Kent County , which had a boat landing on the Pamunkey River . He was one of the six founding members of the Union League Club of New York . He helped to recruit and outfit three African-American regiments of
4636-629: The Union Army during the Civil War. Olmsted was born in Hartford, Connecticut , on April 26, 1822. His father, John Olmsted, was a prosperous merchant who took a lively interest in nature, people, and places; Frederick Law and his younger brother, John Hull Olmsted, also showed this interest. His mother, Charlotte Law (née Hull) Olmsted, died from an overdose before his fourth birthday in 1826. His father remarried in 1827 to Mary Ann Bull, who shared her husband's strong love of nature and had perhaps
4758-737: The United States Colored Troops in New York City. He contributed to organizing a Sanitary Fair , which raised one million dollars for the United States Sanitary Commission . He worked for the Sanitary Commission to the point of exhaustion: "Part of the problem was his need to maintain control over all aspects of the commission's work. He refused to delegate and he had an appetite for authority and power." By January 1863
4880-491: The University of Chicago , as well as the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, among many other projects. Olmsted was an important early leader of the conservation movement in the United States. An expert on California, he was likely one of the gentlemen "of fortune, of taste and of refinement" who proposed, through Senator John Conness, that Congress designate Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove as public reserves. This
5002-563: The planned Chicago suburb of Riverside, Illinois ; the park system for Buffalo, New York ; Milwaukee 's grand necklace of parks; and the Niagara Reservation at Niagara Falls and Belle Isle in Detroit. Olmsted conceived of entire systems of parks and interconnecting parkways to connect certain cities to green spaces. Some of the best examples of the scale on which he worked are the park system designed for Buffalo, one of
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5124-601: The "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad", on March 11, 1853. On the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, the Warren Railroad was chartered on February 12, 1851, to continue from the bridge over the river southeast to Hampton , on the Central Railroad of New Jersey . That section got its name from Warren County , the county through which it would primarily run. The rest of the line, now known as
5246-577: The 1880s, he was active in efforts to conserve the natural wonders of Niagara Falls , threatened with industrialization by the building of electrical power plants. At the same time, he campaigned to preserve the Adirondack region in upstate New York. He was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1898. Olmsted was also known to oppose park projects on conservationist grounds. In 1891, Olmsted refused to develop
5368-718: The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition , the southern portion of Chicago's emerald necklace boulevard ring , and the University of Chicago campus. In Washington, D.C. , he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building. The quality of Olmsted's landscape architecture was recognized by his contemporaries, who showered him with prestigious commissions. Daniel Burnham said of him, "He paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest-covered hills; with mountainsides and ocean views...." His work, especially in Central Park, set
5490-434: The 1999 breakup of Conrail, the former DL&W main line from Scranton south-east to Slateford in Monroe County has been owned by the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA). The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad and Steamtown National Historic Site operates freight trains and tourist trains on this stretch of track, dubbed the Pocono Mainline (or Pocono Main). Under a haulage agreement with Norfolk Southern,
5612-424: The Albright Memorial Library changed once again due a project to create rainwater cisterns. Today, the area surrounding the Albright Memorial Library is primarily composed of small shrubs, some trees, and flowers. Stained glass windows can be seen in the reference and circulation departments of the Albright Memorial Library. Created by Edwin Ford and Frederick Brooks of Boston, the windows reflect important figures in
5734-409: The Albright Memorial Library were originally designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted . It is designated as Job #1349 under the Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot name. The original plans contain a variety of plants and shrubbery. It is unknown if this project was ever completed. If it was completed, it would have been replaced with landscape design adapted to the changing tastes over the course of
