Living in Luzerne County, PA

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No-Hassle Maintenance Schedule or Year Programs • Drain Cleaning – Rooter & High Pressure Water Jetting Service

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Contents 4 ■ 6 ■ 10 ■ 12 ■ 14 ■ 20 ■ 24 ■ 30 ■ 34 ■ 38 ■ 42 ■ 57 ■ 64 ■

HISTORY

Those producing this publication hereby acknowledge and thank those individuals and organizations for the contributions of photographs, statistics, and facts from which the narratives and descriptions were written.

TRANSPORTATION

Distributed by:

LUZERNE COUNTY DEMOGRAPHICS & MAP

HOUSING & REAL ESTATE BUSINESS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES HEALTH CARE SERVICES ARTS AND CULTURE RECREATIONAL RESOURCES SHOPPING, LODGING AND DINING MUNICIPALITIES INFORMATION BUYERS’ GUIDE INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

www.luzernecounty.org

The Board of Commissioners of Luzerne County Luzerne County Court House 200 North River Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 570-825-1500 • Fax 570-825-9343 www.luzernecounty.org Produced and Published by:

Atlantic Communications Group, Inc. 18 East Mill Road, Flourtown, PA 19031 800-832-3747 • www.atlantic4us.com www.knowthisplace.com Hayden M. Wilbur, Chief Executive Officer Gretchen Lindberg, Director, Graphic Design Services Alan Wrobel, Advertising Sales & Marketing Stephan Vegoe, Editorial & Photography ©2010 Atlantic Communications Group, Inc., all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any format or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. The information in this publication has been gathered and carefully compiled to ensure maximum accuracy. However, because completeness cannot be guaranteed, the Board of Commissioners of Luzerne County and Atlantic Communications Group, Inc. cannot accept responsibility for omissions and/or errors.

3

About the Cover: A view of the Luzerne County Courthouse from the vantage point along the newly-constructed River Common. For more information about both these projects, please see pages 18-19.

Welcome to Luzerne County AT A GLANCE:

Message from the Commissioners

Population

Luzerne County is one of the most beautiful and vital counties in all of the

Pennsylvania 12,448,279 Luzerne County 311,983

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A solid and growing economy, with rich natural

Square Miles

resources, thriving institutions, and an excellent and well- educated workforce are some of the reasons we enjoy such a high quality of life in Luzerne County.

Today, Luzerne County’s government takes a leadership role in providing a sophisticated and critical array of services, from healthcare delivery to land use planning, and from emergency response to economic development. In cooperation

890.81

F 51.3%

M 48.7%

Age

18-64 61.9%

Luzerne County

18.2%

with our local municipalities, as well as state and federal agencies, Luzerne County continues to shape its future. The foundation for that effort is a solid infrastructure,

19.9%

18-64 62.5%

PA

15.3%

22.2%

seasoned leadership, and responsible fiscal stewardship. Throughout Luzerne County, business and civic leaders work alongside school districts and local governments to build for the future, to maintain and grow our strong business climate, to provide for a skilled workforce, and to protect a cherished way of life for generations to come.

Luzerne County is a place where you can succeed, whether you are starting a new enterprise or seeking to expand or relocate operations for an existing business, or

Education Bachelor’s Degree Advanced Degree 13.4% 6.4% Did Not Complete 24.4% 14.3% High Sch. 41.5% High Sch. Grads.

Some College or Assoc.

Degree

(2007 data)

seeking a new opportunity for yourself and your family. Here in Luzerne County, you’ll find we are welcoming and available.

Housing in Luzerne County

As you review the wealth of information contained in the 2010 version of Living in Luzerne County, you’ll encounter information about family activities, parks, hiking trails, schools, art galleries, and many other features of our proud community

Median Value of a Home $111,900 Total Housing Units 147,783 Owner Occupied 70.3%

of which you were probably not aware. Please take time to explore this fact-filled Luzerne County magazine and then take time to explore Luzerne County in depth, on-foot, on a bicycle, in your car, and with your family.

Transportation to Work Walk 3% Bus/Trolley 1%

We are proud of our county’s historic past and we are excited about our future,

Carpooled

Other Means 1% Work at Home 2%

11%

which has never been brighter.

Drove Car Alone 82%

101 Hazle Street Wilkes-Barre

983 N. Sherman Court Hazleton

672 N. River Street Plains

570-823-7676 or 1-800-610-2788 4

www.luzernecounty.org

Welcome to Luzerne County AT A GLANCE:

Message from the Commissioners

Population

Luzerne County is one of the most beautiful and vital counties in all of the

Pennsylvania 12,448,279 Luzerne County 311,983

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A solid and growing economy, with rich natural

Square Miles

resources, thriving institutions, and an excellent and well- educated workforce are some of the reasons we enjoy such a high quality of life in Luzerne County.

Today, Luzerne County’s government takes a leadership role in providing a sophisticated and critical array of services, from healthcare delivery to land use planning, and from emergency response to economic development. In cooperation

890.81

F 51.3%

M 48.7%

Age

18-64 61.9%

Luzerne County

18.2%

with our local municipalities, as well as state and federal agencies, Luzerne County continues to shape its future. The foundation for that effort is a solid infrastructure,

19.9%

18-64 62.5%

PA

15.3%

22.2%

seasoned leadership, and responsible fiscal stewardship. Throughout Luzerne County, business and civic leaders work alongside school districts and local governments to build for the future, to maintain and grow our strong business climate, to provide for a skilled workforce, and to protect a cherished way of life for generations to come.

Luzerne County is a place where you can succeed, whether you are starting a new enterprise or seeking to expand or relocate operations for an existing business, or

Education Bachelor’s Degree Advanced Degree 13.4% 6.4% Did Not Complete 24.4% 14.3% High Sch. 41.5% High Sch. Grads.

Some College or Assoc.

Degree

(2007 data)

seeking a new opportunity for yourself and your family. Here in Luzerne County, you’ll find we are welcoming and available.

Housing in Luzerne County

As you review the wealth of information contained in the 2010 version of Living in Luzerne County, you’ll encounter information about family activities, parks, hiking trails, schools, art galleries, and many other features of our proud community

Median Value of a Home $111,900 Total Housing Units 147,783 Owner Occupied 70.3%

of which you were probably not aware. Please take time to explore this fact-filled Luzerne County magazine and then take time to explore Luzerne County in depth, on-foot, on a bicycle, in your car, and with your family.

Transportation to Work Walk 3% Bus/Trolley 1%

We are proud of our county’s historic past and we are excited about our future,

Carpooled

Other Means 1% Work at Home 2%

11%

which has never been brighter.

Drove Car Alone 82%

101 Hazle Street Wilkes-Barre

983 N. Sherman Court Hazleton

672 N. River Street Plains

570-823-7676 or 1-800-610-2788 4

www.luzernecounty.org

Map of Luzerne County 81

476

292

SCRANTON

92

309

29

487

FRANKLIN TWP LAKE TWP

RICKETTS GLENN STATE PARK

415

FRANCES SLOCUM STATE PARK

Dallas

KINGSTON TWP

118 ROSS TWP

Exit 180

84

West Pittston Pittston Exeter

Wyoming PITTSTON TWP

Forty Fort Kingston

JACKSON TWP

FAIRMONT TWP N

Exit 187

Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton International Airport

Duryea

309

LEHMAN TWP

Throop

81

11

Old Forge

EXETER TWP

DALLAS TWP

Harvey Lake

Dunmore

PLAINS TWP

JENKINS TWP

29

WILKES-BARRE

PLYMOUTH TWP

E

West Nanticoke

HUNLOCK TWP UNION TWP

239

Ashley

Glen Lyon Shickshinny

Laurel Run Exit 165 Exit 105

HANOVER TWP

NEWPORT TWP

WRIGHT TWP

DENNISON TWP

11

HOLLENBACK TWP

t as

BUTLER TWP

Freeland

309

SUGARLOAF TWP 93

940

Weatherly

Beaver Meadows McAdoo

CA

LEGEND

2

3

4

D NA

6

ke

US Highways

Eri

VT NY

Onta

309

Syracuse

Albany WilkesBarre

Erie

NJ Trenton

Baltimore

WV

Dover

Washington, D.C.

VA Richmond Norfolk

www.luzernecounty.org

5

New York

Harrisburg Philadelphia

State Highways

MA Boston Hartford

e

OH

NH

rio

PA

5

Jim Thorpe

A

Buffalo La

1

903

93

L a ke

Interstate Highways

Exten sion

HAZLETON

339

81

476

HAZLE TWP

HAZLE Exit TWP 143

© 2010 Atlantic Communications Group, Inc. Reproduction of any portion of this publication without written permission from the publisher is forbidden.

534

FOSTER TWP

940

Exit 145

BLACK CREEK TWP

HICKORY RUN STATE PARK

e rth

Exit 256

Exit 277

No

Mifflinville

Exit 151

Exit 274

White Haven

Exit 260

NESCOPECK TWP

Scale in Miles

940

Exit 273

80

80

ike

437

309

Exit 262

Exit 242

BUCK TWP

rnp Tu

81

115

Exit 95

Berwick

0

Crystal Lake

FAIRVIEW TWP

RICE TWP

DORRANCE TWP

BEAR CREEK TWP

309

CONYNGHAM TWP

SALEM TWP

93

Exit 164

SLOCUM TWP

Mocanaqua

East Berwick

Nanticoke

PA

HUNTINGTON TWP

WILKES-BARRE TWP

Exit 168

S

11

Exit 170

Plymouth

AT L OC ANT EA IC N

W

Luzerne County’s History To fully understand the history of the settlement of Luzerne County and the Wyoming Valley, it helps to understand the land grant that gave William Penn the right to own and administer Pennsylvania.

In settlement of a large debt owed to Penn’s late father, Penn’s close friend, the Duke of York, arranged for the King to grant William Penn a charter for a huge area of land west of the Delaware River; land the King called Pennsylvania (Penn’s Woods) – roughly 350 miles by 160 miles.

Penn spent relatively little time in Pennsylvania, and all of that time creating Philadelphia, establishing a colonial government for Pennsylvania, and distributing parcels of land to family and friends. It is unlikely William Penn ever traveled more than forty miles from the center of Philadelphia, but his authority over all of the lands given to him under the grant was dominant – or so he and his family thought.

Although the Yankees started out as the larger of the two forces, the Pennamites moved substantial numbers of recruits into the area during the summer, and by November they were ready to begin to make life uncomfortable for the Yankees. With the help of a group of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians from Lancaster County, the Paxtang Boys (or Rangers), the Yankees captured the Pennamite fort (Fort Wyoming) on April 2, 1770. That battle marked the conclusion of the First Yankee-Pennamite War. For the next half dozen years, the Connecticut Yankees controlled the Wyoming Valley.

Following the start of hostilities in the American Revolution, a significant battle took place between Pennamite forces and Yankees. That Battle of Rampart Rocks, on December 25, 1775, in which the Yankees were once again victorious, prompted Connecticut to now create a separate Connecticut county in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania – Westmoreland County.

■ Conflicting Grants

■ The Revolutionary War and the Battle of Wyoming

Although Penn’s family was not aware of it, the Wyoming Valley, clearly in the area contained in his grant, was also claimed by Connecticut by the King’s charter of 1662. The charter stated that lands from sea-to-sea were all part of Connecticut. More than a decade before the war with England began, Connecticut adventurers had begun to explore the valley.

Because of rapid settlement into Connecticut, and with farm land at a severe premium, settlers and opportunists in Connecticut began to look westward for available lands. In 1753, private individuals in Connecticut, organized as the Susquehannah Company, persuaded the Connecticut government to support efforts to settle the northern third of the land constituting the colony of Pennsylvania.

These Connecticut Yankees, as many as one hundred strong, traveled west to the Susquehanna River and built a small village.

Once the Revolutionary War began in 1776, the men of the Wyoming Valley were called upon to serve in the Continental Army. While the men of the valley were away, a strong contingent of British troops and Indians entered the valley.

The Battle of Wyoming took place on July 3, 1778. A much smaller American force decided to leave the security of their fort to meet the British and the Indians on the open field of battle. In less than thirty minutes, the Americans were severely routed by the British and their Indian fighters. Those who were able to outrun the Indians made their way back to the fort, but many men were captured and put to death. On July 4, 1778, British Major John Butler demanded the surrender of all forts. In return for agreeing not to fight for the American side, the settlers were allowed to leave the valley. After the battle of Wyoming, and through the end of the war, the Wyoming Valley was unoccupied by either Connecticut Yankees or Pennamites.

During the next summer, in retaliation for the massacre following the Battle of Wyoming, American forces under the command of General John Sullivan returned to the Wyoming Valley and the upper Susquehanna River and destroyed forty native villages and “ravaged all their farmlands.” General Sullivan’s actions essentially marked the end of the Native American populations in the upper regions of the Susquehanna River.

■ The First Yankee-Pennamite War In the early spring of 1769, shortly after a militia sent by the Penn family (known as Pennamites) arrived to maintain the trading post established by Captain Amos Ogden two years earlier, forty Connecticut Yankees arrived on the banks of the Susquehanna River, followed by three hundred more in April. Those forty Yankees eventually gave their name to the community of Forty Fort, (the fort of forty) across and up stream from Wilkes-Barre.

Now, with 300 or so settlers, the Yankees were the dominant players in the settlement of the valley. By the end of that first summer, the Yankees had established five townships – Pittston, Plymouth, Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke (later Hanover) and Forty Fort (later Kingston) – and had built Fort Durkee. All the names were chosen to honor prominent English places or individuals.

■ The Decree of Trenton After the Revolutionary War, both Pennsylvania and Connecticut claimed ownership of the Wyoming Valley. Congress was asked to decide on the legal owner. With the Decree of Trenton on December 30, 1782, the federal government officially decided that the Wyoming Valley belonged to Pennsylvania.

With the decision of the Decree of Trenton in their favor, Pennsylvania then ruled that the Yankees were not citizens of the Commonwealth, could not vote, and were to give up their property claims.

■ Second Yankee-Pennamite War This action by Pennsylvania led to the start of the Second Yankee-Pennamite War. In May 1784, the Yankees were forcibly and very cruelly marched away from the valley.

In November, the Yankees returned with a

WYOMING MONUMENT

6

www.luzernecounty.org

considerable force, and captured and destroyed Fort Dickinson. Recognizing that a compromise was required, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania reversed its earlier decision and agreed that Yankee property claims prior to the decree of Trenton should be honored. As part of the compromise that ended the Second Yankee-Pennamite War, Pennsylvania separated a significant new county from what had been Northumberland County (which had included the Wyoming Valley). On September 23, 1786, the Pennsylvania General Assembly created Luzerne County, naming it in honor of Chevalier de la Luzerne, the French minister to the United States during the latter stages of the Revolutionary War.

NATHAN DENISON HOUSE

■ Early Immigration and Settlement Now that peace and some order had been established in the new county, life in northeastern Pennsylvania became rather ordinary, if that term can be used for the settlement of America that was rapidly occurring up and down the Atlantic Seaboard. Luzerne County was rural, and destined to stay that way. It was not inaccessible, but it was certainly not easy to get in to or out of; the Susquehanna River was a treacherous waterway, and the mountains on all sides were daunting. Once you were in the valley, life was challenging, but it was no more challenging than any other place on the American frontier.

According to Dr. Paul Zbiek, one of the valley’s leading historians, the valley’s population increased from fewer than 2,000 residents in 1790 to almost 13,000 in 1800.

■ The Development of the Coal Industry Just because a way had been found to burn anthracite in homes did not mean that anthracite, despite its advantages over soft coal and firewood, became an over night success. Pennsylvania’s anthracite fields were remote, and located in deep river valleys surrounded by the significant Appalachian Mountains. Getting the coal to market was, at first, nearly impossible because the Susquehanna River was treacherous.

■ Canals Northeastern Pennsylvania’s anthracite first moved to market from the southern coal field and the western middle coal field (primarily in Schuylkill County) via the Schuylkill Canal which opened in 1825. The northern coal field, running southwest to northeast through the Wyoming Valley and Luzerne County, was tapped with the completion of the North Branch Canal, which opened in stages from 1830 to 1834. From 1834 until the end of the Civil War, the valley’s anthracite headed south to Baltimore and Philadelphia on an ever-increasing series of local and regional canals, often interconnected with some of the first railroads constructed in the Mid-Atlantic region. With the completion in 1858 of the North Branch Extension Canal from Pittston to New York State, the valley’s coal now moved (at 1.5 to 3 miles per hour in large, heavy barges pulled by mules) into New York and New England.

Although coal fields in Carbon, Lehigh and Schuylkill County produced significantly larger quantities of coal in the early stages of mining and transportation, by 1875, coal from the Wyoming Valley/Luzerne County represented half the anthracite produced in the Commonwealth. That dominant place in the market was never challenged through the end of the coal era.

■ Anthracite Early explorers had encountered a new form of coal – anthracite – that was abundant along the banks of the Susquehanna River throughout its length in the Wyoming Valley. However, because this “stone coal” was as hard as rock, it simply would not burn or maintain a fire. There was plenty of this coal throughout northeastern Pennsylvania, but no one had yet discovered a way to make any money from it. Blacksmiths were using it to fire their small forges, and some of it was used to fire iron forges during the revolutionary war, but for the most part, anthracite coal was a commodity without a good use.

■ Judge Jesse Fell Historians mark the date February 11, 1808 as the day on which Judge Jesse Fell produced his invention of an iron grate that would maintain a fire using anthracite coal – “using air currents in motion by the heat of the fire itself.” This invention marked the beginning of a new era, and the end of a quiet rural life for everyone who lived in the valley.

LUZERNE COUNTY’S HISTORICAL SITES FORTY FORT MEETING HOUSE The Meeting House was the first finished church in which religious services were held in this part of Pennsylvania, and was used for services by both Presbyterians and Methodists. The Forty Fort Meeting House is the only extant example of the New England influenced style of architecture in the immediate area that is not greatly altered from its original appearance. The house is located on River Street in Forty Fort.

WYOMING MONUMENT The stone Memorial completed in 1843 marks the site where victims of “the Battle of Wyoming“ were buried. The monument is located on Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming. Following the Battle of Wyoming on 3 July, 1778, the American dead lay on the battlefield until late October. The recovered corpses were collected and buried in a mass grave on the site where they were recovered. Late in December 1833, this mass grave was uncovered. The remains were sealed in a vault, upon which the next year a sixty two and a half foot, grey stone obelisk was erected to honor the men who died in the Battle of Wyoming.

SWETLAND HOMESTEAD This homestead on Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming, owned and maintained by the Luzerne County Historical Society, contains the original cabin built on this site in 1803. The additions made to it as the Swetland family grew and prospered have transformed the structure into the elegant home one sees today.

www.luzernecounty.org

QUEEN ESTHER’S ROCK (OR BLOODY ROCK) Located along Susquehanna Avenue near Seventh Street in Wyoming is one of the most interesting artifacts of the Battle of Wyoming – Queen Esther’s Rock. Named for Queen Esther Montour, the descendant of several “mixed”

7

HISTORY continued

and Philadelphia. These women needed jobs, and thus dozens of factories throughout the region were established to take advantage of an ever-increasing pool of available labor. These women worked in silk, cotton and woolen mills.

They sewed garments and manufactured cigars. They contributed significantly to the growth of the economy; they kept their families together during hard times in the mines and during times of labor unrest.

■ Railroads With the completion of the Lehigh and Susquehanna River Railroad in 1846, the canal industry, which had existed for no more than one long generation, faced extinction. Rapidly, in a short period from 1846 to the end of the 1880s, coal traffic on the Commonwealth’s network of expensively constructed canals came to an end as new railroad systems reached into every corner of the Commonwealth; extracting minerals and timber, and delivering new settlers – immigrants from Europe – to work in the mines and towns.

■ The End of an Era Labor unrest and union activity began to develop in earnest at the end of the nineteenth century and into the early parts of the twentieth century.

Unrest among miners due to working conditions and pay created tensions throughout the county. In 1902, the United Mine Workers – 140,000 strong – began the “Great Strike,” which lasted for nine months and was finally settled with the assistance of President Theodore Roosevelt.

With the settlement of the Great Strike, production of Anthracite moved forward at a pace never before seen in coal mining. Industrial and home heating demand for clean coal increased monthly. With a war-time economy fueling demand, national output of anthracite reached a record 99.7 million tons in 1917, but declined rapidly from that point through the Great Depression. By the 1920s, consumers gradually switched from coal to oil, gas, and electricity. Production rose again to a peak of 63.7 million tons in 1944 during World War II. The peak of employment was 1914, when 181,000 miners were employed in the anthracite mines of northeastern Pennsylvania.

■ Immigration The Wyoming Valley is a beautiful and inspiring place, but it is remotely situated away from the rest of Pennsylvania and New York. If it had not been for coal and the canal systems that were built to export that coal to market, it is unlikely this beautiful valley would have attained the prominence and the wealth that occurred here in the last decades of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Without coal, there was no reason to build canals, and without coal, there was certainly no reason to extend canals and rail lines into the mountains and valleys of northeastern Pennsylvania.

But because of the abundance of coal – the most significant and most easily mined anthracite fields in the world are located here in northeastern Pennsylvania – hundreds of thousands of immigrants came from thousands of miles away, primarily from Europe, to establish new lives in the New World.

Anthracite coal, cleaner and hotter burning than any coal available from any other source, fueled the American industrial revolution. Much of that coal came from the Wyoming Valley – from Pittston, Wilkes-Barre, Plymouth, Hazleton, Kingston, and hundreds of other named and unnamed towns and villages spread throughout the region. The places that had previously been townships and villages grew and expanded as immigrants came into the region seeking work in the coal mines. Fifteen million immigrants from Europe entered the United States from 1870 to 1915 to get a job. As many as one hundred thousand ended up in the coal fields of Luzerne County.

Early immigration into Luzerne County’s mine patches and towns was almost always by men – single men usually, or younger married men with a family left behind in the old country. Women followed soon after the males. Wives joined their husbands, and single women came into the valley seeking husbands.

From about 1850 on, with the arrival of significant numbers of women, the valley quickly attracted the attention of factory owners in New York

■ The Knox Mine Disaster Underground mining for anthracite essentially stopped forever on January 22, 1959. On that day, the Knox Coal Company’s mine under the Susquehanna River in the vicinity of Port Griffith, a small town midway between Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, collapsed, and the mighty Susquehanna River poured into the mines, flooding mines throughout the interconnected underground system.

During the first 64 hours of the emergency, some 2.7 million gallons of water per minute streamed underground from a massive whirlpool near the riverbank. In all, an estimated 10.37 billion gallons coursed into the mines.

Within months of the Susquehanna River’s flooding of the Knox Mine, two of the area’s largest coal companies announced a full withdrawal from the anthracite business. Other companies whose mines lay some distance from the Knox continued to operate on a much smaller scale into the early

marriages between white settlers and Indians, this large rock marks the spot where, allegedly, following the Battle of Wyoming, Queen Esther, angered by the recent death of her son, lined 16 American colonists around a huge stone, since known as Bloody Rock, and personally smashed their skulls with her tomahawk.

The building, designed by architect Willis O. Hale, was constructed in 1875.

It currently houses the Society’s paper collections as well as the Society’s executive offices.

NATHAN DENISON HOUSE Located in Forty Fort, the Denison House is one of the oldest structures in the Wyoming Valley. It was built in 1790 by Colonel Nathan Denison who modeled the home after the family’s home in Mystic, Connecticut. Denison was the first man to be married in the Wyoming Valley. His son is believed to be the first child born in the new settlement.

LUZERNE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM Since its construction at 69 South Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre in 1893, this building has been in continuous use as the Society’s Museum. The permanent exhibit on the Native American inhabitants of the area includes local artifacts ranging from stone implements of the Archaic period to the archeological evidence of European influence. A timbered coal mine gangway and its mine railway car on the lower level are part of the permanent exhibit on anthracite mining.

BISHOP MEMORIAL LIBRARY In 1971, the Luzerne County Historical Society purchased what was to become the Bishop Memorial Library, through the bequest of Elma C. and Bessie Bishop.

ECKLEY MINERS’ VILLAGE Eckley is one of the hundreds of company mining towns or “patches” built in the anthracite region during the nineteenth century. The village is

8

www.luzernecounty.org

1970s. One estimate of the impact of the disaster put the direct and indirect job loss at 7,500.

Production has declined ever since. In 2008 total anthracite production in Pennsylvania declined to just 10 million tons, and with just 801 people employed in the entire industry. Even though the anthracite resource remaining in the ground is substantial, the only mining that still occurs is large-scale surface mining of shallow old works. Anthracite mining production has declined to the rate experienced when production began about 1844.

that were built after the flood of 1936, which crested at 33 feet. There was nine feet of water in Public Square in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Sources: Luzerne County Historical Society, Dr. Paul Zbiek – “Luzerne County History of the People and Culture”

■ The Agnes Flood Agnes, the first named tropical storm/hurricane of the 1973 season came ashore in the mid-Atlantic on June 23, 1972. She left a trail of flooding and misery that had not been seen in this country at any time before. President Richard Nixon called the devastation she left behind her the greatest natural disaster in American history. Agnes settled over Pennsylvania and New York State and dumped inches of rain on already saturated mountains, valleys, plains, streams and rivers. In Luzerne County, she left 18 inches of rain, six people dead, 25,000 homes nearly destroyed, and $1 billion in damages. The river rose to 40.9 feet, 18.9 feet above flood stage, and 4 feet above the levees

Complete Lines of Foreign and Domestic Tile

All Types of Installation Tools and Setting Products

300 Mundy St. • Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 • 570-822-6123 • Fax 570-824-9225 WWW.TILE-DISTRIBUTORS.COM IN

now a museum devoted to the every day lives of the anthracite miners and their families. It is located nine miles east of Hazleton off Route 940.

COUNCIL CUP Located approximately 700 feet above the Susquehanna River Valley, Council Cup provides a breathtaking view of over 30 miles. Owned and operated by PPL, this 88-acre tract contains a scenic overlook that was used as a lookout and meeting place by Native Americans.

STEGMAIER BREWERY AND LION BREWERY Beer and taverns were an important part of the social fabric of America throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and an essential element of the mining communities that dotted the landscape throughout Luzerne County.

The Stegmaier Brewery, the largest brewery in northeastern Pennsylvania, and one of the largest independent breweries in the country, was located near downtown Wilkes-Barre in a classic brick building that is listed on the National

www.luzernecounty.org

BUSINESS

SINCE

1973

Register of Historic Places. Constructed in 1894, its Romanesque influenced industrial style was recreated throughout the complex, influencing the late 19th-century industrial appearance of the other buildings constructed by the First World War. The building has recently been redeveloped into 70,000 square feet of office space, along with a 60,000 square foot addition. The building is used as government offices and is not open to the public.

Luzerne County Brewing Company was located north of the Stegmaier Brewery complex. This successfully surviving regional brewery was organized in Wilkes-Barre in 1905. After surviving Prohibition, the brewery was reorganized as the Lion Brewery in 1933. The Smulowitz family owned and operated Lion Brewery up until 1993. Chuck Lawson and Patrick Belardi acquired the operation in 1993. Tours of Lion Brewery are scheduled every Saturday at 1:00 PM. Sources: Luzerne County Historical Society, Dr. Paul Zbiek – “Luzerne County History of the People and Culture”

9

Transportation With its strategic location on the Interstate Highway system, Luzerne County is located at the crossroads of the two most important interstate highways in North America. Living in Luzerne County means your business or family has exceptional highway access to New York, Boston, Harrisburg, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and to the rest of the world.

■ Principal Highways The two primary Interstate Highways serving Luzerne County are Interstate 81 and Interstate 80. I-81 passes through the county for 42 miles from the southwest to the northeast. It links our county to Harrisburg, Maryland and Virginia to the south and to New York State and Canada to the north. I-80 passes through the lower portion of the county, intersecting with I-81 eight miles north of Hazleton, and 21 miles south of Wilkes-Barre. I-80 runs for roughly 22 miles through the county. I-80 is our link to New York City to the east, and Cleveland, Chicago and the rest of the continent to the west. The Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-476) travels north from Plymouth Meeting near Philadelphia, and connects at several locations with I-81 in Luzerne County,

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Airways/ US Airways Express, United Express, Delta Connection, and Continental Connection. All of the major air cargo companies provide service at AVP. The closest large international airports are Newark International Airport (EWR) and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL).

Luzerne County is also home to two general service airports – Wyoming Valley Airport in Wyoming along Route 11, and the Hazleton Municipal Airport near Route 309 north of Hazleton.

HAZLETON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

■ Commuter Bus Service in Luzerne County

and with I-80 just east of the county line in Carbon County. The county is also served by I-84, which connects with I-81 north of Scranton. I-84 travels east through New York State and on into New England, thus providing travelers and truck traffic with a way to avoid the congestion of metropolitan New York City. Additionally, I-380 provides a toll-free connection from the Scranton and Lackawanna County area with I-80 in Monroe County.

Business and industry, as well as residents traveling into and out of Luzerne County, have outstanding high speed Interstate options.

The Luzerne County Transportation Authority provides the Wilkes-Barre urbanized area with scheduled mass transportation bus service.

Approximately 88% of the population resides within one-quarter of a mile of a bus route. LCTA’s service hours are between 5:00 am and 7:00 pm, Monday thru Friday and between 9:00 am and 5:30 pm on Saturdays.

TRAVEL DISTANCES ON THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS THAT SERVE LUZERNE COUNTY Miles From the Wilkes-Barre Area to: Allentown and Lehigh Valley International Airport ____________65 Washington, DC ______________220 New York City ________________132 Newark International Airport____120 Pittsburgh ____________________265 Philadelphia __________________115 Boston ________________________312 Harrisburg ____________________106

■ Outstanding Air Service The Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport (AVP) is located just off I-81 at Exit 178, on the county line between Luzerne and Lackawanna County. AVP has recently completed a significant number of major construction projects/improvements, including a new terminal building, a parking garage, an aircraft parking apron, and three new access loop roads. The airport is served by five airlines – Northwest Airlines, US

www.luzernecounty.org

Sources: CAN DO, The Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber, and Penn’s Northeast

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Housing & Real Estate in our Communities

Because of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s unique form of local government, there are seventy-six municipal jurisdictions in Luzerne County in which you can live and work. Four are cities: Hazleton, Nanticoke, Pittston, and Wilkes-Barre. Thirty-six are boroughs, and thirty-six are townships. Eleven of the townships and boroughs contain fewer than 999 residents. Jeddo Borough is the smallest municipality with just 144 residents, followed by New Columbus Borough with 215 residents.

Luzerne County is comprised of 891 square miles of mountains, rolling plains, forests and parks, streams and rivers, and valley farmland.

Thirteen public school districts, MMP Preparatory School, Wyoming Seminary College Prep-aratory School, and the Holy Redeemer System of parochial education operated by the Diocese of Scranton are located within the county.

From the perspective of a new resident, housing options in our municipalities are almost overwhelming. Practically, you need to first identify the environment in which you want to live, and then start to explore the highways and back roads to begin to get a sense of Luzerne County.

Twenty miles to the south in the mountains of southern Luzerne County, is the somewhat smaller city of Hazleton. Because of its location in the mountains – it is the highest city in Pennsylvania – Hazleton has a completely different feel than Wilkes-Barre. It is not on the Susquehanna River and the vistas are longer. Hazleton is hillier than Wilkes-Barre, but it is also similar to Wilkes-Barre in that it is comprised of regular residential neighborhoods with well maintained homes in almost every price category.

Hazleton has a modest downtown with shops, banks, business and government offices. The community is filled with parks, neighborhood schools, and the other amenities that make a community livable.

Nanticoke was named for the Nanticoke Indians from Maryland who settled in this part of the Wyoming Valley about 1750. Its population is about 10,200.

Luzerne County Community College is located in Nanticoke.

Pittston was one of the five townships created by the Connecticut Yankees during the summer of 1769. It is located along the banks of the Susquehanna River about eight miles north of Wilkes- Barre. It has a population of about 7,547. Pittston is distinguished by a modest and relatively affluent downtown business district, with older neighborhoods that are close to the community’s churches and schools. Kingston Borough (12,943), Hanover Township (11,028), and Plains Township (10,906) are the only other municipalities in the county with more than 10,000 residents.

■ A Collection of Distinct Communities Luzerne County is a collection of small cities, small towns, and villages, none of which has a population exceeding 41,000. WilkesBarre (40,932 in 2008) and Hazleton (21,732 in 2008) are the two largest cities.

As with any place a family chooses to live, that community has a name identified with that place. In Luzerne County, most families live in a small town or village. We think the advantage of living in small towns and villages is that we know our neighbors and interact with each other. We work together to build parks and recreation areas, and to coach baseball, soccer, and football.

Wilkes-Barre is located roughly at the center of Luzerne County, on the east bank of the Susquehanna River. It’s a valley community that was originally settled by Connecticut Yankees as early as 1762.

It contains two fine universities/colleges – Wilkes and Kings – and the largest office buildings, and most of the county government buildings. The county’s extraordinary court house building is located on the Susquehanna River.

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■ Getting to Work

■ New and Exciting Housing Options

Because of the exceptional highway infrastructure that is one of the dominant characteristics of life in Luzerne County, travel throughout the county is about as easy as any BEAR CREEK LAKE place you will ever choose to live. In addition to the two main arterials – I-81 (north and south) and I-80 (east and west), our residents travel on a network of well maintained highways. Route 309, including the Cross Valley Expressway, is a major arterial through the county.

Route 29, including the South Cross Valley Expressway, is a major link between I-81 and Route 11 on the west bank of the Susquehanna River. The South Cross Valley Expressway is the major arterial for the largest industrial/business park in the county.

Depending on where you choose to live in relation to your workplace, it is likely your morning commute may be no more than ten minutes, and certainly no more than thirty minutes, on a high speed expressway or a well-maintained arterial road that will take you directly to and from work. Shopping, tennis and piano lessons, scout meetings, basketball camp, and baseball and soccer games are probably going to be much closer than you expect. Indeed, almost everything you need in Luzerne County is close by and convenient. That’s what we like so much about living here. We can get there from here.

During the past decade, housing options in Luzerne County have expanded rapidly. Significant new construction has occurred throughout the county.

That construction has included planned residential developments, senior communities, groups of homes on 1 to 3 acre lots, and individual small estates on properties as large as ten or twenty acres. Apartments and town houses – in ranges that make it possible for any family to find a new home that meets their personal and financial needs – are available, and more continue to be built to meet demand.

Even our cities and our larger townships and boroughs, once presumed to be fully developed and land-locked, have seen the construction of new housing options; upscale apartment complexes, condominium developments, innovative town homes, and numerous single family homes on city lots.

As you look at our community, we think you will agree that the Luzerne County region is truly livable, that the neighborhoods are distinct and different from others just blocks away, and that you will find a home that meets your family’s needs, and one that you can truly call home.

Sources: The Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber, CAN DO, and The Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce

Five Top Reasons to buy a home at Sand Springs…

www.luzernecounty.org

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Business and Economic Development in Luzerne County This region of the Commonwealth is vigorous, thriving, exciting, and looking forward to a future filled with new opportunities and prospects, new jobs, and a refreshing new vitality. Today, any traveler passing through this region would leave with a very positive “windshield impression.”

This region looks good from the highway; it looks even better close-up. Thanks to the cooperative efforts of more than a dozen local, regional, and state organizations – public and private – the communi-

ties in our great part of Pennsylvania have remarkably recharged their batteries, and are focused on a better life for everyone who calls Luzerne County home.

The demise of the anthracite industry left the county with the scars of almost a century of uncontrolled mining activity. As anthracite was mined, gouged, and scraped from surface mines and from deep within the earth, an ugly and lasting remnant of coal mining was almost permanently left behind. The residue of coal mining is culm – the shale, rocks, stones, coal dust, and remaining bits of anthracite that were removed before our “black diamonds” were loaded into railroad cars. By the time the coal mining industry came to its inevitable but dramatic demise in January 1959 with the Knox Mine Disaster (see the history A SHOP IN DOWNTOWN HAZLETON

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www.luzernecounty.org

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BUSINESS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT continued

CAN DO 1 S. Church Street, Suite 200, Hazleton, PA 18201 • 570-455-1508 • 800-54-CANDO CAN DO, Inc. is a non-profit economic development corporation serving Greater Hazleton.

Its mission is to improve the quality of life in the Hazleton area through the creation of employment opportunities and it has done so through the development of three industrial parks – Humboldt, Valmont, and McAdoo – as well as the CAN DO Corporate Center, which is designed as an upscale business and office park.

The CAN DO spirit of vision, drive, and determination brought about the rebirth of a proud community. That remarkable effort continues today with CAN DO’s talented, professional staff and dedicated volunteers to ensure success tomorrow and beyond.

section – page 8), mountains of culm dotted the landscape throughout Luzerne County and Pennsylvania’s anthracite region. These enormous culm piles were the permanent and ugly remnants of the industry that had made Luzerne County wealthy.

Culm piles, scarred landscapes, dilapidated breaker buildings – like the Huber Breaker in Ashley so evident from I-81 – and an occasional still-operating strip mine, were the daunting handicap that our four cities, our 36 townships and 36 boroughs, the county commissioners, private developers, and our economic development organizations faced as they looked into the future.

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After the billion dollar clean-up from the Agnes flood, with jobs disappearing by the tens of thousands, and the population of the

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county declining as precipitously as it had once rapidly risen, the future of this beautiful part of Northeastern Pennsylvania looked bleak. But, just as every cloud has a silver lining, those enormous culm piles ultimately offered the community’s economic development organizations the land they needed to create a tremendous selection of industrial and business parks.

Indeed, thanks to some of the best economic development organizations in the country, and their inventive and aggressive activities, the future for everyone who lives and works in Luzerne County could not be brighter.

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The Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce was incorporated in 1920. They also own and maintain Industrial Parks throughout the Greater Pittston Area along with maintaining or creating thousands of jobs.

■ Fifty Years of Progress The oldest, and largest, economic development organization in Luzerne County is the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber. Hazleton’s business and civic community organized the Community Area New Development Organization – CAN DO in 1956. Less than thirty miles apart, the two largest communities in Luzerne County were aggressively acquiring and converting land for future development, marketing their community’s benefits and advantages throughout the Northeast, and conscientiously working to replace the thousands of jobs that had been lost with the decline of the coal mining industry.