5856-456: The D-L runs unit Canadian grain trains between Scranton and the Harvest States Grain Mill at Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania and wood deliveries to Bestway Enterprises in Cresco . Other commercial customers include Keystone Propane in Tobyhanna. Excursion trains, hauled by visiting Nickel Plate 765 and other locomotives, run from Steamtown to Moscow and Tobyhanna (with infrequent extensions to East Stroudsburg or Delaware Water Gap Station, both on
5978-409: The DL&W main line portion between Scranton and Binghamton (which includes the Nicholson Cutoff ) bought by the Delaware and Hudson Railway . The D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1991. CPR continued to run this portion of the DL&W main line until 2014, when it sold it to the Norfolk Southern . The Syracuse and Utica branches north of Binghamton were sold by Conrail to
6100-405: The DL&W shipped upwards of 14% of the state of Pennsylvania's anthracite production. Other profitable freight included dairy products, cattle, lumber, cement, steel and grain. The Pocono Mountains region was one of the most popular vacation destinations in the country—especially among New Yorkers—and several large hotels sat along the line in Northeastern Pennsylvania , generating
6222-451: The DL&W, which owned a substantial block of Nickel Plate stock, to place one of its directors on the Nickel Plate board . (The Nickel Plate would later merge with the Norfolk and Western Railroad .) Shoemaker next turned, in 1956, to aggressive but unsuccessful efforts to obtain joint operating agreements and even potential mergers with the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Delaware and Hudson Railway . Finally, Shoemaker sought and won
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#17328024699476344-503: The Delaware Otsego Corp., which operates them as the northern division of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway . In 1997, Conrail accepted an offer of purchase from CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway . On June 1, 1999, Norfolk Southern took over many of the Conrail lines in New Jersey, including most of the former DL&W. It also purchased the remnants of the former Bangor & Portland branch in Pennsylvania. Norfolk Southern continues to operate local freights on
6466-471: The EL's decline. By 1976, it was apparent that the EL was at the end of its tether, and it petitioned to join Conrail : a new regional railroad that was created on April 1, 1976, out of the remnants of seven bankrupt freight railroads in the northeastern U.S. The EL's rail property was legally conveyed into Conrail on April 1, 1976. Labor contracts limited immediate changes to the freight schedule, but in early 1979, Conrail suspended through freight service on
6588-402: The English-born architect Calvert Vaux , whom Downing had brought to the U.S. as his architectural collaborator. After Downing died in July 1852 in a widely publicized fire on the Hudson River steamboat Henry Clay , Olmsted and Vaux entered the Central Park design competition together, against Egbert Ludovicus Viele among others. Vaux had invited the less experienced Olmsted to participate in
6710-466: The Erie's main line, was abandoned in favor of joint operations, while the Lackawanna Cut-Off in New Jersey was single-tracked in anticipation of the upcoming merger. On the other hand, the Erie's Buffalo, New York and Erie Railroad was dropped from Corning to Livonia in favor of the DL&W's main line. Most passenger service was routed onto the DL&W east of Binghamton, with the DL&W's Hoboken Terminal serving all EL passenger trains. In addition,
6832-477: The Erie's mainline. This would haunt EL management less than a decade later (and Conrail management a decade after that). Soon after the merger, the new EL management shifted most freight trains to the "Erie side", the former Erie Railroad lines, leaving only a couple of daily freight trains traveling over the Lackawanna side. Passenger train traffic would not be affected, at least not immediately. This traffic pattern would remain in effect for more than ten years—past
6954-473: The Lackawanna County Library System acquired the First Church of Christ, Scientist church located next door to the Albright Memorial Library. The children’s section, which was located on the first floor of the library, would be moved into this building to create the Lackawanna County Children’s Library. The new Children’s Library would open on December 12, 1987. The Albright Memorial Library has remained open almost continuously from that date in May 1893. Through