Other partners include the Greater Pittston Chamber, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance, Penn’s Northeast, the Diamond City Partnership, the Luzerne County Office of Community Development, and the City of Hazleton, Office of Community and Economic Development. Today, these vital economic and workforce development organizations are working together as recognized national leaders. They are bringing new jobs to our communities and helping to retain and expand our existing industries. They also help prepare members of the community for the new and exciting jobs that are developing throughout our county.

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LUZERNE COUNTY’S RIVER COMMON The flood that ravaged Wilkes-Barre and the Wyoming Valley on Saint Patrick’s Day, 1936 forever changed the way the residents of Luzerne County perceived the Susquehanna River. Up until that deadly flood occurred, residents of Wilkes-Barre and all of our river towns actually lived along the river. The river was an everyday part of living in the Wyoming Valley. We saw the river from its open banks; we fished, swam, boated, and walked along its banks. Because it was open and visible, a part of our daily lives, we often took our open access to our beautiful river for granted.

All of that openness changed after the early spring flood of 1936. The 1936 flood brought construction funding from Washington in the form of a valley-long, flood protection levee – at a flood stage of 36 feet. But 36-foot levees meant that the easy access and open vistas of the Susquehanna that had been the norm for hundreds of years were now obstructed by the levees that offered protection as the river levels rose and approached flood stage. Even though our residents and their properties were safer, the beautiful Susquehanna became a prisoner locked up behind high earthen levees.

The historic Hurricane Agnes flood of 1972 brought increased pressure for the federal government to provide flood protection funding to raise the levees throughout the length of the valley. Although great efforts were made to increase awareness for an improved levee system, not much happened until the “close call” of January 1996 when, following “the blizzard of the century,” heavy rains and rapidly rising temperatures brought the Susquehanna River near to or above flood stage along its entire length.

That near miss brought action from Washington, DC, Harrisburg, and our Luzerne County officials. A plan was developed and funded to raise the level of the levees throughout the Susquehanna’s run through Luzerne County and downriver. By the end of 2003, increased flood protection levels along the entire stretch of the Wyoming Valley had been completed.

New levees on the west side of the river from Wyoming and Forty Fort through Kingston and down to Plymouth were completed and impressive new recreational components, including parks and trails, were included.

With the completion of the 2003 improvements, the Susquehanna was now, even more than before, totally inaccessible. A visitor to downtown Wilkes-Barre could easily spend a day and never know the longest river on the American east coast was just 200 yards away. That’s how much the levee system removed the river from the residents.

The officials planning this major improvement in the valley’s flood protection system listened to their constituents who told them they wanted to be able to see, have access to, and use the Susquehanna River.

An aggressive design plan to open up the river to the residents of Wilkes-Barre, was incorporated into the master plan for the Wyoming Valley Levee Raising project. Over the course of six years, from 2003 to 2009, planning, design and construction created what is now known as The River Common – a project that runs for 8/10 of a mile from the Luzerne County Courthouse downriver to Wilkes University. This vital section of the river, which for more than 70 years has been hidden behind high levee walls, is once again open and inviting.

Thanks to two impressive, 60-foot wide portals that were incorporated into the new design, students from Kings College and Wilkes University, opposite the northern and southern portals, can now take their laptops and study on the newly Wi-Fi-accessible river bank and watch the reflection on the river as the sun sets over Kirby and Nesbitt Parks.

THE NORTHERN PORTAL – MILLENNIUM CIRCLE – is located just south of the Luzerne County Courthouse, making the river readily accessible to Kings College students and all the office workers within the courthouse complex and downtown Wilkes-Barre. Millennium Circle features a terrace with plenty of permanent seating for concerts and entertainment. A permanent, 900-foot long fishing pier is located just west of the Millennium Circle Portal.

THE SOUTHERN PORTAL – NORTHAMPTON STREET – is located across River Street from Wilkes University near the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts. This portal contains a permanent stage for performances and outdoor presentations, along with a large 750-seat amphitheatre.

Paved walking paths are now open on both sides of the levee between the Courthouse complex and on River Street at Wilkes University.

Luzerne County’s River Common officially opened with RiverFest 2009, an annual event celebrating the Susquehanna River and “Rivers Month” in Luzerne County.

Source: “A Story Runs Through It – the Wyoming Valley Levee System”

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LUZERNE COUNTY COURTHOUSE The Luzerne County Courthouse, now 100 years old, is a celebration of law and justice, architecture and construction, history and remembrance, marble and bronze, and beauty and art. Opened to the public in June of 1909, the Luzerne County Courthouse was then, and remains today, one of the finest examples of a public building ever constructed.

The New Courthouse At the end of the 19th century, Luzerne County, thanks to its ever-increasing and affluent coal mining industry, was becoming ever more important. Its leading citizens decided to construct a new court house to clearly reflect the image that Luzerne County had of itself.

In 1894 and 1895, the County Commissioners purchased land for the new building and hired an architect to furnish plans and specifications for a “new, fire-proof court house, but it was not until July 31, 1902 that the commissioners moved forward with the architectural plans of F.J. Osterling of Pittsburgh and hired the Wilkes-Barre firm of William J. Smith to construct the new courthouse.

Fifteen years after the first grand jury recommended a new courthouse, the magnificent new Luzerne County Courthouse opened on June 1, 1909.

A Magnificent Interior Although the exterior setting of the building on River Common alongside the majestic Susquehanna River is truly magnificent, it is the interior of this splendid century-old building that is the real heart of its beauty and magnificence. The rotunda is furnished with marble. The four piers supporting the dome are of Botticino marble. The cornices, columns, balustrades and corridor wainscoting are of white Italian marble, and the wainscoting base of Alps green marble. The floors throughout are of Tennessee marble. Gold leaf is used in the moldings. Each of the separate wings or corridors features a series of portraits of early and prominent jurists and individuals that worked in or represented Luzerne County, and each wing and corridor also features murals representing historical activity in the earliest years of Luzerne County.

The four panels on the frescoes of the dome represent Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and George Caitlin (the celebrated painter of American native life and customs who was a native of Luzerne County).

The Court Rooms

The Court Room Murals

Prosperity under the Law Court Room Number One

The Awakening of a Commonwealth Court Room Number Two

Justice Court Room Number Three

The Judicial Virtues Court Room Number Four

The building was designed and constructed with four main courtrooms on the third floor, and a fifth, the orphan’s court, located on the second floor. Each of the five court rooms features an impressive mural hung over the judges’ bench.

Sources: “Luzerne County Court House” by Eva Ingersoll Gatling, 1986, and “History of the Luzerne County Courthouse” by the County Commissioners, 1996.

www.luzernecounty.org

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Educational Resources in Luzerne County The educational options in Luzerne County, at every level – from elementary to graduate education – are simply extraordinary.

Elementary, middle, and high school options range from very good to exceptional.

Luzerne County’s residents have been involved with the education of their children for more than two centuries, and take a great deal of pride in the options available to parents and their children.

Colleges and Universities in Luzerne County Residents of Luzerne County and all of Northeastern Pennsylvania are indeed fortunate that outstanding higher education options are readily available within the county. The county is home to two Penn State campuses. Two exceptional colleges/universities are located in downtown Wilkes-Barre. These two schools, plus Misericordia University in Dallas, attract students to Luzerne County from around the country and the globe. In 1967, the Luzerne County Commissioners established the Luzerne County Community College to meet the ever-increasing higher education needs of the county’s residents. It is the largest college in the area, and serves more than 16,000 students in credit and career training programs. In addition, LCCC works closely with business and industry to provide quality workforce development and customized training.

KING’S COLLEGE Located in an urban setting in downtown Wilkes-Barre, with many of its campus buildings overlooking River Commons, King’s College is a co-educational, independent, four-year college. It was founded in 1946 in the Catholic tradition by the Congregation of Holy Cross priests and brothers from the University of Notre Dame. King’s is part of a nationwide network of Holy Cross colleges and universities.

King’s is a small college, with 2,700 full-time, part-time and graduate students.

King’s students primarily live on campus in student dormitories, giving everyone at King’s walking distance access to all that downtown Wilkes-Barre has to offer.

Students come to King’s from primarily the Mid-Atlantic Region and New England.

King’s offers 10 pre-professional programs and 7 special concentration programs, and offers 35 Majors in Business, Humanities and Social Sciences, Education, Sciences and Allied Health programs. kings.edu LUZERNE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE The main campus of Luzerne County Community College is located in Nanticoke. Students are sponsored by Luzerne County. It is the largest college in northeastern Pennsylvania. Luzerne County Community College is the largest college in northeastern Pennsylvania. LCCC’s 167-acre main campus is located in the center of Luzerne County. LCCC also offers education and training at 11 off-campus sites, including dedicated sites in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Berwick and Shamokin, and through distance learning. Today, the college boasts more than 22,000 degree-bearing alumni. LCCC currently offers 16 degree programs in the Liberal Arts & Sciences; 47 Technical-Career Programs; 33 certificate programs; and 14 diploma programs. The College’s top programs in terms of enrollment are General Studies, Education, Nursing, Criminal Justice, Business Management Technology, Business Administration, and Computer Information Systems. Plus, LCCC offers hundreds of credit-free programs, making it the largest supplier of credit-free education in the area.

LCCC offers its students the opportunity to start at home at an affordable price and then transfer all credits to over 40 baccalaureate degree-awarding institutions.

MISERICORDIA UNIVERSITY Misericordia University in Dallas, west of Wilkes-Barre on Route 309 in the Back Mountain area of the county, was established in 1924 by the Religious Sisters of Mercy. Full-time enrollment on the 120-acre campus is about 2,350, of which 75% are women. MU offers 30 majors in three academic colleges: 30 majors in three Academic Colleges: Arts and Sciences, Health Sciences and Professional Studies and Social Sciences. misericordia.edu

luzerne.edu

PENN STATE HAZLETON Pennsylvania State Hazleton began in 1934 in a number of office buildings scattered around Hazleton. Sugarloaf Township’s “Highacres,” the manor of coal baron Eckley B. Markle, became its permanent home in 1948. Markle’s magnificent fieldstone mansion, overlooking the Conyngham Valley, houses the campus’ administrative facilities. Penn State Hazleton now consists of 104 acres of land, with its historic structures standing side-by-side with new and modern academic buildings, a manicured garden, a scenic overlook/picnic area, and a number of nature trails. Penn State Hazleton students can complete the first two years of most of the 160 majors offered by Penn State University, as well as Bachelor’s and Associate degrees. Penn State Hazleton’s students may also participate in a number of varsity athletic teams. hn.psu.edu PENN STATE WILKES-BARRE Established in 1916, Penn State Wilkes-Barre is the oldest institution of higher learning in the Wyoming Valley. Like many of its sister campuses spread throughout the Commonwealth, PSU Wilkes-Barre offers its students the opportunity to complete the first two years of a Penn State degree on a small campus in a rural setting. Penn State Wilkes-Barre is located in Lehman, no more than half an hour from Wilkes-Barre and conveniently located to a significant percentage of the population of Luzerne County. Penn State Wilkes-Barre offers eight Bachelor’s degrees and six Associate’s degrees. Additionally, a variety of certificate programs that are highly attuned to the needs of today’s workforce are available. Penn State Wilkes-Barre also offers residents

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of the county the opportunity to use the newly installed 16-inch telescope in the Friedman Observatory. Penn State Wilkes-Barre also offers courses at the Northern Tier Center and at Sallie Mae in Wilkes-Barre. wb.psu.edu

WILKES UNIVERSITY Wilkes University, located near the Susquehanna River in downtown WilkesBarre, was established as a junior college by Bucknell University in 1933. In 1947, Wilkes College was created as an independent, nondenominational, four-year college. It now offers programs in the arts, sciences, and a number of professional fields, as well as a full program of extra-curricular activities. Wilkes became a university in 1990. Wilkes is a small (27 acres) campus with an undergraduate enrollment of about 1,600. It participates in NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports. It is a member of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC), and the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC). Current undergraduate enrollment is about 2,300 students.

The university offers majors in science, education, engineering, business, and liberal arts. These academic programs are divided among four colleges: College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Nesbitt College of Pharmacy and Nursing, and the Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Leadership. The school’s Nesbitt College of Pharmacy and Nursing is one of seven pharmacy schools in Pennsylvania. wilkes.edu

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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES continued

■ Vocational Technical Education

■ Public and Private Education in Luzerne County

The twelve Luzerne County school districts provide high school and adult learners with comprehensive career and technical training at three Area Vocational Technical Schools (AVTS) – the Hazleton Area Career Center, the West Side Area Vocational Technical School, and the Wilkes-Barre Area Vocational Technical School. The technical education programs provided by these three “career centers” help prepare a significant number of the county’s high school juniors and seniors for a competitive world in a cooperative learning environment.

There are twelve public school districts in Luzerne County.

Hazleton (8,400) and Wilkes-Barre (7,400) are the largest districts.

Northwest Area, with 1,400 students, is the smallest. Luzerne Intermediate Unit #18, located in Kingston, provides support to local school districts. The Diocese of Scranton operates the Holy Redeemer school system in Luzerne County – one high school, six elementary schools, and two academies. Holy Redeemer High School has the highest enrollment among high schools in the diocese and is currently the only Catholic high school serving Luzerne County.

Wyoming Seminary is a private college preparatory school located in Kingston and Forty Fort. Wyoming Seminary is divided into a lower school of pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and an upper school. Both divisions are coeducational. MMI Preparatory School is an independent, non-sectarian, coeducational college preparatory day school for grades 6-12. MMI is located in Freeland.

MMI PREPARATORY SCHOOL 154 Centre Street Freeland, PA 18224 570-636-1108 mmiprep.org

UPPER SCHOOL 201 North Sprague Avenue Kingston, PA 18704 570-270-2100 Wyomingseminary.org

WYOMING SEMINARY Lower School 1560 Wyoming Avenue Forty Fort, PA 18704 570-718-6600

DIOCESE OF SCRANTON’S HOLY REDEEMER SYSTEM 316 North Maple Avenue Kingston, PA 18704 570-714-9611 Diocesofscranton.org

■ Public School Districts in Luzerne County BERWICK AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 500 Line Street Berwick, PA 18603 570-759-6400 berwicksd.org

LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICT Market Street, P.O. Box 38 Lehman, PA 18627-0038 570-675-2165 lake-lehman.k12.pa.us

CRESTWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT 281 South Mountain Boulevard Mountain Top, PA 18707-1913 570-474-6782 csdcomets.org

NORTHWEST AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 243 Thorne Hill Road Shickshinny, PA 18655-9201 570-542-4126 northwest.k12.pa.us

DALLAS SCHOOL DISTRICT Conyngham Avenue, Box 2000 Dallas, PA 18612-0720 570-675-5201 dallassd.com

PITTSTON AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 5 Stout Street Pittston, PA 18640-3391 570-654-2415 pittstonarea.com

GREATER NANTICOKE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 427 Kosciuszko Street Nanticoke, PA 18634-2690 570-735-1270 gnasd.com

WILKES-BARRE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 730 South Main Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711-0376 570-826-7182 wbasd.k12.pa.us

HANOVER AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 1600 San Souci Parkway Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702-2091 570-831-2313 hanoverarea.org HAZLETON AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 1515 West 23rd Street Hazleton, PA 18201-1647 570-459-3111 hasd.k12.pa.us

WYOMING AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 20 Memorial Street Exeter, PA 18643-2659 570-655-2836 wyomingarea.org WYOMING VALLEY WEST SCHOOL DISTRICT 450 North Maple Avenue Kingston, PA 18704-3630 570-288-6551 wvwspartans.org

Career and Technology Centers HAZLETON AREA CAREER CENTER 1451 W 23rd Street Hazleton, PA 18202 570-459-3172 hasd.k12.pa.us

WILKES-BARRE AREA CAREER & TECHNICAL CENTER Jumper Road, Plains Township, PA 18705 570-822-4131 wbactc.org

WEST SIDE AREA VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL 75 Evans Street Kingston, PA 18704-1899 570-288-8493 Wsavts.net

Intermediate Unit LUZERNE INTERMEDIATE UNIT – 18 368 Tioga Avenue, Kingston, PA 18704 570-287-5695 liu18.org Sources: Luzerne Intermediate Unit – 18

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LIBRARIES IN LUZERNE COUNTY BACK MOUNTAIN MEMORIAL LIBRARY 96 Huntsville Road, Dallas, PA 18612 570-675-1182 HAZLETON AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY 55 North Church Street Hazleton, PA 18201 570-454-2961 HAZLETON AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY – FREELAND BRANCH 515 Front Street, Freeland, PA 18224 570-636-2125 HAZLETON AREA PUBLIC LIBRARY – VALLEY BRANCH 211 Main Street, Conyngham, PA 18219 570-788-1339 HOYT LIBRARY 284 Wyoming Avenue Kingston, PA 18704 570-287-2013 MARIAN SUTHERLAND KIRBY LIBRARY 35 Kirby Avenue Mountain Top, PA 18707 570-474-9313 OSTERHOUT FREE LIBRARY Central Library 71 South Franklin Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 570-823-0156

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN LUZERNE COUNTY MARY KINTZ BEVEVINO LIBRARY Misericordia University 301 Lake Street, Dallas, PA 18612 570-674-6225 D. LEONARD CORGAN LIBRARY King’s College 133 North River Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711

PSU HAZLETON LIBRARY 76 University Drive, Hazleton, PA 18202 570-450-3172 PSU WILKES-BARRE NESBITT LIBRARY Old Route 115, Lehman, PA 18627 570-675-9212 OTHER LIBRARIES IN LUZERNE COUNTY LUZERNE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY 49 S Franklin Street Wilkes Barre, PA 18701-1202 570-823-6244

OSTERHOUT FREE LIBRARY – PLAINS TOWNSHIP BRANCH 126 North Main Street Plains, PA 18705 570-824-1862

WILKES-BARRE GENERAL HOSPITAL HEALTH RESOURCE CENTER 575 N River St Wilkes Barre, PA 18702 570-552-1277

OSTERHOUT FREE LIBRARY – SOUTH BRANCH 2 Airy Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-823-5544

WYOMING SEMINARY KIRBY LIBRARY 201 N Sprague Avenue Kingston, PA 18704 570-270-2190

PITTSTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY 34 Broad Street Pittston, PA 18640 570-654-9565 PLYMOUTH PUBLIC LIBRARY 107 West Main Street Plymouth, PA 18651 570-779-4775 WEST PITTSTON LIBRARY 200 Exeter Avenue West Pittson, PA 18643 570-654-9847 WYOMING FREE LIBRARY 358 Wyoming Avenue Wyoming, PA 18644 570-693-1364

www.luzernecounty.org

The properties on which the non-profit organization, The Lands at Hillside Farms, operates its educational programming have been in the Conyngham family (through the W.H. Conyngham Family Corporation) for many generations. In 2005, local veterinarian, Dr. Douglas Ayers, and other interested individuals throughout the Wyoming Valley created a non-profit educational organization and entered into a lease-purchase agreement to manage the 400-acre farm and woodland, to expand the dairy farming operation, to teach as many school children as possible about the history and sustainability of agriculture in the Wyoming Valley, and to significantly grow the popular dairy and ice cream business that has operated on the property since 1977.

Dr. Ayers, members of the board of trustees, and a talented staff are converting an “underutilized but grand natural resource” into a working farm with a significant educational component.

According to their mission statement, the Lands at Hillside Farms will preserve land and history and promote lifestyle choices that are healthy, conservation-minded and practical. Each mission component will be demonstrated through “family-based, educational programs, sustainable agricultural activities, and living history based on strong moral and ethical principles.”