7076-412: The Lackawanna side. Indeed, as very little on-line freight originated on the Erie side (a route that was more than 20 miles longer than the DL&W route to Binghamton), once the Gateway was closed (eliminating the original justification for shifting traffic to the Erie side) virtually all the EL's freight trains were shifted back to the Lackawanna side. After the New England Gateway closed, EL's management
7198-401: The Lackawanna side. The railroad removed freight traffic from the Hoboken-Binghamton mainline and consolidated the service within its other operating routes. Railroad officials said the primary reasons were the EL's early-1960s severing of the Boonton Branch near Paterson, New Jersey , and the grades over the Pocono Mountains. The Morristown Line is the only piece of multi-track railroad on
7320-494: The Lackawanna to retain the 200 miles (320 km) of double-track mainline between Buffalo and Binghamton, New York . The idea had been studied as early as 1920, when William Z. Ripley , a professor of political economics at Harvard University , reported that a merger would have benefited both railroads. Forty years later, however, the Lackawanna was a shadow of its former financial self. Seeing no advantage in an end-to-end merger, Nickel Plate officials also rebuffed attempts by
7442-424: The Lackawanna, however, were dealt by Mother Nature . In August, 1955, flooding from Hurricane Diane devastated the Pocono Mountains region, killing 80 people. The floods cut the Lackawanna Railroad in 88 places, destroying 60 miles (97 km) of track, stranding several trains (with a number of passengers aboard) and shutting down the railroad for nearly a month (with temporary speed restrictions prevailing on
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#17328024699477564-437: The M&E lease came several branch lines in New Jersey, including the Boonton Line , which opened in 1870 and bypassed Newark for through freight. The railroad acquired the Syracuse, Binghamton and New York Railroad in 1869 and leased the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad on February 13, 1869. This gave it a branch from Binghamton north and northwest via Syracuse to Oswego , a port on Lake Ontario . The "Greene Railroad"
7686-407: The Olmsted Brothers firm did a park plan for Portland, Maine , in 1905, creating a series of connecting parkways between existing parks and suggesting improvements to those parks. The oldest of these parks, Deering Oaks, had been designed by City Engineer William Goodwin in 1879 but is today frequently described as a Frederick Law Olmsted-designed park. A residence hall at the University of Hartford
7808-424: The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority to accelerate the resumption of passenger train service between New York City and Scranton. Most of the main line west of Binghamton in New York State has been abandoned, in favor of the Erie's Buffalo line via Hornell . The longest remaining main line sector is Painted Post -Wayland, with shortline service provided by B&H Railroad ( Bath & Hammondsport ,
7930-438: The Pocono Mainline). The D-L also runs Lackawanna County 's tourist trolleys from the Electric City Trolley Museum , under overhead electrified wiring installed on original sections of the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad that was also purchased by Lackawanna County. It also runs trains on a remnant of the DL&W Diamond branch in Scranton. In 2006, the Monroe County and Lackawanna County Railroad Authorities formed
8052-401: The Southern Division, opened on May 27, 1856, including the Warren Railroad in New Jersey . A third rail was added to the standard gauge Central Railroad of New Jersey east of Hampton to allow the railroad to run east to Elizabeth via trackage rights (the CNJ was extended in 1864 to Jersey City ). On December 10, 1868, the company acquired the Morris and Essex Railroad unit 1945 it
8174-456: The United States. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his partner Calvert Vaux . Olmsted and Vaux's first project was Central Park in New York City, which led to many other urban park designs. These included Prospect Park in Brooklyn ; Cadwalader Park in Trenton, New Jersey ; and Forest Park in Portland, Oregon . In 1883, Olmsted established the preeminent landscape architecture and planning consultancy of
8296-411: The basis for statement windows throughout the library. Four framed paintings are located in public areas at the Albright Memorial Library. The first is a painting of John J. Albright, who is shown seated in a wooden chair with his left hand on the arm of the chair while his head leans on his right hand. Next is a painting of William T. Smith, who was the vice president of the first library board. He
8418-400: The campaign was even installed in the Albright Memorial Library to help facilitate the donation of books. The library collected the books to prepare them to be shipped to main hubs before being transported to the soldiers. During the 1942 Victory Book Campaign, Lackawanna County collected almost 35,000 books. An additional 6,000 books would be donated during the campaign in 1943. In April 1985,
8540-528: The city. The next day, May 26, the library opened to the general public with Henry Carr as the first librarian. The library collection was originally 10,600 volumes selected by the first librarian Henry Carr. The Scranton Republican reported that this selection covered a “wide range of subjects including works of reference, philosophy, theology, social science, national sciences, useful and fine arts, poetry, drama, essays, fiction, biography travels, history, etc.” By June 15, 1893, over 1500 people had signed up for
8662-428: The common comforts and consolations of civilized life. Their destitution is not material only; it is intellectual and it is moral ... They were neither generous nor hospitable and their talk was not that of evenly courageous men. Between his travels in Europe and the South, Olmsted served as an editor for Putnam's Magazine for two years and as an agent with Dix, Edwards and Co., before the company's insolvency during
8784-718: The company began operating the Erie and Central New York Railroad , a branch of the Oswego line from Cortland Junction east to Cincinnatus . That same year, it also began to control the Bangor and Portland Railway . By 1909, the company controlled the Bangor and Portland Railway . This line branched from the main line at Portland , southwest to Nazareth , with a branch to Martins Creek . The primary locomotive and car shops were located in Scranton . In 1910 they were enlarged and upgraded at
8906-510: The cost of new trainsets. A 7.3-mile section of the Cut-Off between Port Morris and Andover, New Jersey , which was under construction, was delayed until 2021 due to environmental issues on the Andover station site ; the Cut-Off between Port Morris and Andover is slated to re-open for rail passenger service no earlier than 2025. In 1979, Conrail sold most of the DL&W in Pennsylvania, with
9028-540: The cotton monopoly in some way did them more harm than good; and although the written narration of what I saw was not intended to set this forth, upon reviewing it for the present publication, I find the impression has become a conviction. He argued that slavery had made the slave states inefficient (a set amount of work took 4 times as long in Virginia as in the North) and backward both economically and socially. He said that
9150-412: The creation of Conrail on April 1, 1976. During its time, the EL diversified its shipments from the growing Lehigh Valley and also procured a lucrative contract with Chrysler to ship auto components from Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania . The EL also aggressively sought other contracts with suppliers in the area, pioneering what came to be known as intermodal shipping. None of this could compensate for
9272-480: The damaged sections of railroad for months), causing a total of $ 8.1 million in damages (equal to $ 92,128,696 today) and lost revenue. One section, the Old River line (former Warren Railroad), was damaged beyond repair and had to be abandoned altogether. Until the mainline in Pennsylvania reopened, all trains were canceled or rerouted over other railroads. The Lackawanna would never fully recover. In January, 1959,
9394-461: The decline in coal shipments, however, and, as labor costs and taxes rose, the railroad's financial position became increasingly precarious although it was stronger than some railroads in the eastern U.S. The opening of Interstates I-80 , I-380 , and I-81 during the early 1970s, which in effect paralleled much of the former Lackawanna mainline east of Binghamton, New York , caused more traffic to be diverted to trucks. This only helped to accelerate
9516-601: The design competition with him, having been impressed with Olmsted's theories and political contacts. Prior to this, in contrast with the more experienced Vaux, Olmsted had never designed or executed a landscape design. Their Greensward Plan was announced in 1858 as the winning design. On his return from the South, Olmsted began executing their plan almost immediately. Olmsted and Vaux continued their informal partnership to design Prospect Park in Brooklyn from 1865 to 1873. That
9638-704: The discontinuation of passenger service on January 6, 1970—and was completely dependent on the lucrative interchange with the New Haven Railroad at Maybrook, New York . The January 1, 1969 merger of the New Haven Railroad into the Penn Central Railroad changed all this: the New England Gateway was downgraded, and closed on May 8, 1974 by fire damage to the New Haven's Poughkeepsie Bridge, causing dramatic traffic changes for