Today, four years after starting, many of the historic buildings and greenhouses on the farm have been restored, almost all by volunteers. A 100-cow herd, primarily Jersey dairy cows, has been purchased so the milk and ice cream produced for sale at the Dairy Store now comes from grass fed animals that live and work on the property. The wonderful ice cream produced on the property, which has always been considered the very best available, is even better than it had been; it is now a higher butter-fat content, premium ice cream.

Working with local classroom teachers from throughout the Wyoming Valley, thousands of students, from K to 12, come to the farm throughout the year to experience and learn what working, sustainable agriculture meant to the settlers who came to this valley over the past two hundred years, and what that same philosophy will mean for them as they grow older.

Thanks to the Healthy Farms Healthy Schools Program created by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, kindergarteners learn that healthy and delicious food grows on local Pennsylvania farms.

THE LUZERNE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE LIBRARY Building 6, 1333 South Prospect Street Nanticoke, PA 18634-3899 570-740-0420

OSTERHOUT FREE LIBRARY – NORTH BRANCH 235 George Street, Parsons Wilkes-Barre, PA 18705 570-822-4660

MILL MEMORIAL LIBRARY 495 East Main Street Nanticoke, PA 18634 570-735-3030

THE LANDS AT HILLSIDE FARMS

E.S FARLEY LIBRARY Wilkes University Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766 Phone: 570-408-4250

LUZERNE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY 130 South Franklin Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701-1198 GREATER HAZLETON HEALTH ALLIANCE Hazleton General Hospital Medical Library Annex Building 700 East Broad Street Hazleton, PA 18201 VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTER Medical Library 1111 East End Boulevard Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 WILKES-BARRE LAW & LIBRARY ASSOCIATION (In the Luzerne County Courthouse) 200 North River Street Wilkes Barre, PA 570-822-6712

Contact information: Chet Mozloom, Executive Director, The Lands at Hillside Farms, 65 Hillside Road, Shavertown PA 18708, 570-696-4500

Source: Luzerne County Library System

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Health Care Services in Luzerne County The delivery of health care to the more than 300,000 residents of Luzerne County has been changing rapidly during the first decade of the 21st century; hospitals and facilities that we have known and used for generations have closed, been modified, or have changed ownership. Along with Northeastern Pennsylvania’s VA Medical Center, three large health care organizations now

provide most of the primary and urgent care to our residents. They are the Greater Hazleton Health Alliance, Geisinger Northeast, and Community Health Systems, which acquired the Wyoming Valley Health Care System (and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital) during the summer of 2009.

Although these changes to our health care system have been substantial, the communities that make Luzerne County such a great place to live are still located within minutes of exceptional hospital and clinic services. These systems offer health care through a variety of hospitals, medical centers, surgery and cancer centers, and clinics located throughout the county and Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Along with this core group of primary hospitals/medical centers, Luzerne County residents also have access to specialty hospitals or centers. These specialty hospitals include surgery centers, physical rehabilitation hospitals, psychiatric and mental illness hospitals, and hospitals providing drug and alcohol treatment.

CANCER TREATMENT CENTER IN HAZLETON

W-B GENERAL HOSPITAL HAZLETON GENERAL HOSPITAL

GEISINGER WYOMING VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER – EMERGENCY DEPT. AND EAST ENTRANCE

■ Hospitals and Medical Centers in Luzerne County

THE WILKES-BARRE VA MEDICAL CENTER

GEISINGER NORTHEAST

The Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center is a general medical and surgical facility consisting of 68 operating hospital beds, (including 10 in the Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program) and 105 nursing home beds. The Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center is a complexity level 2 teaching hospital which provides a full range of patient care services. The medical center is equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as the computerized medical record and teleradiology. Comprehensive health care is provided through primary and tertiary care in areas of medicine, surgery, psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, oncology, dentistry, hematology and nephrology. Additionally, geriatrics and extended care services are offered including long term care, telemedicine, respite, dementia, rehabilitation, hospice, transitional care and a variety of home care services.

The facility serves veterans throughout northeastern and central Pennsylvania and southern New York State. Primary care is provided through the Medical Center's eight community outpatient clinics/vet centers in Scranton Vet Center, Williamsport Vet Center, and clinics in Allentown, Columbia County – Berwick, Sayre, Northampton County – Bangor, Tobyhanna, and Williamsport.

Geisinger Northeast offers a variety of health care services at two conveniently located medical centers in Plains Township and in Wilkes-Barre.

Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township is the base of operations for a wide-range of medical services, including a free-standing heart hospital, a high-end cancer center, an accredited chest pain center, a transplant program, and Luzerne County’s only trauma center.

The Frank M. and Dorothea Henry Cancer Center provides comprehensive cancer consultation, diagnosis and treatment, including clinical trials, for all types of adult cancers. The Henry Cancer Center is a partnership between Geisinger Health System and Fox Chase Cancer Center.

The Richard and Marion Pearsall Heart Hospital provides comprehensive diagnosis and treatment for patients with virtually all types of heart conditions.

Geisinger Wyoming Valley also a chest pain center, a transplant program, the region’s only comprehensive bariatric surgery program, a critical care building with state-of-the-art emergency and surgical services, and Luzerne County’s only trauma center.

Geisinger’s South Wilkes-Barre campus offers same-day surgery, an adult urgent care center, a pediatric urgent care center, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, and centers of excellence in sleep disorders and pain management.

GREATER HAZLETON HEALTH ALLIANCE The Greater Hazleton Health Alliance (GHHA), consisting of the Hazleton General Hospital (HGH) and the Hazleton Health & Wellness Center (HHWC), provides health care services to the residents of southern Luzerne and surrounding counties,

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For the most complex medical problems…there’s only one place to turn.That’s Geisinger Wyoming Valley in Wilkes-Barre, where we deliver tomorrow’s medicine today.

Where you’ll find the region’s only freestanding heart hospital, a new Brain & Spine Tumor Institute, an expanded cancer center with clinical trials, kidney transplants and children’s services. And now, Geisinger Wyoming Valley is home to Luzerne County’s only Level II trauma center, offering patients more options…more comfort…more hope. It’s all right here in Wilkes-Barre. Close to those you love most. Now that’s peace of mind.

To learn more about David’s story, visit geisinger.org/david For an appointment or more information, call 800.275.6401or visit geisinger.org/gwv

where do you turn for the region’s most visionary medicine?

David V. Nanticoke, PA Trauma patient

www.luzernecounty.org

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HEALTH CARE SERVICES continued

HAZLETON HEALTH & WELLNESS CENTER

roughly 100,000 people. The Hazleton General Hospital, a 150-bed facility, features award-winning quality emergency, medical/surgical, maternity and home care services, as well as the area’s first Primary Care Stroke Center and nationally accredited Northeast Bariatrics Surgery Center.

The Hazleton Health & Wellness Center (opened in 2007) was developed using the one-stop shopping concept for outpatient health and rehabilitation services.

High quality services including imaging, cardiology, pulmonology, adult and pediatric rehabilitation, laboratory, and occupational health are provided in a customer-friendly, relaxing environment. No appointments are necessary for many of the diagnostic testing services. The HHWC also houses a state-of-the-art fitness center, physician offices and an ambulatory surgery center.

The Greater Hazleton Health Alliance prides itself in providing southern Luzerne County with quality care close to home.

WYOMING VALLEY HEALTH CARE SYSTEM The Wyoming Valley Health Care System was acquired by Community Health Services in the summer of 2009. Its Wilkes-Barre General Hospital is the region’s largest acute care hospital. The majority of Wyoming Valley Health Care System’s behavioral health services are located at Nesbitt Memorial Medical Center in Kingston.

In addition to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and Nesbitt Memorial Medical Center, the Wyoming Valley Health Care System includes: Behavioral Health Services of Wyoming Valley – including inpatient and outpatient mental health care and substance abuse services for children, adolescents and adults; Heritage House and Wyoming Valley Manor – offering retirement, long-term care and hospice care facilities for patients or seniors; United Health and Hospital Services (UHHS) – providing primary and obstetric care to the under-served of our community. UHHS also offers the Wyoming Valley Family Practice Residency Program, which provides practical and educational training to student physicians; the Visiting Nurse Association – providing in-home nursing, personal and hospice care to residents throughout Luzerne and surrounding counties.

■ Specialty Hospitals and Services in Luzerne County NESBITT MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER Behavioral Health Services of Wyoming Valley provides outpatient and partial hospitalization, substance abuse services for adults and adolescents, an inpatient substance abuse treatment program for adults, medical-based and sub-acute detoxification programs, dual diagnosis intensive outpatient programs, and family education and therapy.

256 N. Sherman Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702-5316 | 570.823.7161

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to help fund the clinic’s purchase and construction.

Luzerne County’s VIM free health clinic opened on June 23, 2008, and in its first year of operation provided primary care medical services to 1,200 unique individuals. The clinic is located at 190 North Pennsylvania Avenue, Wilkes-Barre.

FIRST HOSPITAL WYOMING VALLEY AT NESBITT MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER First Hospital is Northeastern Pennsylvania’s only private psychiatric hospital, and the primary provider of inpatient psychiatric treatment for children, adolescents and adults.

First Hospital is located within Nesbitt Memorial Medical Center in Kingston on Route 11.

KINDRED HOSPITAL WYOMING VALLEY Kindred Hospital Wyoming Valley is a hospital within a hospital. It is a 36-bed, long-term acute care specialty hospital that provides specialized medical services to the medically complex patient. It is located at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE FREE HEALTH CENTER

GEISINGER WYOMING VALLEY OUTPATIENT SURGERY CENTER The center, one mile from Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, is a high-tech multi-specialty surgical facility offering same-day surgery and personal nursing care. The center features four surgical suites and an eight-bed recovery room.

Sources: Penn’s Northeast and the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce

ALLIED SERVICES – JOHN HEINZ REHAB Allied Services’ John Heinz Rehab is one of the foremost providers of rehabilitation in the country. Under the supervision of board-certified physiatrists, a team of highly qualified professionals provides a broad range of specialized services and therapies for inpatients, with specialized programs in the areas of brain injury, injured worker recovery, and pediatrics. John Heinz Rehab offers comprehensive programs for individuals with: Orthopedic conditions, stroke/Neurological disorders, and brain injury.

■ Volunteers in Medicine Free Health Clinic – Wilkes-Barre Although the residents of Luzerne County have access to exceptional health care services, there are a significant number, as many as 35,000 adults, who have no access to healthcare. In most cases, these residents are the working poor of Luzerne County.

They do not work for employers that provide health insurance and they make too much to qualify for government assistance. During the summer of 2008 a new primary care, free clinic opened in Wilkes-Barre, the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, to provide free care for this “left out” part of our community.

Thanks to the dedication of one local primary care doctor, Dr. Susan Sordoni, many of the medically underserved in our community now have access to a free primary care physician. After volunteering for two years at the Volunteers in Medicine free health clinic in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Dr. Susan Sordoni was inspired to open a clinic in Wilkes-Barre.

In 2004, Dr. Sordoni invited 100 people from Luzerne County to a meeting to discuss her idea of creating a free clinic to serve the working poor of Luzerne County. From that group of 100, about 25 agreed to serve on the Organizing Committee. The Organizing Committee, using the guidance and experience of the VIM Institute in Vermont, began an intensive two-year feasibility study. Because of the feasibility studies which helped the organizing committee understand the health care needs of the working poor in Luzerne County, Luzerne County’s new free health clinic obtained substantial grants from national and regional foundations

www.luzernecounty.org

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HEALTH CARE SERVICES continued

NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA CREATES NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL to add 425 qualified, diverse practicing physicians to this part of the Commonwealth. The new medical school is expected to add $70 million to the local economy and create 1,000 new jobs that directly and indirectly support the school’s operations.

The new medical school plans to accept 70% of its students from Pennsylvania, with the ultimate goal of accepting a majority from Northeastern Pennsylvania. Admission procedures involve, community participants and strongly take into account each applicants interest in staying within the area and commitment to service. The school has set solid foundations for a minority, rural, and lower socioeconomic status pipeline program, developing a partnership with Wilkes University and Luzerne County Community College.

The Commonwealth Medical College opened in August 2009 and accepted 65 medical students and 13 Master of Biomedical Sciences (MBS) students.

For the academic year 2010, students will use temporary facilities at Lackawanna College in Scranton, PA. The college’s permanent facilities are under construction in Scranton. The new Medical Sciences Building will eventually serve more than 500 students and 175 faculty members.

For their 3rd and 4th years, students will live in a community hosting one of the three regional clinical campuses. These campuses are located in Williamsport, Wilkes-Barre, and Scranton.

Although Northeastern Pennsylvania has excellent medical facilities, many community leaders began to realize in the first part of the 21st century that a real and growing shortage of doctors was quickly becoming a major concern, and was going to get much worse if actions were not taken to increase the supply of doctors willing to work in our communities.

Northeastern Pennsylvania, like many non-urban areas in the United States, struggles with physician shortages which ultimately affect health care quality and access, as well as the local economy. A 2006 study found approximately 1/3 of local physicians are likely to retire in the next 10-15 years and the area will need more than 1,000 additional active physicians by 2025. In addition, nearly $1 billion in healthcare leaves the area annually.

In 2003, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Medical Education Development Consortium was formed to explore the feasibility of locating a new medical college in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The consortium included business, medical, community and governmental representatives. In 2007, a new entity, Commonwealth Medical Education Corporation was formed to actually create and provide oversight to the new medical school. During the spring of 2007, Robert M. D’Alessandri, MD, began his tenure as President and founding Dean. To date, the College has recruited over 113 full time employees and over 557 clinical faculty members.

During the next 20 years, the new medical school is expected

Source: The Commonwealth Medical College

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570.825.2317 www.luzernecounty.org

Arts and Culture in Luzerne County The residents of the communities that make up Luzerne County are justifiably proud of their local culture, of their important ethnic heritages and the diverse cultures that have survived, indeed thrived, since their great grandparents came to the mountains and valleys that we call the Wyoming Valley to seek a new life in America. For almost our entire history, Luzerne County’s residents have experienced exceptional arts and culture. Thanks to the wealth that was generated through the coal mining industry, theaters and theater companies, orchestras, ballets, and performing arts have been an important element of Luzerne County’s heritage.

Luzerne County is ideally located in terms of arts and culture – from every perspective. Philadelphia’s exciting cultural attractions, including several of the world’s greatest art museums, are an easy, two-hour drive. The dozens of theaters on Broadway in Manhattan are also less than two hours away. But, Luzerne County residents have exceptional to outstanding venues, attractions and opportunities available right within our communities.

Luzerne County offers historic theaters, colleges and universities with exceptional arts programs, art education programs, several lecture series, dance programs, music education, a symphony orchestra, bands and choruses, an extraordinary arts festival, cultural centers, historic houses and historic sites, and, best of all, a community that appreciates and is enthusiastic about arts and culture in northeastern Pennsylvania.

If you never travel to Broadway or to Philadelphia, our community’s arts and culture programs, and related activities, will go a long way toward satisfying your needs.

F.M. KIRBY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

A FIESTA, AN ORCHESTRA, A THEATRE, A YOUNIVERSE, ART GALLERY WALKS, AND A COUNCIL Wilkes-Barre’s Fine Arts Fiesta is the oldest arts festival in Pennsylvania.

This exceptional arts extravaganza was founded in 1956 by Annette Evans and Alfred Groh to provide an annual celebration of the arts in the Wyoming Valley area. The Fiesta primarily takes place in Public Square in Wilkes-Barre in the middle of May over a long four-day weekend, but activities related to the Fiesta occur throughout downtown Wilkes-Barre. The Fiesta includes a full program of music, everything from children’s presentations to Polka bands to high school ensembles to a marvelous performance by the Northeastern Philharmonic Orchestra. Additionally, Public Square is filled to capacity with two juried art exhibits – a juried adult show and a juried student show that provides local artists the opportunity to showcase their exceptional talents.

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic Orchestra is the region’s leading cultural institution. The Philharmonic brings together a fully professional, eighty-piece symphonic orchestra representing the finest talent available throughout northeastern Pennsylvania – from Scranton, Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre and dozens of other communities in Penn’s Northeast.

Organized in that fateful year of 1972, the year of Agnes, the Philharmonic is now the third largest professional orchestra in the Commonwealth. The Philharmonic performs in the F.M Kirby Center on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre, in the Scranton Cultural Center, and at various other locations throughout the year, including an exceptional evening on the 4th of July in Kirby Park.

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THE F.M. KIRBY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS The Kirby started its life as an elegant movie theater on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre in 1938, the year that the Comerford movie theater chain erected her as a monument to its founder. This grandest of all movie palaces, with an advanced art deco design featuring five lobbies, oval rose-colored mirrors, tall fluted columns, doors and walls in copper tints with shades of metallic blue, was the “place to be seen” in America’s grandest age. She became the Paramount in 1949, and continued as the premier movie theater in all of northeastern Pennsylvania into the 1970s. Although this grand lady with her spectacular lobby chandelier survived Agnes’ daunting flood waters – 14 feet of water, muck, and mud entered through the main lobby doors – the end of grand movie houses was inevitable, and the Paramount closed in late 1977. Although the theater suffered significantly after her closing, she was resurrected by an impressive, community-based capital campaign which raised more than four million dollars.

Since her opening in 1986 as the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts, this magnificently restored performing arts theater has played host to worldrenowned entertainers from Broadway, Hollywood, the London stage, Nashville, Las Vegas and around the world. She also serves as a movie theater for limited engagement and arts and foreign language films. She is the Wilkes-Barre home of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic Orchestra.

ARTS YOUNIVERSE Arts YOUniverse, located in the historic United Methodist Church building at 47 North Franklin Street in downtown Wilkes-Barre, is the creation of Kathleen Godwin and a

www.luzernecounty.org

mansion full of talented artists who say, “Shopping for the best artistic experience should be as easy as shopping for the best shoes, or freshest groceries.” The Wyoming Valley boasts many outstanding local artists, poets, sculptors, dancers, potters, musicians and actors, but to enjoy each of these fine arts required travel throughout the area.

Now, Arts YOUniverse brings all of the arts together under one roof.

THIRD FRIDAY ART WALKS IN DOWNTOWN WILKES-BARRE AND KINGSTON The artists and gallery communities in Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, just across the Market Street Bridge, offer scheduled “gallery walks” on the third Friday of each month. Maps showing the varying participating galleries are available in Kingston and Wilkes-Barre at all of the venues; find one and you’ll find the rest.

CULTURAL COUNCIL OF LUZERNE COUNTY The Cultural Council of Luzerne County is a non-profit arts advocacy organization that functions as an umbrella agency in support of individuals and arts organizations in Luzerne County. The council programs and funds regional public projects, educational programs, and also represents a unified voice for the arts in the community at large.

For the past decade the Council has been a steady and visible advocate for the arts throughout the county while serving as catalyst for the creation of several innovative programs.

Among the most successful of these were the Downtown Gallery Walks, Café Cinema, the Race for the Arts and the Artists on Display programs.

Additionally, the Council has hosted an Evening of the Arts series of visual/ audio events at Wilkes University pairing local painters and photographers with classical performers.

www.luzernecounty.org

exceptional theatre, art exhibitions, music, dance, the spoken word, and film. Chinese dance, Caribbean jazz, sacred, and secular choral masterpieces complement performing arts activities throughout the year.

Wyoming Seminary’s Buckingham Arts Center hosts performances by the school’s theatre and musical groups as well as a series of performances by visiting guest artists. The preparatory school’s summer international summer music festival – known as the Performing Arts Institute (PAI), brings in aspiring young artists from around the country and the world for intensive music training and performance. PAI students present more than 30 public concerts/performances during the 42-day season.

THEATERS & THEATER COMPANIES In addition to the F.M. Kirby Center, exceptional theaters and theater companies are located in every corner of Luzerne County.

Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre is the third longest continuously running community theatre in the United States, and is still ranked among the 10 best “little theatre” groups in the land. The Music Box Dinner Players in Forty Fort provides outstanding dinner theater entertainment throughout the year. Showcase Theatre’s acting company performs in Exeter in a comfortable, one hundred thirty five seat theatre that features round staging.

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY CULTURAL ARTS PROGRAMS Misericordia University annually presents their Under the Stars Summer Arts Festival, featuring entertainers from around the country in performance at the Wachovia Amphitheater. Misericordia also sponsors Theater on the Green theater performances each summer.

Wilkes University, located in the heart of downtown Wilkes-Barre, presents a variety of music and dance performances, theatre productions, art exhibitions and lectures throughout the school year in the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts, a 500-seat performing arts theatre. In addition to student and faculty performances, the University sponsors a variety of local, regional and national artists.

Wilkes Community Conservatory is a division of Wilkes University’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Located on campus in the Dorothy Dickson Darte Building, this unique facility houses studios, classrooms, and rehearsal rooms, as well as an extensive music library.

Penn State Hazleton presents a wide variety of cultural arts programs throughout the year in the Commons Building on campus. Penn State University Wilkes-Barre sponsors a variety of programs throughout the year under the umbrella of Arts at Hayfield – an annual arts and crafts show in August, a Black Tie Ball in the Hayfield House, and the Hayfield Poetry Festival in April. PSU Wilkes-Barre also offers students, faculty and local community members with a penchant for the stars the opportunity to use the Friedman Observatory.

Experiencing the Arts at King’s College provides students and the Luzerne County community with

ORCHESTRAS, SYMPHONIES, CHORUSES AND COMPANIES Musicians, singers and artists who live in Luzerne County exhibit outstanding talent. Hundreds of amateur musicians perform throughout the county yearround before large and small audiences.

The Wyoming Seminary/ Performing Arts Institute Civic Symphony performs in the Great Hall

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of Wyoming Seminary. Chicory House provides Luzerne County with a venue for acoustic music ranging from blues, folk, Cajun, Celtic, swing, jazz, bluegrass and gospel. The Hazleton Community Concert Association offers an annual concert season. Performances traditionally include symphony orchestras, dance ensembles, instrumentalists, operatic and musical theater. The Wyoming Valley Band is a wind ensemble of approximately forty professional musicians entirely from northeast Pennsylvania that performs a wide range of music from classical to contemporary and original works. The Hazleton Philharmonic Society performs in the concert hall and convention center in downtown Hazleton. Summer performances are held at an outdoor band shell located in the Drums Valley.

The 100-voice Symphonic Chorus of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Choral Society presents both fall and spring programs, and since 2001, has joined with the Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic in their annual December “Home for the Holidays” programs.

The Intermezzo Youth Ballet Company consists of amateurs and

ARTS & CULTURE continued

professionals; providing young dancers with an opportunity to perform on-stage with professionals. Wyoming Valley Barbershop Chorus (men only) regularly performs throughout northeastern Pennsylvania. The Wilkes Civic Band (Wilkes University) offers students, faculty, and community members the opportunity to play great music in an exceptional setting.

The Lyric Consort is an eight-voice, professional vocal ensemble dedicated to the performance of a cappella repertories of the 15th and 16th centuries. Ballet Northeast, located in Kingston, is home to more than 200 pre-professional dancers.

They present the Nutcracker at Dorothy Dickson Darte Center.

The Robert Dale Chorale is the premier professional chamber choir in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Chorale performs in St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and Saint Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Wilkes-Barre.

GALLERIES Artists flourish in every corner of this beautiful mountain/ valley region. Residents, artists, entertainers, patrons and friends of the arts have gathered together throughout the county’s A SHOWING OF CHRISTOPHER RIES’ ART history to make sure that art continues to play an important THE VGOGH GALLERY AT THE PAULY FRIEDMAN ART GALLERY AT MISERICORDIA UNIVERSITY. role in our society.

The Cider Painters of America is a group with a lightGeorge MacDonald Art Gallery at Misericordia University features a variety of hearted name and serious purpose; works of art must be smaller than 3" X 5." exhibits throughout the year. The new Pauly Friedman Art Gallery at Misericordia Membership is by invitation only. The Wyoming Valley Art League presents excepUniversity is a multipurpose gallery – performing arts as well as visual arts. Salonick's tional exhibits, demonstrations, critiques, films and lectures. The Widmann Gallery Shades of Gray Gallery is located on North Washington Street in Wilkes-Barre. at King’s College is located in the Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center in Wilkes-Barre.

The Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University presents a range of exhibitions by local, regional, national and international artists. Its permanent collection features American painting from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Marquis

Sources: The Cultural Council of Luzerne County, Luzerne County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber, and the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce

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www.luzernecounty.org

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Recreational Resources in Luzerne County ■ County Parks

Luzerne County residents live in one of the most picturesque regions in all of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The early explorers found an Eden located along the banks of the Susquehanna River, and it took little convincing, we expect, for the settlers who followed to make that strenuous journey of two hundred miles.

Those early settlers probably did not look upon these valleys, streams and mountains as recreational resources, but now our residents take advantage of all of those “obstacles” and call it outdoor recreation of the finest kind.

If you are a hiker, a jogger or runner, an inline skater, a skier, a fisherman, a bike rider, a nature-lover, an equestrian, a bird or hawk watcher, a hunter, or someone who loves scenic beauty, tranquility, and the sounds of song birds, Luzerne County’s parks – along with hundreds of local municipal parks, and our exceptional state parks – provide extraordinary recreational opportunities for everyone who enjoys being outside.

THE TUBS NATURE AREA (ALSO KNOWN AS SEVEN TUBS PARK) Over hundreds of thousands of years, as Wheelbarrow Run has cascaded down the bedrock of Wyoming Mountain, the stream has cut a path through three layers of bedrock, and has created in the hard gray sandstone a remarkable geologic attraction – seven potholes or tubs – along which the county has created a rustic, forest trail with steps and bridges to accommodate hikers.

Geologists think the tubs were formed thousands of years ago during the Wisconsin Ice Age. Basically, a meltwater steam broke through a glacier, which then caused a whirling motion of rock fragments, effectively carving seven potholes.

In addition to the short trail that works its way up and around the tubs, a longer trail loops around the adjacent Laurel Run. This trail is quite popular with mountain bikers.

MOON LAKE PARK Moon Lake, off State Route 29, is the county’s busiest park, and the park that features most of the amenities that residents expect from a well-maintained recreational facility. In addition to an exceptional natural area trail system, Moon Lake Park offers swimming, camping, boating, fishing, hiking, disc golf, tennis, softball, basketball, and picnic facilities. Winter sports include ice fishing, ice skating, cross-country ski trails, and sledding.

Moon Lake features 63 tent and trailer camp sites, a double-sized Olympic swimming pool, rental row boats and paddle boats (the lake is not open to private boats), and a nature education center with a park naturalist to provide environmental education programs. The park also features four well-marked trails (more than twenty miles), and a detailed nature trail that gives visitors a chance to fully appreciate the trees, shrubs, ferns, swamps, lakes, and streams that make Moon Lake special. Moon Lake’s extensive trail system is also open for mountain bike and equestrian use. Cross country skiing is popular on beautiful winter days.

Snowmobiles are not permitted. Moon Lake provides picnic areas and two, large rental pavilions, as well as basketball and tennis courts, and softball fields. Moon Lake is the annual home of the Northeast Scout Jamboree.

BEAR CREEK CLUB

HARVEY’S LAKE

RICKETT’S GLEN STATE PARK

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www.luzernecounty.org

Luzerne County Sports Complex

LEHIGH GORGE STATE PARK

The County’s Recreation Department maintains an impressive recreation complex in Forty Fort, just south of the small Wyoming Valley Airport and just west of the levee. In addition to the extensive trail system that was included as part of the Wyoming Valley Levee Raising Project, the county has developed two softball fields and many soccer fields.

BOULDER FIELD AT HICKORY RUN STATE PARK

■ Trails In addition to the fine trail systems that the county maintains in its two parks, there has been an extensive investment by the county, the federal government and local municipalities in the creation of even more trails, with expectations for considerable expansion of the recreational trail system during the next decade. Because of an extensive system of now abandoned railroad beds, perhaps as much as seventy miles of new trails will be added to the county’s trail system.

WYOMING VALLEY WELLNESS TRAILS PARTNERSHIP The Wyoming Valley Wellness Trails trail network. The partnership Partnership was created in 1999 to helps to integrate and promote the promote physical activity and active com-munity’s health care facilities living in the Wyoming Valley with a and programs with its trails and focus on the county’s developing park areas.

■ Trails throughout Luzerne County LUZERNE COUNTY’S LEVEE TRAILS Thanks to the expansion of the levee system along both sides of the Susquehanna River – from the point above Pittston where the Lackawanna River joins the Susquehanna River to a gap in the mountains south of Nanticoke – Luzerne County, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, has created four new trails for walkers, joggers, in-line skaters, and cyclists. The trails are paved trails and are 100% handicap accessible. Parking lots are strategically located along the length of the trail.

The trails include:

PLYMOUTH PASSAGE/PLYMOUTH REACH – a 1.8 mile stretch of trail on the west side of the Susquehanna, going through the town of Plymouth.

An on-street connection accesses the Carey Avenue Bridge and the WilkesBarre/Hanover Township Reach on the other side of the river. The theme of this trail is the social side of the communities in this part of Luzerne County.

ANTHRACITE HERITAGE WALK/KINGSTON REACH – a 3.5 mile stretch of trail on the west side of the Susquehanna, going through the towns of Kingston and Edwardsville. At the north end of the trail is an on-street connection to the nearby Forty Fort Reach of the Levee system, via Rutter Avenue and River Street. The theme of this walk is the valley during the coal era.

RIVERSIDE RAMBLE/WILKES-BARRE AND HANOVER REACH – a four mile stretch of trail on the east side of the Susquehanna, going through the City of Wilkes-Barre and Hanover Township.

Between the County Courthouse and Wilkes University the trail runs through Wilkes-Barre’s new riverfront park – River Common – before connecting with the east side levee trail system in south Wilkes-Barre. The trail provides connections to the Market Street, Pierce Street and Carey Avenue bridges. Levee trail users discover stories about the original River Common, life in the industrial hub of the valley, and some of the people who made a difference.

FIRST RESIDENT’S PATH/ FORTY FORT REACH – a 2.7 mile stretch of trail on the west side of the Susquehanna, going through the towns of Forty Fort and Wyoming, and connecting to the West Side Trail system.

At the south end of the trail is an onstreet connection to the nearby Kingston Reach of the Levee system, via River Street and Rutter Avenue. The dominant story along this levee describes the valley during early settlement eras.

www.luzernecounty.org

THE MOCANAQUA LOOP TRAIL Four individual looping trails that together comprise about nine miles of varying terrain along the northern reach of Penobscot Mountain. Trek along a natural trail that traverses the mountainside, as well as the ridge top area, where there are several scenic overlooks.

PENOBSCOT RIDGE MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAIL This trail encompasses the large reclaimed areas of land to the south of Wanamie and the conservation lands of Penobscot Ridge. The trail was designed as an introductory trail for mountain bikers, with the most difficult parts at the beginning and the end. It is approximately two miles long from trailhead to trailhead. Hikers, nature viewers and others can also use the trail.

KIRBY PARK TRAILS Four miles of marked trails wander through the Kirby Park Natural Area between the levee and the Susquehanna River.

LUZERNE COUNTY NATIONAL RECREATION TRAIL When completed, the trail will be 16 miles long, running along an active freight line on the east side of the

Lake, and it will be the only trail linking the floor of the Wyoming Valley with the Back Mountain.

BACK MOUNTAIN TRAIL The Trail currently runs from Luzerne Borough to Carverton Road in Trucksville. In its final form, it will run fourteen miles from Luzerne to Harvey’s

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RECREATIONAL RESOURCES continued ■ State Parks Susquehanna River. In Wilkes-Barre, the trail will provide direct or on-street connections to the Susquehanna River Levee Trail System. Phase I of the Luzerne County National Recreation Trail is open, running 1.8 miles from Pittston’s Riverfront Park to Port Griffith. The trail is packed gravel, and can be used by bikers, walkers, joggers, and dog-walkers, and cross-country skiers in winter.

LEHIGH GORGE TRAIL This 26 mile trail follows an abandoned rail line and is adjacent to the Lehigh River from north of White Haven to Jim Thorpe. The trail offers hikers and bikers an outstanding opportunity to see the river and Lehigh Gorge State Park close-up.

THE GREATER HAZLETON RAIL TRAIL What was once an abandoned old rail bed for half a century, used for illegal dumping and other activities, is now a hub of activity. When complete, the trail will be 16.4 miles long. The first phase, 4 miles in length, (East Broad Street in Hazleton to the Ashmore area) is open.

RICKETTS GLEN STATE PARK Ricketts Glen is one of the most popular park areas in Pennsylvania.

The 13,050-acre park includes two deep gorges that meet among giant pines. They create 22 waterfalls, including 94-foot Ganoga Falls.

A well-maintained, but still quite steep foot trail passes through stands of giant pines, hemlocks and oaks. Although the Falls Trail leading into the Glens Natural Area is a considerably difficult hike, the rewards of climbing into the Glens area in the park will leave you with a sense of awe as you contemplate the beauty of nature, and a real sense of accomplishment at having mastered the difficult stone steps that lead into this most glorious natural setting. In addition to its numerous waterfalls, Rickett’s Glen State Park offers cabins for rent, camp sites, and boating on beautiful Lake Jean.

The second phase from Ashmore to Eckley is underway. The GHRT will connect the Greater Hazleton Area with Eckley Miner’s Village, Lehigh Gorge State Park, and nearby state game lands.

SUSQUEHANNA WARRIOR TRAIL The Susquehanna Warrior Trail offers recreational opportunities extending 18.5 miles along the old Delaware, Lehigh and Western Railroad beds from the PPL Riverlands Recreation area to Larksville. Trailheads and parking are available at the PPL Riverlands Park north of Berwick, eight miles south of West Nanticoke, and at Shickshinny Park.

NESCOPECK STATE PARK Bordered on the south by steep Mount Yeager and on the north

by Nescopeck Mountain, the 3,550-acre Nescopeck State Park encompasses wetlands, rich forests, and many diverse habitats. Six miles of Nescopeck Creek is designated as a high quality, cold-water fishery. 19 miles of hiking trails follow the creek, climb mountains, pass through quiet forests and skirt wetlands. An environmental education center provides year round educational programs.

WEST SIDE TRAIL A 19 mile in-town trail system through the boroughs of Exeter, Wyoming, West Wyoming and West Pittston. The spine of the trail follows Route 11. Some sections are urban consisting of sidewalks while other sections are off-road in natural settings.

The West Side Trail connects to the Luzerne County Levee Trail and will connect to the Luzerne County Rail Trail.

FRANCES SLOCUM STATE PARK Frances Slocum, a 1,035 acre woodland park, is located in the northwestern part of Luzerne County. The primary attraction is a 165-acre, horseshoe-shaped lake that offers boating (electric motors only) and fishing. Frances Slocum Lake has catchable populations of fish. The park features a 100-site campground: 15 walk-in tent sites, and 85 tent or trailer sites (some with electric hookups). Five marked hiking trails wind for nine miles throughout the park.

LEHIGH GORGE STATE PARK Lehigh Gorge State Park is in Luzerne and Carbon counties in eastern Pennsylvania. The park follows the Lehigh River from the outlet of the Francis E. Walter Dam at the northern end, to the town of Jim Thorpe at the southern end. A deep gorge, steep walls and thick vegetation, rock outcroppings and many waterfalls characterize the entire park.

Lehigh Gorge Trail, 26 miles of abandoned railroad grade, follows the river throughout the park providing opportunities for hiking, bicycling, sight-seeing, photography, and trout fishing.

HICKORY RUN STATE PARK 15,990-acre Hickory Run State Park, just east of Luzerne County in Carbon County, lies in the western foothills of the Pocono Mountains.

This large park has 43 miles of hiking trails, three state park natural areas and miles of trout streams. Although the drive in to the Boulder Field area of the park can be intimidating, a visitor to Hickory Run State Park absolutely must see and walk-about this unique geologic feature – a 16-acre level field strewn with boulders leftover from the Wisconsin (or last) Ice Age. It is a National Landmark.

WILKES-BARRE RIVERFRONT PARKS The City of Wilkes-Barre owns and maintains 91 acres of open space and floodplain forest along the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre, Kingston and Edwardsville. These magnificent riverside parks provide exceptional access to the river and to the natural areas in the flood plain. The original Kirby Park on the west bank of the river was bisected into two pieces by the 1936 levee project. One side is an urban park for softball, picnics, sledding and Fourth of July concerts while the other side is home to the Kirby Park Natural Area. This park contains 65 acres of forest, with five marked trails exposing visitors to a wealth of animal, bird and plant life. Nesbitt Park, north of the Market Street Bridge, offers access to the river.

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www.luzernecounty.org

■ Entertainment and Recreation Opportunities The bustling and vibrant communities of Luzerne County offer all the recreation or entertainment options residents expect from a thriving community. Thanks to Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza, our 240,000 square foot, 8,500 permanent seat regional, multi-purpose arena and convention center, sports fans in Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties have exceptional opportunities to cheer for their favorite teams.

MOHEGAN SUN AT POCONO DOWNS CASINO Luzerne County’s casino is owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut, a federally recognized Indian tribe. The casino is open continuously with 300,000-square-feet of gaming, restaurant and bar space, 2,500 slot machines, and 4,000 parking spaces. Inspiration for the architecture came from the rolling majesty of the Pocono Mountains and the richness of the Susquehanna River Valley.

The casino features an impressive variety of dining options, including; Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Rustic Kitchen Bistro and Bar, Bar Louie, Wolfgang Puck Express, Pearl Sushi Bar, Timbers Buffet, Johnny Rockets, Ben and Jerry’s, the Hot Dog Hall of Fame, and Betty & Joe’s coffee house .

■ Professional Sports The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers play professional arena football – April through July. The Pioneers are in the American Conference and Northeast Division of arenafootball2. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are the AHL farm team of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Scranton/WilkesBarre Yankees play Triple A baseball and are an affiliate of the New York Yankees. NASCAR fans will find the Pocono Raceway less than an hour away – with two major races per season. Mountain Speedway near Hazleton offers amateur race car drivers the opportunity to compete.

Fans of Harness Racing will find Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs just a short drive from downtown Wilkes-Barre. Pari-mutuel harness racing is conducted on 135 dates from April 1 to November 21.