9760-495: The early 20th century. The Daughters of the American Revolution donated a dogwood tree, which was planted in the center of the front lawn at the library. In 2001, the gardens were restored to the original Olmsted design using a mix of modern aesthetics and the original plans. This project was funded by an Urban Forestry Grant from the United States Forestry Service. Unfortunately, the landscape surrounding
9882-451: The entire 900-mile Lackawanna system that has not been reduced to fewer tracks over the years. It was triple-tracked nearly a century prior , and remains so today. The Lackawanna Cut-Off was abandoned in 1979 and its rails were removed in 1984. The line between Slateford Junction and Scranton remained in legal limbo for nearly a decade, but was eventually purchased, with a single track left in place. The Lackawanna Cut-Off's right-of-way, on
10004-573: The final nail was driven in the Lackawanna's coffin by the Knox Mine Disaster , which flooded the mines along the Susquehanna River and all but obliterated what was left of the region's anthracite industry. The Lackawanna Railroad's financial problems were not unique. Rail traffic in the U.S. in general declined after World War II as trucks and automobiles took freight and passenger traffic. Declining freight traffic put
10126-1114: The first planned communities in the United States, Riverside, Illinois ; Mount Royal Park in Montreal , Quebec ; The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut; Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut; Waterbury Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut; the Emerald Necklace in Boston , Massachusetts ; Highland Park in Rochester, New York ; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee , Wisconsin ; Cherokee Park and parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky ; Walnut Hill Park in New Britain, Connecticut ;
10248-707: The former Morris & Essex Railroad to Gladstone and Hackettstown. In 2002, the transit agency consolidated the Montclair Branch and Boonton Line to create the Montclair-Boonton Line . NJ Transit also operates on the remaining portion (south of Paterson) of the original Boonton Line known as the Main Line . NJ Transit's hub is at Hoboken Terminal. Trains on the Morristown Line run directly into New York's Pennsylvania Station via
10370-438: The former Bloomsburg branch from Duryea to Kingston . The North Shore Railroad (Pennsylvania) operates the former Bloomsburg branch from Northumberland to Hicks Ferry. Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect , journalist, social critic , and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in
10492-727: The grounds for the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane in Poughkeepsie . In 1883, Olmsted established what is considered to be the first full-time landscape architecture firm in Brookline, Massachusetts . He called the home and office compound Fairsted . It is now the restored Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site . From there Olmsted designed Boston's Emerald Necklace , the campuses of Wellesley College , Smith College , Stanford University and
10614-445: The history of books through the book bindings they used. Book bindings were designs used to designate a printmaker or owner of a certain work. Ford and Brooks used designs from printers, such as Stephanus Maillet, Sebastian Nivellius, and Melchoir Novesianus, for smaller windows. Designs appearing on books owned by famous patrons of the arts, such as Francis II of France, Queen Elizabeth I, and the arms of Constable Anne de Montmorency, are
10736-508: The land were strangely unused, or were used with poor economy.' He thought that the lack of a Southern white middle class and the general poverty of lower-class whites prevented the development of many civil amenities that were taken for granted in the North. The citizens of the cotton States, as a whole, are poor. They work little, and that little, badly; they earn little, they sell little; they buy little, and they have little – very little – of
10858-475: The landscape was not in any one individual waterfall, cliff, or tree, but in the "miles of scenery where cliffs of awful height and rocks of vast magnitude and of varied and exquisite coloring, are banked and fringed and draped and shadowed by the tender foliage of noble and lovely trees and bushes, reflected from the most placid pools, and associated with the most tranquil meadows, the most playful streams, and every variety of soft and peaceful pastoral beauty". In