■ Hunting, Fishing, Skiing, and Water Sports White water rafting and kayaking is available on the Lehigh River at White Haven. Fly fisherman have numerous streams and rivers to choose from, including the Lehigh, which is one of the most spectacular mountain fly-fishing streams east of the Rocky Mountains. Lake fishermen have several outstanding lakes from which to choose, including Harvey’s Lake, the largest natural lake in the Commonwealth. Deer, bear, and turkey hunters will find thousands of acres of Pennsylvania state game lands that are easily accessible from any point in the county. Runners converge on Harvey’s Lake in early August for the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon. Skiing in Pennsylvania’s famed Pocono Mountains is a quick trip for county residents. Locally, Eagle Rock Resort offers 13 lighted runs with three lifts.

Golf in Luzerne County If you are a golfer, Luzerne County is pretty close to heaven. Golf started here in the early part of the twentieth century when the community’s wealthiest citizens hired one of the world’s most famous golf course architects, A. W. Tillinghast, to design four courses in Luzerne County – Fox Hill Country Club, Valley Country Club, Irem Temple Country Club, and Wyoming Valley Country Club. Today, these remarkable old courses have been joined by acclaimed Huntsville Golf Club, a Rees Jones design. The area features a dozen daily fee golf courses.

■ Indoor Activities Bowlers will find many outstanding facilities – located throughout the county – to satisfy their needs, whether that is family recreational bowling on a Friday night, or competitive league bowling.

Movie theaters, mainly multiplex chains, are located throughout Luzerne County, but single screen movie theaters also still exist. The Wilkes-Barre Rock Climbing Gym in downtown Wilkes-Barre offers mountain climbing lessons, practice and competition.

Wyoming Valley Golf Course was built in 1896, making it the 18th oldest course in the United States, and the fifth oldest course in the Commonwealth.

Sources: Luzerne County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Greater WilkesBarre Chamber, and the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce

HARNESS RACING AT POCONO DOWNS

www.luzernecounty.org

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Shopping, Lodging and Dining

Luzerne, The Brass Rail in Ashley, Theo’s Metro in Kingston, Bear Creek Café in Bear Creek, and the Left Bank Bistro, Café Toscana, Rodano’s in Wilkes-Barre.

The Lion Brewery is the largest

■ Dining

regional and contract brewery in all of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Tours

The immigrants who settled this region brought an incredible diversity of cultures and foods with them. Today, you’ll find a constant reminder of the cultural heritage that made this county a complex melting pot. Almost a century after massive immigration ended, our churches, social halls, and small restaurants, café’s and taverns continue to preserve the culinary heritage of our founders.

Our restaurants also offer the foods we have all come to love – Thai, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Mexican, French, and Japanese.

You’ll often find some of the region’s finest small restaurants and café’s are “hidden away” in remote corners of the county.

are available.

Residents often argue about who makes the best ice cream, but Penn State Ice Cream and the fabulous premium ice cream selection – made on the premises from milk and cream supplied by their own herd of Jersey cows – at Hillside Farms Dairy in Kingston Township are high on everyone’s list.

Home chefs also have a great selection of food purveyors from which to choose. Our numerous supermarkets provide just about everything.

Gourmet shops entice shoppers with exotic fare. Orchards, farmers markets, and seasonal produce stands provide a bounty of goods during our growing season and beyond.

A sampling of Restaurant Options in Luzerne County –

Northeastern Pennsylvania boasts at least 25 wineries, including two

Along with an ever-increasing number of well-known national chain restaurants (Outback, Chili’s, TGI Friday’s, Lone Star, Red Lobster, and Ground Round are examples) Luzerne County also offers discriminating diners a delightful selection of taverns, café’s, restaurants, and bistros. For example: The Library Lounge in Hazleton, The Brass Buckle in Conyngham, the Stage Coach Inn in Drums, Cooper’s Seafood House in Pittston, Grico’s Restaurant in Exeter, Gelpia’z in Kingston, Grotto Pizza in Harvey’s Lake, Overbrook in Dallas, Poppi’s in Hanover Township, Salerno’s in

located in Luzerne County. The Bartolai Winery is located on Route 92 in Harding. The Pavlick Hill Vineyard is located in Dallas. Bucks County’s Crossing Vineyard operates a wine and cheese shop in the Mohegan Sun Casino at Pocono Downs. The Preate Winery, just north of Luzerne County, is the regions oldest winery.

■ Shopping The Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre Township features more than 90 stores, ranging from large department stores, national chains, local specialty stores, and a food court – its four anchor stores include Sears, JC Penney, The Bon Ton and Macy’s. Arena Hub Plaza is adjacent to Wyoming Valley Mall. Arena Hub is anchored by Lowes, Staples, Best Buy, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Old Navy, PetSmart and Dicks Sporting Goods.

Located in the same vicinity is the Wilkes-Barre Township Marketplace which is anchored by A.C. Moore, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Wal-Mart. Wilkes-Barre Commons is across from the Wyoming Valley Mall. Not far from the Wachovia Arena is one of the region’s best supermarkets – Wegmans. Its selection of breads, cheeses, olive oils, deli items, and prepared foods rivals anything you’ll find in Philadelphia or New York. Laurel Mall in the Hazleton area features seventy stores, with three

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Left (top to bottom): POWERHOUSE EATERY IN WHITE HAVEN BEAR CREEK CAFÉ SMOKEY BONES IN WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP

Bottom (left to right): ISABELLA’S IN PLAINS TOWNSHIP CAPITAL SQUARE DINER FORKS CLUB & BISTRO IN WHITE HAVEN COOPERS IN PITTSTON

Right: THE LION BREWERY IN WILKES-BARRE

•110 spacious guest rooms and suites with a well-lit work desk, two phones and data ports

• Spacious bathrooms with granite counter tops

• Free High Speed Internet Access, in-room coffee, in-room hair dryer, iron and ironing board

• Free hot breakfast with Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwiches, Bold Beginnings coffee, cereal, fresh fruit

• Complimentary Wireless High Speed Internet access as well as a 24-hour Business Center available

• Indoor pool, two hot tubs, 24-hour executive fitness center

• Suites equipped with microwaves and refrigerators for your convenience, as well as privacy walls Located just 1/2 mile from Wachovia Arena and 2 miles from Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs

884 Kidder Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-208-4455

www.marriott.com/AVPFI www.luzernecounty.org

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SHOPPING, LODGING AND DINING continued

regional/national department stores – Boscov’s, J.C. Penney, and K-Mart. Other smaller shopping plazas are scattered throughout the county, on both sides of the river. The merchants in Luzerne Borough have organized a merchants association so “Shopping in Luzerne is a delightful experience with a collection of unique fashion boutiques, gift shops, and home decorating stores.”

The downtown areas of Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Pittston, and Nanticoke, as well as Berwick, are home to many unique shops, including boutiques, antiques and accessories. All of the downtown areas offer barber and beauty shops, men’s and women’s clothing, fine jewelry, arts and crafts, and everything in between.

Boscov’s maintains an impressive department store in the heart of Wilkes-Barre.

If you are into antiques and collectibles, we know you will be delighted with the selection available at various locations throughout the county. Visitors from throughout the Mid-Atlantic region travel to Luzerne County to explore the fine |selection of interesting and unique items. Locally made pottery, crafts and works of art can be found in a number of shops.

As would be expected from a community near the intersection of two major Interstate highways, Luzerne County offers every automobile dealership (new and used), all the national discount chain stores – Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Burlington Coat Factory, and Raymour & Flanigan furniture – business specialty stores, automotive and building supplies, electronics, and several famous brand name outlet stores.

■ Lodging Because of our community’s location at the crossroads of two key Interstate highways, and especially because of our location along I-81 – the primary transportation artery from New York to Tennessee – our community is blessed with an abundance of quality, moderately priced hotels and motels. This part of Luzerne County is at just the right place for many travelers; it’s a perfect place to stop for the night – to shop, dine, sleep, and recharge your batteries.

If your trip to Luzerne County is intended to be more than an eight hour stay for a good night’s sleep, we think you’ll be pleased with the special accommodations that are available in our scenic part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. We offer ski resorts, golf clubs, extra special romantic “hide-aways,” bed and breakfasts and inns. If you are relocating to the valley and need a place to stay for a week or three months, the lodging specialists in our community will find the perfect place for you. If your travels bring you to our community on business, our many fine hotels and motels will be able to cater to your specific needs.

20 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 Located in the Downtown Business District Reservations 570-824-7100 www.ramadawilkesbarre.com

Sources: Luzerne County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber, the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce, and the Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce

• 107 Newly Remodeled Guest • • • • •

Rooms & Suites 1&2 Bedroom Apartment Style Units Extended Stay Rooms and Efficiencies Fitness Center Laundry Facility Windows Restaurant & Keenan’s Pub

• Free Wireless Internet • Airport Shuttle & Free Parking • Convention & Banquet Facility • Corp., Group, Gov. and AARP Rates

• Bus Rates Available/ Plenty of Bus Parking

Directions: On Historic Public Square in Downtown Wilkes-Barre; Exit 168; left on Highland Blvd.; cross Rt. 309 to Coal St.; 2 lights; make left on Wilkes-Barre Blvd.; 1 light to Market Street; make right; 3 lights to Public Square; hotel is on right

BEAR CREEK INNE

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Municipalities in Luzerne County ASHLEY BOROUGH

BOROUGH OF BEAR CREEK VILLAGE

10 North Main Street, Ashley, PA 18706 Phone: 570-824-1364 • Fax: 570-821-1755 Website: N/A • E-mail: ashleypa@ptd.net

c/o Anita Muhlbauer, PO Box 332, Bear Creek, PA 18602 Phone: 570-472-3126 • Fax: 570-472-3126 Website: N/A • E-mail: courtime@aol.com

Population: __________________________________________________2,866 Square Miles: __________________________________________________1.0 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________Richard Oravic Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: __________________________________________Hanover Area Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________41.0 mills UTILITIES Cable: ______________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-825-8508 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 570-829-3461 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________________collected by Ashley Borough

Population: ____________________________________________________267 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________2 Name of Mayor:__________________________________________Walter Mitchell Type of Government: ________________________Mayor and Five Council Members School District: ____________________________________________Wilkes-Barre Range of Housing Costs: ____________________________$100,000 to $1,000,000 Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________________5 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________________________SECTV 570-825-8508 Gas:________________________________________________No natural gas Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________________________________________Wells

The Borough of Ashley was incorporated on December 5, 1870. Before that, Ashley was called Newtown Junction, Nanticoke Junction, Skunktown, Hightown, Peestown, Alberts, Scrabbletown and, the most prominently, Coalville. The Ashley Fire Department, founded in 1873, is one of the oldest firefighting units in northeastern Pennsylvania. Beginning in the 1830s, the Ashley Planes, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, were the first set of Inclined Planes in the United States.

They were a series of three railroad planes that lifted railroad cars – coal and freight – over the mountains.

While Ashley Borough is no longer home to any large industries and is mostly residential, in the 1930s and 1940s the Huber Colliery employed over 3,000 workers.

The colliery cleaned and processed over 7,000 tons of anthracite coal per day and was the largest facility of its kind ever built in the world.

BLACK CREEK TOWNSHIP 1330 Park Street, Rock Glen, PA 18246 Mailing Address: PO Box 3, Rock Glen, PA 18246 Phone: 570-384-3206 • Fax: 570-384-3799 Website: N/A • E-mail: BlackCreekTwp@pa.Metrocast

AVOCA BOROUGH 752 Main Street, Avoca, PA 18641 Phone: 570-457-4947 • Fax: 570-451-1750 Website: www.avoca-pa.com • E-mail: avoca.secretary@verizon.net

Population: __________________________________________________2,123 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________25 Name of Chairman:________________________________________Bonnie Adams Type of Government: __________________________________________Township School District: ____________________________________Hazleton School District Public Library: ________________________________________Nuremberg Branch Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$50,000 to $300,000 Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________.5473 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Gans Multimedia Partnership 570-455-6851 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: __________________________Hazleton Water Authority 570-454-2401 Waste Removal: ______________________________________________N/A

Population: __________________________________________________2,851 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________1 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________Robert Mullen Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ____________________________________________Pittston Area Range of Housing Costs: __________________________________Median $81,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________22 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Adelphia Cable 570-451-4300 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal:________________________Waste Management 800-222-2028

Bordered by Columbia and Schuylkill Counties, Black Creek Township is nestled in the lower end of Luzerne County. Our township offers quiet countryside living.

Our growing communities – Black Creek Estates, Orchard Hill Estates, Winfield Village, and the Eagle Rock Development – are surrounded by streams and lakes, and plenty of farmland.

Avoca Borough is best known for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP), which is partially located in Avoca Borough. We are proud that our regional airport carries the name of Avoca, Pennsylvania throughout the world. AVP is an asset to Luzerne County, and a great contributor to our region’s economy.

There are approximately 60 business establishments in Avoca, including a bank. In addition, Avoca has six churches, seven civic/veteran organizations, a community center, two outdoor parks, one little league park, and one adult/teenage baseball park.

Avoca's Police Department, Ambulance Association and Volunteer Fire Department provide 24-hour service.

BUCK TOWNSHIP Buck Township Minicipal Building 114 Buck Boulevard, White Haven, PA 18661 Mailing Address: PO Box 273, Bear Creek, PA 18602 570-472-3344 • Fax: 570-472-9140 Website: N/A • E-mail: bucktwpmuni@nation1.net

BEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP

Population: ____________________________________________________390 Square Miles: __________________________________________17 square miles Name of Chairman: ______________________________________Raymond Sipple Type of Government: ____________________________________Three Supervisors School District: ________________________________________Wilkes-Barre Area Public Library: ____________________________________________Wilkes-Barre Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________________$100,000 Property Tax Rate: ________________________________________________N/A UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 800-232-9100 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc 800-342-5775 Water: ______________________________________________Private Wells Waste Removal: ______________________________________________N/A

3333 Bear Creek Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 Phone: 570-822-2260 • Fax: 570-704-0237 Website: bearcreeektownship.org • E-mail: bct3333@ptd.net Population: __________________________________________________2,560 Square Miles: ________________________________Approximately 70 square miles Name of Chairman: ______________________________________Gary Zingaretti Type of Government: ________________________________Township Supervisors School District: ________________________________________Wilkes-Barre Area Range of Housing Costs: ____________________________$100,000 to $600,000 Property Tax Rate:__________________________________________0.4412 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-825-8508

Buck Township is comprised of mostly wooded mountains. At 2,100 feet elevation, it is very quiet, mostly agricultural, with many open spaces. It is primarily zoned into a C District, with a very large state game land area.

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BUTLER TOWNSHIP

CONYNGHAM TOWNSHIP

415 W. Butler Drive, Drums, PA 18222 Phone: 570-788-3547 • Fax: 570-788-5938 Website: www.butler-township.com E-mail: steve.hahn@butler-township.com

10 Pond Hill Road, Mocanaqua, PA 18655 Mailing Address: PO Box 1, Mocanaqua, PA 18655 Phone: 570-542-2411 • Fax: 570-542-2412 Website: N/A • E-mail: conynghamtwp@pa.metrocast.net

Population: __________________________________________________9,000 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________52 Name of Chairman: ____________________________________Ransom S. Young Type of Government: ________________________________Second Class Township School District: __________________________________________Hazleton Area Public Library:________________________________Luzerne County Library System Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________.4262 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-454-3841 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ______________________________________________On-Lot Wells Waste Removal: __________________________On-Lot/Central 570-788-3547

Population: __________________________________________________1,385 Square Miles: __________________________________________________16.8 Name of Chairman: ______________________________________Ed Whitebread Type of Government: __________________________________Board of Supervisors School District: ____________________________________Greater Nanticoke Area UTILITIES Cable: ________________________________________________CMP Cable Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: __________________________Chapin, US Waste Management Conyngham Township was formed in 1875, taken in part from Hollenback Township in southern Luzerne County. It is primarily made up of three areas: Mocanaqua, Wapwallopen, and Pond-Hill/Lily Lake. Mocanaqua is a coal mining ‘patch-town’ established by the West End Coal Company on the banks of the Susquehanna River. Mocanaqua is an Indian name meaning ‘little bear’ and is named after Frances Slocum, who was kidnapped by the Delaware Indians. Wapwallopen at one time featured ‘powder mills’ where black powder was manufactured.

Today, the township is home to more than thirteen hundred people and has several parks and recreation areas. It is home to two major festivals every year – Saint Mary’s Church Homecoming Picnic in Mocanaqua on Labor Day weekend, and the Heller Family Apple Festival in October.

CONYNGHAM BOROUGH 215 Main Street, PO Box 442, Conyngham, PA 18219-0442 Phone: 570-788-4385 • Fax: 570-788-0772 Website: N/A • E-mail: conybor@epix.net Population: __________________________________________________1,956 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________1 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________Conrad J. Wittig Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: __________________________________________Hazleton Area Public Library:____________________________________________Hazleton Area Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$70,000 to $350,000 Property Tax Rate:______________________________________________1.43% UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-454-3841 Gas/Electric: ________________________________UGI Electric 800-276-2722 Water: ______________________Conyngham Borough Authority 570-788-0608 Waste Removal: ______________________________________________N/A

COURTDALE BOROUGH 5 Blackman Street, Courtdale, PA 18704 Phone: 570-504-1889 • Fax: 570-288-4054 Website: N/A • E-mail: jilld613@comcast.net Population: ____________________________________________________714 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________3 Name of Mayor: ______________________________________James T. Gaughan Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ______________________________________Wyoming Valley West Public Library: __________________________________________Hoyt in Kingston Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$60,000 to $500,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________28 mills UTILITIES Cable:____________________________Service Electric Cable TV 800-232-9100 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________________________Private Haulers

Prior to its incorporation in 1901, Conyngham Borough was known as Venison Market. Conyngham Village was named in honor of Captain Gustavus Conyngham, cousin of Redmond Conyngham, an early member of the Commonwealth’s General Assembly. Captain Conyngham is an unsung hero of the American Revolution.

The Sugarloaf Massacre of September 11, 1780 was one of a series of bloody engagements fought in the frontier of northeastern Pennsylvania between Iroquois and settlers loyal to the cause of American independence. Today, this event is commemorated by a Historic Monument with a bronze plaque bearing the names of the fifteen men who lost their lives during the massacre.

The town park, “Whispering Willows,” is a gathering place for many events. The George Ernst pool is owned and run by the Conyngham Valley Civic Organization and is located near the park. A one-room schoolhouse, to which additions were added, now houses the Hazelton Public Library, Conyngham Branch.

DALLAS BOROUGH 25 Main Street, Dallas, PA 18612 Phone: 570-675-1389 • Fax: 570-675-7308 Website: www.dallasborough.org E-mail: tcarr@dallasborough.org Population: __________________________________________________2,557 Square Miles: __________________________________________________2.2 Name of Mayor:__________________________________________Timothy Carroll Type of Government: __________________________Mayor and Council (7 Members) School District: ____________________________________________Dallas Area Public Library: ______________________________Back Mountain Memorial Library Range of Housing Costs:______________________________$50,000 to $1 million+ Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________7.07 mills UTILITIES Cable: ______________________________________________Comcast Cable Gas: ______________________________________________UGI Penn Natural Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-4844 Water: __________________________United Water Pennsylvania 570-564-3662 Waste Removal: ________________Dallas Area Municipal Authority 570-696-1133

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DALLAS TOWNSHIP

DORRANCE TOWNSHIP

601 Tunkhannock Highway, Dallas, PA 18612 Mailing Address: PO Box 518, Dallas, PA 18612 Phone: 570-674-2007 • Fax: 570-674-3827 Website: www.dallastownship.com • E-mail: dallastwpoffice@epix.net

7844 Blue Ridge Trail, Mountain Top, PA 18707 Phone: 570-868-6394 • Fax: 570-868-5909 Website: N/A • E-mail: dortwp@pa.metrocast.net Population: __________________________________________________2,156 Square Miles: __________________________________________________25.6 Name of Chairman: ______________________________Benjamin J. Ostrowski, Jr. Type of Government: ____________________________Three Township Supervisors School District: ____________________________________________Crestwood Public Library: ____________________________________Marian Sutherland Kirby Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$60,000 – $500,000 Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________________8 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________________________________GMC Cable Gas: ______________________________________________________N/A Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ______________________________________________Private Wells Waste Removal: ______________________________________Private Haulers

Population: __________________________________________________8,179 Square Miles:__________________________________________approximately 24 Name of Chairman: ______________________________________Phillip L. Walter Type of Government: __________________________________________Township School District: ______________________________________Dallas School District Public Library: ______________________________Back Mountain Memorial Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$75,000 to $400,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________.52 mills UTILITIES Cable: ______________________________________Comcast 888-266-2278 ______________Blue Ridge Communications 800-875-0784 or 570-836-5422 Gas: ______________________________UGI Penn Natural Gas 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-4844 Water: __________________________United Water Pennsylvania 888-299-8972 Waste Removal: ________________Dallas Area Municipal Authority 570-696-1133

Dorrance Township is mostly rural consisting of family-owned farms, and a few small housing developments. It is home to the Blue Ridge Trail Golf Course. The Township was incorporated in 1846.

During its early years, the Township was primarily rural. However, after the Flood of 1972, many people from Wilkes-Barre and Kingston moved away from the river and built homes in Dallas Township. With the growing population, more shopping centers and small businesses such as doctors’ offices and restaurants sprang up. In addition, there is one major industry in the township – Offset Paperback Manufacturers, Inc., which is one of the largest printing companies in the country.

Students living in the Township attend the Dallas School District’s four buildings – two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. A large percentage of students graduate and continue studies in college. There is also a beautiful campus located in the township that is home to Misericordia University, which offers a fouryear degree in many fields of study. Dallas Township is a popular place for people to raise families with its clean water, up-to-date sewage, and low crime rate. Even though homes continue to be built, Dallas Township prides itself in the Pennsylvania’s Growing Greener Program, which preserves natural resources and open space.

DUPONT BOROUGH 600 Chestnut Street, Dupont, PA 18641 Phone: 570-655-6216 • Fax: 570-655-6216 Website: www.dupontpa.info • E-mail: dupontboro@comcast.net Population: __________________________________________________2,719 Square Miles: __________________________________________________1.6 Name of Mayor: ____________________________________________Daniel Lello Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ____________________________________________Pittston Area Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$90,000 to $110,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________25 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Adelphia Cable 800-892-7300 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: __________________________Boro sponsored 570-655-6216

DENNISON TOWNSHIP 76 Walnut Street, White Haven, PA 18661 Phone: 570-443-8190 • Fax: 570-443-9784 Website: N/A • E-mail: dennisontwp@verizon.net Population: ____________________________________________________908 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________35 Name of Chairman: ________________________________________Michael Mack Type of Government: ________________________________Township Supervisors School District:4 ____________________________________________Crestwood Public Library: ________________________________________White Haven Area Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________12 mills UTILITIES Cable: ____________________________________GMP Cable 570-455-5710 Gas: ______________________________________UGI Utilities 800-609-4844 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ______________________________________________Private Wells Waste Removal: ______________________________________________N/A

Dupont Boro is a residential-oriented community midway between cities of WilkesBarre and Scranton and near Pittston; a hub center with two adjoining I-81 interchanges and a turnpike interchange, U.S. 11 and both State 315 north and 315 south in the Borough. It adjoins a major airport and two major industrial parks, has modern railroad lines, and is near major shopping malls and national food franchises, and two truck stops. It is the home of Pittston Area Kindergarten Center, three major recreation areas (little league, softball-soccer field, new adult baseball field, basketball courts, and playground. Borough garbage collection, free yard waste and recyclable pickups, 700unit housing development (Quail Hill). Debt free in 2005 with final payment on modern $5-million sewer collection system, completes the picture of life in Dupont Boro.

DURYEA BOROUGH 315 Main Street, Duryea, PA 18642 Phone: 570-655-2829 • Fax: 570-457-4792 Website: www.duryeaborough.com • Email: duryeaboro@yahoo.com

Records indicate the Township's first settler was Israel Inman who built a cabin in 1833 about one-half mile below where the Lehigh Railroad crosses the Nescopeck Creek. Lumbering was the primary industry that encouraged initial settlement in Dennison Township. Both the lumbering industry and the regional coal industry played a dominant role in bringing growth and prosperity to the region as a whole.

At its high point, the area had ten sawmills, cutting as much as 20,000,000 feet of lumber per year. The Lehigh River that adjoins the southeastern boundary of the township was the principal means of transporting lumber and coal to its market place.

The Lehigh Canal played a vital transportation role for the region until flooding in 1862 destroyed the locks and dams. Transportation of lumber was then altered to rail service of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad connecting White Haven to Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe).

The majority of the Township is open space that includes State Game lands and the Nescopeck State Park. There are approximately 8,551 acres of State Game Lands in Dennison Township, representing approximately thirty-seven percent of the entire Township.

Population: __________________________________________________4,634 Square Miles: __________________________________________________6.5 Name of Mayor: ____________________________________________Keith Moss Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ____________________________________________Pittston Area Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$50,000 to $300,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________1.1 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Comcast Cable 800-266-2278 Gas: ______________________________________UGI Utilities 570-829-3461 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ____________Duryea Borough Street Department 570-655-1299 Forty original settlers arrived from Connecticut on February 8, 1769 and set up temporary cabins near the junction of the Lackawanna River and the Susquehanna River. One of the first settlers was Zebulon Marcy for which Marcy Township derived

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EXETER TOWNSHIP

its name. Marcy Township was the original name of the area known as Duryea Borough. He built the first log cabin in 1770.

As more settlers located in the area, the development of mining caused the citizenry to petition for township status. Marcy Township was founded in 1880 with a population of 1,159. In 1902, Duryea Borough was incorporated. Duryea Borough was named in honor of Hiram Duryea, a Civil War general and owner of extensive tracts of land.

He was a prominent figure in the starch industry, a coal operator and an official of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. It was the practice of this railroad to name its section stops after officials of the line, hence the name Duryea. Farming was the principal occupation in the earliest days. Shortly after, mining would become the area's greatest source of prosperity, along with silk mills and stone quarries.

2305 State Route 92, Harding, PA 18643 Phone: 570-388-6090 • Fax: 570-388-4871 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A Population: __________________________________________________2,557 Square Miles; __________________________________________________12.4 Name of Chairman: ______________________________________Donald Hoffman Type of Government: ________________________________Second Class Township School District: __________________________________________Wyoming Area Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________Township, .964 mills UTILITIES Cable:________________________________Comcast Cable TV 800-COMCAST Gas/Electric:__________________________________________________N/A Water:________________________On-Site or Aqua Pennsylvania 570-443-7300 Waste Removal: ____________________________________Private Contractors

EDWARDSVILLE BOROUGH 470 Main Street, Edwardsville, PA 18704 Phone: 570-288-6484 • Fax: 570-288-7041 Website: N/A • E-mail: cjszalkowski@aol.com Population: __________________________________________________4,984 Square Miles: __________________________________________________1.2 Name of Mayor: ______________________________________Bernard Dubaskas Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ______________________________________Wyoming Valley West Public Library: ____________________________________________Hoyt Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$45,000 – $250,000 Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________51.8 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Comcast Cable 800-266-2278 Gas/Electric: ________________________________UGI Electric 800-962-1212 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: __________________________Waste Reduction 570-735-2220

Exeter Township is located in the extreme northeastern corner of Luzerne County on the right bank of the Susquehanna River and is one of the oldest settlements in Wyoming Valley. Within Exeter Township are areas known by their local names: Harding, Mt. Zion, Hex Acres and The Campground. It has the distinction of having had the earliest business enterprise – a gristmill and sawmill.

The welfare of the children is very important to our community. The elementary school is constantly being upgraded; there are Boy Scout and Girl Scout Organizations.

Special events for the children are held on holidays such as a Christmas Party and an Easter Egg Hunt.

We have many dedicated volunteer workers who keep the Harding/Mt. Zion Fire and Ambulance Association intact. We also have a small police force made up of dedicated individuals who strive to make the Township a safe place.

The Township owns and maintains a Baseball/ Soccer field and pavilion in back of the Municipal Building; Tennis Courts and Playground are located at the end of Coolidge Avenue. The rural location, areas for fishing and hunting, along with its scenic beauty make Exeter Township an enjoyable, pleasant place to live.

Edwardsville Borough has 1.2 square miles of land area and consists mainly of residential neighborhoods, although the focal point for many is the commercial district, consisting of three major shopping centers on Route 11. Main Street has many traditional storefront buildings that are home to legendary restaurants and nightspots.

There are three recreation parks, including Veteran’s Memorial Park. This park, renovated in 2001, has provided generations with a fun and relaxing place to meet.

The John J. Hopkins Memorial Park on High Street provides nearly eight acres of open space and fields for the Borough’s approximately 5,000 residents and many local sports organization. Edwardsville is a great place to live, work and do business!

FAIRMOUNT TOWNSHIP Municipal Road, Benton, PA 17814 Mailing Address: Attn: Joan Everett, 867 Old Tioga Turnpike, Benton, PA 17814 Phone: 570-864-2495 • Fax: 570-864-2495 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A Population: ________________________________________1,226 (2000 Census) Square Miles: ____________________________________________approx 45.6 Name of Chairman: ________________________________________David Keller Type of Government: __________________________________________Township School District: __________________________________________Northwest Area Range of Housing Costs:__________________________________________Varied Property Tax Rate: ________________________12 mills general/2 mills fire protection UTILITIES Cable: ______________________________________________Certain Areas Gas/Electric: ______________________________________UGI 570-819-1212 Water:____________________________________________________Private Waste Removal: ______________________________________Private Haulers

EXETER BOROUGH 1101 Wyoming Avenue, Exeter, PA 18643 Phone: 570-654-3001 • Fax: 570-654-8799 Website: N/A • E-mail: exeterboro@comcast.net Population: __________________________________________________5,955 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________17 Name of Mayor: ______________________________________Cassandra Coleman Type of Government: ____________________________________Council of Seven School District: __________________________________________Wyoming Area Range of Housing Costs: __________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________22 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Comcast Cable 800-COMCAST Gas/Electric: ____________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-652-0550 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: __________________________United Sanitation 570-883-0725

Fairmount Township was originally started by warrants by Luzerne County. This area at present time is an open residential and agriculture area. In the past, many businesses centered on lumber, tanning, and ice production. The Township also has a long history of religious meeting places. Paterson Grove, a Methodist campground established in 1868, is still very active.

Today, the Township has changed but still has its roots in lumber and agriculture.

Rickets Glen State Park is one of its biggest attractions. The park is well known for its beautiful waterfalls, hiking trails, and old growth forest. The Glens natural area is a registered National Natural landmark and is to be maintained in its natural state.

Fairmount Township is a very attractive area.

Exeter Borough was founded in 1884. Known as the Borough of peace and prosperity, it was full of great men, the descendants of great men and of Revolutionary War relics. Every foot of it has some historical significance. Today, Exeter Borough is mostly a residential area and supports an extensive recycling program. Exeter Borough has three playgrounds and a nature park dedicated to Senator Raphael Musto.

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FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP

Foster Township is a 44 square mile, mostly low-density residential area, located in the southeast part of the Pocono Mountains.

Foster Township is a moderately growing area that is easily accessible by Interstates 80 and 81, State routes 940 and 309 and also the Pennsylvania Turnpike Route 476 and its close proximity to the various activities and attractions of the Pocono Mountains.

Foster Township is also the home to the well-known meat packaging plant of Citterio USA Corporation, the private school of Mining and Mechanical Institute (MMI), and the Eckley Miners’ Village which was the site for the famous movie “The Molly Maguires.”

65 Shady Tree Drive, Mountain Top, PA 18707 Phone: 570-474-9676 • Fax: 570-474-2767 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A Population: __________________________________________________3,995 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________8 Name of Chairman:______________________________________Harry R. Zearfoss Type of Government: __________________________________________Township School District: ____________________________________________Crestwood Public Library: __________________________________________Kirby Sutherland Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$50,000 to $700,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________.8 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-825-8508 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Waste Removal: ______________________________________Private Haulers

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP 477 Municipal Road, Dallas, PA 18612 Phone: 570-333-5131 • Fax: 570-333-5950 Website: www.ftwp.com • E-mail: franklin@epix.net Population: __________________________________________________1,601 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________13 Name of Chairman: ______________________________________Fred Dymond III Type of Government: __________________________________Board of Supervisors School District: ________________________________________________Dallas Public Library: ____________________________________Back Mountain Memorial Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________.5096 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________________________Comcast Gas/Electric: ____________________________________________UGI Utilities Water: ____________________________________________________Wells Waste Removal: ________________________________________On-Lot Septic

FORTY FORT BOROUGH 1271 Wyoming Avenue, Forty Fort, PA 18704 Phone: 570-287-8586 • Fax: 570-287-0503 Website: www.luzernecounty.org/fortyfort • E-mail: dsyms@epix.net Population: __________________________________________________4,579 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________Boyd Hoats, Jr. Type of Government: ________________________________Council (strong)/Mayor School District: ______________________________________Wyoming Valley West Public Library: ____________________________________________Hoyt Library Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________45 mills UTILITIES Cable: ______________________________________Adelphia 800-892-7300 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ____________________________________________WVSA

Franklin Township, a rural community established in 1843, is located in northern Luzerne County. It is composed of thirteen square miles of rolling hills and small ponds. Franklin Township has two working farms: Brace’s Orchard and Dymond’s Farm. The Township consists mainly of single-family houses, with little industrial or commercial enterprise. The Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Company Auxiliary hosts several social events throughout the year, from craft sales and holiday parties to dinners and dances. It boasts two Little League fields and Camp Orchard Hill, a non-profit church-affiliated camp that offers year-round opportunities for children ages 6-18.

The Borough of Forty Fort is named after the forty settlers who came from Connecticut in 1770 and built a fort along the banks of the Susquehanna River. A large rock on River Street at the corner of Fort Street marks the approximate spot where the fort stood. Other points of historical interest include the Nathan Denison House, Forty Fort Cemetery, and the Old Meeting House.

The Borough Park includes open play areas, toddler area with swings and small sliding board, the "fort" play structure, basketball court, gazebo, and swimming pool. Forty Fort prides itself on its youth and the park offers numerous opportunities to keep them occupied including an Easter parade in the spring, a Halloween parade in the fall, and movies, music and basketball tournaments in the summer. The pool is open each summer from June to August and offers many exciting events such at Christmas in July, teen night, and family night.

In addition to the park, other sport facilities within the Borough that provide recreational activities include the Forty Fort Little League field on Tripp Street and the Luzerne County Sports complex with soccer fields and open play areas. There is also a walking trail along the Susquehanna River flood protection levee.

FREELAND BOROUGH 801 Centre Street, Freeland, PA 18224 Mailing Address: PO Box 117, Freeland, PA 18224 Phone: 570-636-0141 • Fax: 570-636-0528 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A Population: __________________________________________________3,643 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________1 Name of Mayor:__________________________________________Timothy Martin Type of Government: __________________Seven-Member Borough Council with Mayor School District: ________________________________Hazleton Area School District Public Library: ______________________________Freeland Branch of Hazleton Area Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________38 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-454-3841 Gas/Electric: ________________________________UGI Utilities 800-962-1212 Water: ________________________Freeland Municipal Authority 570-636-1733 Waste Removal: __________________Keystone Sanitation Service 877-504-0267

FOSTER TOWNSHIP 1000 Wyoming Avenue, Freeland, PA 18224 Mailing Address: PO Box 465, Freeland, PA 18224 Phone: 570-636-3757 • Fax: 570-636-3584 Website: N/A • E-mail: foster1@ptd.net Population: __________________________________________________3,323 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________44 Name of Chairman: ______________________________________Michael Spock Type of Government: __________________________________Board of Supervisors School District: ________________________________Hazleton Area School District Public Library: __________________________________Hazleton Area Public Library UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-454-3841 __________________________________Pocono CATV Inc. 570-455-2907 Gas: ______________________________________UGI Utilities 800-962-1212 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ________________________Freeland Municipal Authority 570-636-1733 ______________________________Hazleton City Authority 570-454-2401 Waste Removal: ______________________________________Private Haulers

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HANOVER TOWNSHIP

HAZLE TOWNSHIP

1267 Sans Souci Parkway • Hanover Township, PA 18706 Phone: 570-825-1271 • Fax: 570-825-1242 Website: www.hanovertownship.org E-mail: manager@hanovertownship.org

101 W. 27th Street, Hazle Township, PA 18202 Mailing Address: PO Box 506, Harleigh, PA 18225 Phone: 570-455-2039 • Fax: 570-455-6184 Website: www.Hazletownship.com • E-mail: supervisors@hazletownship.com

Population: __________________________________________________12,000 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________21 Name of Chairman: ____________________________________Albert J. Bagusky Type of Government: ________________First Class Township Board of Commissioners School District: ________________________________Hanover Area School District Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________35 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 800-232-9100 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 570-829-3461 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 570-821-5823 ______________________________________UGI Electric 570-830-1218 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: ______Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority (Sewage) 570-825-0366

Population: __________________________________2000 Census, 9,000 persons Square Miles: ____________________________________52.5 sq.mi/33,600 acres Name of Chairman: ____________________________________William J. Gallagher Type of Government: ________________________________Second Class Township School District: ________________________________Hazleton Area School District Public Library: ____________________________________Hazleton Public Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$50,000 to $500,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________.55 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-454-3841 Gas: ______________________________________UGI Electric 570-455-7564 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ______________Hazleton City Authority Water Department 570-454-2401 Waste Removal: ________________________JP Mascaro & Sons 800-243-7575 Sewer: ________________Greater Hazleton Joint Sewer Authority 570-454-0851 ________________________Hazle Township Sewer Authority 570-459-5921

Hanover Township is located along the eastern bank of the Susquehanna River in the heart of the scenic Wyoming Valley. Hanover Township is one of the original Connecticut Townships laid out by the Susquehannah Company. The present Hanover Township is bordered on the northeast by the city of Wilkes-Barre, on the south west by the city of Nanticoke on the northwest by the Susquehanna River and extends to the top of the mountain on the east.

Hanover Township has many industries, which employ thousands of people from the township and surrounding areas. The businesses located in the Hanover Industrial Park constitute the major employers of Hanover Township.

Hazle Township, incorporated as a township in 1839, is located in southern Luzerne County. The township is adjacent to both Schuylkill and Carbon counties. Originally, the face of the Township was one of rugged hills, dark swamps and deep, dark forests of mostly large yellow or bull pine. All of this vast forest was cut for lumber to build houses and business buildings. Much of this yellow pine was also used for mine props that shored up the walls and roofs on the deep mines. Only a small remnant of this forest remains. Very little of the township was suitable for agriculture.

Coal and mining and railroading were was the primary employers of our residents. At its peak, just short of 15,000 residents made Hazle Township their home. Mining peaked in the mid-1930s and is now only a small part of the area's economy. With the advent of the Valmont and Humboldt Industrial Parks, a variety of industries have moved into the area. They find a readily available, highly skilled and dedicated workforce.