10980-522: The largest projects; the system he designed for Milwaukee, and the park system designed for Louisville, Kentucky , which was one of only four completed Olmsted-designed park systems in the world. Olmsted was a frequent collaborator with architect Henry Hobson Richardson , for whom he devised the landscaping schemes for half a dozen projects, including Richardson's commission for the Buffalo State Asylum . In 1871, Olmsted and Vaux designed
11102-515: The late 19th-century United States, which was carried on and expanded by his sons, Frederick Jr. and John C., under the name Olmsted Brothers . Other projects that Olmsted was involved in include the country's first and oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York ; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York ; one of
11224-549: The lines. In 2014, it purchased the former DL&W main from Taylor, PA to Binghamton, NY from the Canadian Pacific Railway, which it continues to operate to this day. NJ Transit Rail Operations took over passenger operations in 1983. The State of New Jersey had subsidized the routes operated by the Erie Lackawanna, and later Conrail . NJ Transit operates over former DL&W trackage on much of
11346-438: The massive Tunkhannock Viaduct and Martins Creek Viaduct . The Lackawanna's cutoffs had no at-grade crossings with roads or highways, allowing high-speed service. The railroad ran trains from its Hoboken Terminal , its gateway to New York City , to its Scranton , Binghamton, Syracuse , Oswego, and Buffalo stations and to Utica Union Station . Noteworthy among these were: The railroad also ran commuter operations from
11468-502: The nearby New York, Ontario and Western Railroad and Lehigh & New England Railroad out of business in 1957 and 1961, respectively. Over the next three decades, nearly every major railroad in the Northeastern US would go bankrupt . In the wake of Hurricane Diane in 1955, all signs pointed to continued financial decline and eventual bankruptcy for the DL&W. Among other factors, property taxes in New Jersey were
11590-465: The new railroad. After he was pushed aside in favor of Erie managers, however, he left in disillusionment and became the president of the Central Railroad of New Jersey in 1962. Even before the formal merger, growing ties between the Erie and Lackawanna led to the partial abandonment of the Lackawanna's mainline trackage between Binghamton and Buffalo. In 1958, the main line of the DL&W from Binghamton west to near Corning , which closely paralleled
11712-457: The other hand, was purchased by the state of New Jersey in 2001 from funds approved within a $ 40 million bond issue in 1989. (A court later set the final price at $ 21 million, paid to owners Jerry Turco of Kearny, New Jersey and Burton Goldmeier of Hopatcong, New Jersey.) NJ Transit has estimated that it would cost $ 551 million to restore service to Scranton over the Cut-Off: a price which includes
11834-408: The park. Non-native species planted for the sake of their own uniqueness was seen as defeating the purpose of design, as that very uniqueness would draw attention to itself where the intention is to enable relaxation: utility above all else was an objective. Separation applied to areas designed in different styles and different uses enhancing safety and reducing distraction. A key feature of Central Park
11956-470: The preferred energy sources. Silk and other textile industries shrank as jobs moved to the southern U.S. or overseas. The advent of mechanical refrigeration squeezed the business from ice ponds on top of the Poconos . Even the dairy industry changed. The Lackawanna had long enjoyed revenues from milk shipments; many stations had a creamery next to the tracks. Perhaps the most catastrophic blows to
12078-420: The profits of slavery were enjoyed by no more than 8,000 owners of large plantations; a somewhat larger group had about the standard of living of a New York City policeman, but the proportion of the free white men who were as well-off as a Northern working man was small. Slavery meant that 'the proportion of men improving their condition was much less than in any Northern community; and that the natural resources of
12200-587: The public. The Albright Memorial Library was constructed from June 16, 1891 though May 25, 1893. Green and Wicks , an architectural firm from Buffalo, were the architects of the new library, while Conrad Schroeder was responsible for its construction. At the request of John Albright, the exterior of the building was based on the Musee de Cluny , which is located in Paris, France. To achieve this, they used Indiana limestone and Medina stone for exterior and Spanish tiles for
12322-558: The railroad obtained trackage rights north and west over the New York and Erie Rail Road to Owego, New York , where it leased the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad to Ithaca on Cayuga Lake on April 21, 1855. The C&S was the reorganized and partially rebuilt Ithaca and Owego Railroad , which had opened on April 1, 1834, and was the oldest part of its system. The whole system was built to 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ) broad gauge ,
12444-421: The roof. Carvings, including lion statues and owls, decorate the exterior building. The library’s interior includes intricate oak wood, or similar woods stained to match. The first floor contains three fireplaces made of Italian marble. These seem to be used even though the library was built to be compatible with steam heat and electricity. The first floor contains mosaic Italian marble floors. A notable feature of
12566-730: The same as the New York and Erie, although the original I&O was built to standard gauge and converted to wide gauge when rebuilt as the C&;S. The "Delaware and Cobb's Gap Railroad" was chartered December 4, 1850, to build a line from Scranton east to the Delaware River . Before it opened, the Delaware and Cobb's Gap and Lackawanna and Western were consolidated by the Lackawanna Steel Company into one company,
12688-502: The second floor are Mycenaean marble pillars that existed surrounding the original overlook into the circulation department. The original railing for this overlook was made of intricate wood designs. During the winter of 1954 through 1955, renovations to the library closed the floor of the reference department. Today, sections of the original railing are displayed on a wall in the Reference Section as decoration. The grounds of
12810-420: The south shore of Staten Island . His father helped him acquire this farm, and he renamed it from Akerly Homestead to Tosomock Farm . It was later renamed "The Woods of Arden" by owner Erastus Wiman . The house in which Olmsted lived still stands at 4515 Hylan Boulevard , near Woods of Arden Road. Olmsted had a significant career in journalism. In 1850 he traveled to England to visit public gardens, where he
12932-555: The support of the men who put him in charge, Olmsted resigned on Sept. 1, 1863." Yet within a month he was on his way to California. In 1863, Olmsted went west to become the manager of the newly established Rancho Las Mariposas–Mariposa gold mining estate in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California . The estate had been sold by John C. Fremont to New York banker, Morris Ketchum , in January of that same year. The mine
13054-407: The trouble of needing to double back on foot. The Promenade was lined with slender elms and offered views of Sheep Meadow. Affluent New Yorkers, who rarely walked through the park, mixed with the less well-to-do in the Terrace areas, and all enjoyed an escape from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding city. However, the most wealthy among them employed the firm to landscape their country estates in
13176-517: The whole space is enhanced; concealment of design, design that does not call attention to itself; design that works on the unconscious to produce relaxation; and utility or purpose over ornamentation. A bridge, a pathway, a tree, a pasture: any and all elements are brought together to produce a particular effect. Olmsted designed primarily in pastoral and picturesque styles, each to achieve a particular effect. The pastoral style featured vast expanses of green with small lakes, trees, and groves and produced
13298-501: The whole system was re-gauged to standard gauge in one day. The New York, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was chartered on August 26, 1880, and opened on September 17, 1882, to continue the railroad from Binghamton west and northwest to Buffalo. The main line ran to the International Bridge to Ontario , and a branch served downtown Buffalo. A spur from Wayland served Hornellsville (Hornell). On December 1, 1903,
13420-414: The widow of his brother John, who died in 1857. Daniel Fawcett Tiemann , the mayor of New York, officiated the wedding. Olmsted adopted Mary's three children (his nephews and niece), John Charles Olmsted (born 1852), Charlotte Olmsted (born 1855), and Owen Frederick Olmsted (born 1857). Frederick and Mary also had two children together who survived infancy: a daughter, Marion (born October 28, 1861), and
13542-714: The years, it has briefly closed during the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 and at various times throughout its history for renovations. On May 22, 1978, the Albright Memorial Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places . During 2020, the library was completely closed from March through June due to the COVID-19 pandemic It would reopen to the public in mid-June. Today, library services are fully open and available to
13664-556: Was followed by other projects. Vaux remained in the shadow of Olmsted's grand public personality and social connections. The design of Central Park embodies Olmsted's social consciousness and commitment to egalitarian ideals. Influenced by Downing and his observations regarding social class in England, China, and the American South, Olmsted believed that the common green space must always be equally accessible to all citizens, and
13786-507: Was forced to downgrade the Erie side, and even considered its abandonment west of Port Jervis. In the meantime, the EL was forced to run its long freights over the reconfigured Boonton Line, which east of Mountain View in Wayne, NJ meant running over the Erie's Greenwood Lake Branch, a line that was never intended to carry the level of freight traffic to which the EL would subject it. In 1972,
13908-583: Was fully merged into the DL&W. This line ran east–west across northern New Jersey, crossing the Warren Railroad at Washington and providing access to Jersey City without depending on the CNJ. The M&E tunnel under Bergen Hill opened in 1876, relieving the Morris and Essex Railroad and its owners, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, from having to use the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railway 's tunnel to reach Jersey City. Along with
14030-550: Was greatly impressed by Joseph Paxton 's Birkenhead Park . He subsequently wrote and published Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England in 1852. This supported his getting additional work. His visit to Birkenhead Park inspired his later contribution to the design of Central Park in New York City. Interested in the slave economy, he was commissioned by the New York Daily Times (now The New York Times ) to embark on an extensive research journey through
14152-593: Was named in his honor. Olmsted Point , located in Yosemite National Park , was named after Olmsted and his son Frederick. The Olmsted Center located in Queens, NY pays an homage to Frederick Law Olmsted. The Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site is located in Brookline, Massachusetts in his former home. Olmsted is known as the "father of American Landscape Architecture ". On June 13, 1859, Olmsted married Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted,
14274-574: Was organized March 3, 1869, to connect the end of the original line at Great Bend, Pennsylvania , to Binghamton, New York , avoiding reliance on the Erie. The new line opened on October 1, 1871. By 1873, the company controlled the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad , a branch from Scranton southwest to Northumberland with trackage rights over the Pennsylvania Railroad 's Northern Central Railway to Sunbury . On March 15, 1876,
14396-451: Was organized in 1869, opened in 1870, and was immediately leased to the company, providing a short branch off the Oswego line from Chenango Forks to Greene . Also in 1870, the company leased the Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley Railway , continuing this branch north to Utica , with a branch from Richfield Junction to Richfield Springs (fully opened in 1872). The "Valley Railroad"
14518-415: Was published in England during the first six months of the American Civil War , at the suggestion of Olmsted's English publisher. To this, he wrote a new introduction (on "The Present Crisis"). He stated his views on the effect of slavery on the economy and social conditions of the southern states: My own observation of the real condition of the people of our Slave States, gave me ... an impression that
14640-451: Was the first land set aside by Congress for public use. Olmsted served a one-year appointment on the Board of Commissioner of the state reserve, and his 1865 report to Congress on the board's recommendations laid an ethical framework for the government to reserve public lands, to protect their "value to posterity". He described the "sublime" and "stately" landscape, emphasizing that the value of
14762-462: Was to be defended against private encroachment. This principle is now fundamental to the idea of a "public park", but was not assumed as necessary then. Olmsted's tenure as Central Park commissioner was a long struggle to preserve that idea. In 1861, Olmsted took leave as director of Central Park to work in Washington, D.C., as Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission , a precursor to
14884-492: Was unsuccessful. "By 1865, the Mariposa Company was bankrupt, Olmsted returned to New York, and the land and mines were sold at a sheriff's sale." In 1865, he was appointed to the first board of commissioners for managing the newly established Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove land grants. In 1865, he and Vaux formed Olmsted, Vaux & Co. When Olmsted returned to New York, he and Vaux designed Prospect Park ;
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