HARVEY’S LAKE BOROUGH Route 415 – Sunset, Harvey’s Lake, PA 18618 Mailing Address: PO Box 60, Harvey’s Lake, PA 18618, Attn: Susan Sutton Phone: 570-639-3300 • Fax: 570-639-3063 Website: www.harveyslakepa.us • E-mail: hlboro@aol.com

HAZLETON CITY City Hall, 40 N. Church Street, Hazleton, PA 18201 Phone: 570-459-4960 • Fax: 570-459-4969 Website: www.hazletoncity.org • E-mail: lisa@hazletoncity.org

Population: __________________________________________________2,888 Square Miles: __________________________________________________6.3 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________Richard H. Boice Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: __________________________________________Lake Lehman Range of Housing Costs: ____________________________$75,000 to $100,000+ Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________.064 mills UTILITIES Cable:________________________________Comcast Cable TV 800-COMCAST Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-4844 Water: ______________________________United Water Works 800-399-8972 ______________Consumers Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 570-443-7099 Waste Removal: ______________________J.P. Mascaro & Sons 800-243-7575

Population: __________________________________________________23,329 Square Miles: __________________________________________________5.9 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________Louis J. Barletta Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: __________________________________________Hazleton Area Public Library:____________________________________________Hazleton Area Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________39.8 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-454-3841 Gas: ______________________________________UGI Utilities 800-609-4844 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-231-7288 Water: ____________________________Hazleton City Authority 570-454-2401 Waste Removal: ______________________J.P. Mascaro & Sons 800-243-7575

Harvey’s Lake is the largest natural lake, by volume, in Pennsylvania. The Lake was discovered by Benjamin Harvey in 1781. Harvey’s Lake was a popular resort in the early 1900s. Steamboats carried passengers to the Lake’s resorts and parks. Today Harvey’s Lake is a small residential community with swimming, boating and fishing still popular pastimes.

HOLLENBACK TOWNSHIP 660 East County Road, Wapwallopen, PA 18660 Phone: 570-379-2535 • Fax: 570-379-2515 Website: N/A • E-mail: holtwp@epix.net Population: __________________________________________________1,120 Square Miles: __________________________________________________14.7 Name of Chairman: ____________________________________Maryann L. Smith Type of Government: __________________________________Board of Supervisors School District: ______________________________________________Berwick Public Library: __________________________________________________No Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________________5 mills UTILITIES Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ________________________________________________Private Well Waste Removal: __________________________________Individually Contracted

www.luzernecounty.org

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HUGHESTOWN BOROUGH

HUNTINGTON TOWNSHIP

42 Center Street, Hughestown, PA 18640 Phone: 570-654-2061 • Fax: 570-883-7518 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A

815 Municipal Road, Shickshinny, PA 18655 Phone: 570-864-2303 • Fax: 570-864-0815 Website: N/A • E-mail: hunttwp815@yahoo.com

Population: __________________________________________________1,541 Square Miles: __________________________________________________1.0 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________Paul Hindmarsh Type of Government: ____________________________Mayor and Council Members School District: ____________________________________________Pittston Area Public Library: ____________________________________Pittston Memorial Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$50,000 to $350,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________30 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Adelphia Cable 800-892-7300 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ________________________Waste Management 570-562-0901 __________________________________United Sanitation 570-883-0725

Population: __________________________________________________2,200 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________45 Name of Chairman: ________________________________________Ralph Harvey Type of Government: __________________________________Township Committee School District: __________________________________________Northwest Area Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$60,000 to $204,000 Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________________8 mills UTILITIES Cable: ____________________________________________Blue Ridge Cable Gas/Electric: ________________________________UGI Utilities 800-962-1212 Water: __________________________________________Wells (Landowners) Waste Removal: ________________On-lot Sewage Disposal Systems (Landowners) Once known as Bloomingdale Township, but renamed in 1799 in honor of Samuel Huntington, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Huntington Township was one of the 17 “certified townships” laid out by the Susquehannah Company in 1799. Huntington Township was one of the richest agricultural areas in Luzerne County, and most people who settled there were farmers. As the population grew and became less wild, many businesses were established in the area, beginning with Timothy Hopkins' log gristmill in 1788, followed by Epenetus Wadsworth, the first blacksmith in 1794, and the first flour mill in 1795. Several more mills were built by the turn of the century and Huntington Township became known for its excellent flour.

Stages traveled daily on the old turnpike road, which ran from Berwick to Towanda between 1812 and 1840. Beginning in 1852 the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad, running from Scranton to Bloomsburg, became the main thoroughfare for trade and travel. The large number of schoolhouses built by the mid-nineteenth century gave children in Huntington Township an advantage over children from other areas. Early on, the schoolhouses also served as meetinghouses and places of worship for the community.

Hughestown Borough has a municipal park containing over ten acres of land and is available for basketball, tennis, and baseball and playground activities. Our residents feel that sports provide an avenue for our children to grow, build confidence, and develop a spirit of competition to follow them wherever life leads them. Our new Centennial Pavilion, next to the children's playground, provides our Borough’s organizations and families the opportunity to use our facilities for special events. The newest addition to the borough is the New Primary Center for first and second grade students.

HUNLOCK TOWNSHIP 33 Village Drive, Hunlock Creek, PA 18621 Mailing Address: PO Box 164, Hunlock Creek, PA 18621 Phone: 570-256-7410 • Fax: 570-256-7410 Website: N/A • Email: hunlocktwp@aol.com Population: __________________________________________________2,568 Square Miles: __________________________________________________19.2 Name of Chairman: ______________________________________William Pollock Type of Government: ________________________________Second Class Township School District: __________________________________________Northwest Area Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$80,000 to 300,000 Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________.035 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Blue Ridge Communications 570-477-3151 ______________________________________GMP Cable 570-455-4251 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-1212 Water: ______________________________________________Individual wells Waste Removal: ____________________________________Private contractors

JACKSON TOWNSHIP 2211 Huntsville Road, Jackson Township, PA 18708 Phone: 570-675-8371 • Fax: 570-675-1590 Website: www.jacksontwpluzco.com • E-mail: denise@jacksontwpluzco.com Population; __________________________________________________4,453 Square Miles: ____________________________________________approx. 13.3 Name of Chairman: ____________________________________John J. Wilkes, Jr. Type of Government: __________________________________________Township School District; __________________________________________Lake Lehman Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate:__________________________________________0.0643 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________________GLCP-Metrocast 570-455-4251 Gas: ______________________________UGI Penn Natural Gas 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-1212 Water:______________________________________________________N/A Waste Removal: ______________________________________________N/A

Hunlock Township, primarily a rural suburban community, was established on January 8, 1877. Hunlock Township, located in lower Luzerne County, is a Township of the Second Class. The Townships of Plymouth, Newport, Union, Ross and Lehman border it. Hunlock Township is 19.2 square miles and has a population of 2,568. The Township maintains approximately 19 miles of road and employs three full-time road workers. It has a full time manager. Hunlock Township has a Post Office, UGI Power Plant, the Hunlock Creek Elementary School, three Churches, and a few garages for mechanical repairs, beauty salons, four taverns and some small gift shops. Hunlock Township has a volunteer fire company and a volunteer ambulance. It has individual wells and sewage systems. Waste removal is private contractors. Hunlock Township has an .035-mill rate for municipal real estate taxes.

Jackson Township is mostly residential and agricultural.

JEDDO BOROUGH Attn: Molly Falatko, RR #1, Box 1269, Freeland, PA 18224 Phone: 570-636-5385 • Fax: 570-636-5385 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A Population: ____________________________________________________144 Square Miles: ________________________________________1.25 approximately Name of Mayor: __________________________________________Joseph Davis Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: __________________________________________Hazleton Area Public Library: ____________________________________Hazleton Public Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$30,000 to $40,000 Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________17.82 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-454-3841 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________________Hazleton City Authority 570-454-2401 Waste Removal: __________________________Hontz Sanitation 570-868-5101

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Established in 1871, Jeddo Borough was once a thriving coal town and home to Jeddo-Highland Coal Company, which had its main offices, carpenter shop, machine shop, and maintenance garage for its vehicles, all in support of the mines. It also had a company store, restaurant, gas station, shoe repair shop, barber shop, schoolhouse, and its own post office. In the 1950s half of the town was torn down so they could strip mine for the valuable black gold under those homes, and as the coal industry died down, so did all of the above support associated with it.

Today with a population of 144, Jeddo Borough is a quiet residential patch town, the smallest borough in the county. It has a recreation building, which doubles as a meeting place for the Borough Council. It also has a park where the children can play basketball or baseball.

180 E. Center Street, Shavertown, PA 18708-1514 Phone: 570-696-3809 • Fax: 570-696-3411 Website: www.kingstontownship.com • E-mail: info@kingstontownship.com Population: __________________________________________________7,145 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________14 Name of Chairman: __________________________________________Jeffrey Box Type of Government: __________________________________Home Rule Charter Township Manager and Five Supervisors School District: ______________________________________Dallas School District Public Library: ______________________________Back Mountain Memorial Library Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ________________________________________________N/A UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Comcast Cable 800-COMCAST Gas: __________________________________________UGI Penn Natural Gas Electric: ______________________________________________UGI Utilities Water:__________________________________Various, Depends upon Location Waste Removal: __Dallas Area Municipal Authority 570-696-1133 or 800-222-2028

JENKINS TOWNSHIP 46 1/2 Main Street, Inkerman, Pittston, PA 18640 Phone: 570-654-3315 • Fax: 570-654-3316 Website: N/A • E-mail: jenkinsmanager@comcast.net Population: __________________________________________________4,584 Square Miles: ______________________________________________approx. 16 Name of Chairman: ____________________________________Stanley E. Rovinski Type of Government: __________________________________Board of Supervisors School District: ____________________________________________Pittston Area Public Library: ______________________________________Pittston Public Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$60,000 to $300,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________19 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Adelphia Cable 800-892-7300 Gas: ________________________________________PPL Gas 570-654-3354 Electric: ______________________________PPL Electric Utilities 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ________________________Waste Management 800-222-2028

The Township of Kingston was originally settled in 1769 and officially chartered in 1790 by the Susquehannah Company during the formation of Luzerne County.

Kingston Township is a Township of the Second Class and operates under a Home rule charter adopted in May 1974 and effective January 1976. Kingston Township is a progressive community that offers the finest in public services to a population of over 7,000 residents covering 14 square miles. Kingston Township is recognized as the “Gateway to the Back Mountain” and offers a beautiful rural setting with a host of natural resources highlighted by Francis Slocum State Park.

The earliest recorded European settlers were Joseph Gardner and Isaac Gould in the early 1790s. They built a grist mill along Gardner Creek. Jenkins Township is noted for its many villages - each with its own character. The building of railroad and canal lines in the early and mid 1800s made the township a busy place. There was a connection between the Pennsylvania Coal Company and the North Branch Canal. A river ferry operated before the construction of the Eighth Street Bridge. Inkerman and Sebastopol may have gained their names from the Crimean War of 1854-1856. Both were active mining villages along the old "back road" to Wilkes-Barre. The Bostons were named after a small coal company. Lumber was plentiful in the Boston area along with the mining areas. The residents were a mix of Irish, Welsh, and later Europeans who settled in the various Villages of Jenkins Township.

MUNICIPALITY OF KINGSTON 500 Wyoming Avenue, Kingston, PA 18704 Phone: 570-288-4576 • Fax: 570-288-9493 Website: kingstonpa.org • E-mail: kingston@kingstonpa.org

LAFLIN BOROUGH 47 Laflin Road, Laflin, PA 18702 Phone: 570-654-3323 • Fax: 570-602-2288 Website: www.laflinboro.com • E-mail: laflinboro@comcast.net

Population: __________________________________________________13,855 Square Miles: __________________________________________________2.0 Name of Mayor: ______________________________________James J. Haggerty Type of Government: ________________________________________Home Rule School District: ______________________________________Wyoming Valley West Public Library: ____________________________________________Hoyt Library Range of Housing Costs: __________________________________$93,400 median Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________28 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-825-8508 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-1212 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: ______________________________Municipal 570-287-1997

Population: __________________________________________________1,502 Square Miles: __________________________________________________1.4 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________Dorothy Yazurlo Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ________________________________________Wilkes-Barre Area Public Library: ____________________________________________Laflin Library Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate:__________________________________________1.5642 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Comcast Cable 800-COMCAST Gas: __________________________________________UGI 570-829-3461 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: ______________________J.P. Mascaro and Sons 800-243-7575

First settled in 1771, the Municipality of Kingston is a beautiful, tree-lined, bedroom community located in the heart of northeastern Pennsylvania. Kingston is a model residential community and an excellent place to raise a family. The community prides itself on service and staffs full-time professionals to serve its residents and businesses.

Our professional fire and ambulance service has a response time of only three minutes to any home or business in Kingston. Our full-time police department, one of Luzerne County's best, provides around-the-clock protection and service. Our public works department ensures that our streets are plowed, our public facilities maintained and that the Municipality looks great year-round.

Outdoor recreations includes seven parks and playgrounds, three tot lots, a lighted softball field, six tennis courts, and an Olympic-plus-size pool. Kingston, centrally located in the Wyoming Valley West School District, is home to the Hoyt Library, Good Shepherd Academy, the Wyoming Seminary, and thirteen houses of worship.

www.luzernecounty.org

Laflin Borough was incorporated in 1889 and covers a total area of 1.4 square miles.

Primarily a residential community, it is situated midway between the cities of WilkesBarre and Scranton.

The government operates under a Council/ Mayor form of government under the Borough code. There are seven Council Members and a Mayor. Meetings are open to the public and input from residents is welcome.

Laflin Borough is a product mostly of the Laflin Powder Mills that are within the borough. This industry represents seven mills and necessary works scattered along the hollow of the Gardner Creek. The product is mostly blasting powder, of which the plant turns out an immense quantity to the trade annually.

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LAKE TOWNSHIP

wonderful rural quality of life, but close to the city. It is the home of the Giants Despair Hillclimb. Laurel Run also has a modern, well-equipped Volunteer Fire Department.

488 State Route 29, Harvey’s Lake, PA 18618 Phone: 570-639-2828 • Fax: 570-639-5279 Website: N/A • E-mail: laketwp@epix.net

LEHMAN TOWNSHIP 1183 Old 115, Dallas, PA 18627 Mailing Address: Attn: Alvin Cragle, 1095 Mountainview Drive, Dallas, PA 18612 Phone: 570-675-1493 • Fax: 570-675-4931 Website: www.bsg-inc.com/lehman/ • E-mail: anpcastay@aol.com

Population: __________________________________________________2,110 Square Miles: __________________________________________________27.5 Name of Chairman: ________________________________________Lonnie Piatt Type of Government: __________________________________Board of Supervisors School District: __________________________________________Lake Lehman Public Library:______________________________________Back Mountain Library Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ______________________9 mills (not raised for at least 25 years) UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Blue Ridge Communications 570-477-3151 Gas/Electric: ______________________________________UGI 570-819-1212 Water: ____________________________________________________Wells Waste Removal: ______________________________________________Self

Population: __________________________________________________3,217 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________40 Name of Chairman: ______________________________________David H. Sutton Type of Government: __________________________________________Township School District: ______________________________________Lake-Lehman Area Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________16 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Adelphia Cable 570-675-0279 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 570-829-8600 Electric:____________________________________UGI Utilities 570-819-1212 Water:______________________________________________________N/A Waste Removal: ______________________________________________N/A

Lake Township is a small municipality consisting of a population of 2,110 per the 2000 census. It consists of three full time employees, one part-time secretary, three supervisors, a sewage enforcement officer, and a building permit officer. Lake Township has a 3rd party agency for building code enforcement.

LUZERNE BOROUGH

LARKSVILLE BOROUGH

144 Academy Street, Luzerne, PA 18709 Phone: 570-287-7633 • Fax: 570-287-7842 Website: N/A • E-mail: luzboro@live.com

211 East State Street, Larksville, PA 18704 Phone: 570-714-9846 • Fax: 570-714-9852 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A

Population: __________________________________________________2,952 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________1 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________James Keller Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ______________________________________Wyoming Valley West Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$50,000 to $100,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________41 mills 1.45247 with new assessment UTILITIES Cable: ____________________________________Comcast 1-800-391-3000 Gas: ________________________________________UGIGas 800-432-8017 Electric:________________________UGI Electric 800-342-5775, 570-819-1212 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: __________________________United Sanitation 570-883-0725

Population: __________________________________________________4,700 Square Miles: __________________________________________________4.73 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________William Jenkins Type of Government: ______________________Mayor and Council (7 member board) School: __________________________________________Wyoming Valley West Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$20,000 to $300,000 Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________________2 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________Metrocast Communications 800-633-8578 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 570-829-3461 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 800-962-1212 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: ______________________J.P. Mascaro & Sons 800-243-7575 Once known as Blindtown, the borough was renamed in 1895 to Larksville by Mrs. Rachel Pace in honor of her ancestor Peggy Lark, who had owned the village site and died at the reported age of 106. Besides Blindtown, Larksville was at one time called Sawmilltown and Babylon because of the many languages that were spoken by the people who inhabited the town.

Larksville Borough is located close to the center of Luzerne County adjacent to the northwestern bank of the Susquehanna River. The northern boundary of Larksville begins at a group of walnut trees on the riverbank of the Susquehanna and runs 30 degrees west. Surrounding the borough are the towns of Courtdale, Plymouth Borough, Edwardsville, and Jackson Township.

Luzerne Borough is a small community of approximately 2,900 residents on the West Side of the Susquehanna River.

Founded in 1882, the borough recently enjoyed a successful revitalization program of its downtown area, which is home to many interesting and unique shops and businesses.

NANTICOKE CITY 15 E. Ridge Street, Nanticoke, PA 18634 Phone: 570-735-2800 • Fax: 570-735-7817 Website: N/A • E-mail: nanticokecity@nanticokecity.com

LAUREL RUN BOROUGH

Population: __________________________________________________10,955 Square Miles: __________________________________________________3.4 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________John Bushko Type of Government: ______________________________________3rd Class City, Mayor and Council School District: ____________________________________Greater Nanticoke Area Public Library: ______________________________________Mill Memorial Library Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________60.38 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Comcast Cable 566-749-2649 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-1212 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: ______________________J.P. Mascaro & Sons 800-243-7575

100 Dupont Drive, Laurel Run, PA 18706 Phone: 570-822-3562 • Fax: 570-823-9142 Mailing Address: Attn: Catherine Koulik 2601 Pine Run Road, Laurel Run, PA 18706 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A Population: ____________________________________________________890 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________16 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________Daniel Gildea Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ________________________________________Wilkes-Barre Area Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$29,900 to $195,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________35 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-825-8508 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________________________________________Well Waste Removal: ____________________________________________Private

The name Nanticoke was derived from Nantego, the Indian tidewater people who moved here when their Maryland lands were spoiled for hunting by colonial settlement in 1608. Nanticoke experienced its greatest increase in population between 1917 and 1925 and qualified to become a Third Class City. The mining of anthracite throughout the Wyoming valley had attracted thousands of immigrants. In 1880, the population of Nanticoke was just 3,884. By 1930, the population of Nanticoke was 26,043. With the

Laurel Run Borough was formed in 1881, of territory taken from Wilkes-Barre Township, and is a station on the mountain side of the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

Laurel Run amenities include Playgrounds, Large Public Pavilion for Summer Events,

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decline of coal production after world war II, the population dropped to 15,065 and continued to drop to its current population 10,199.

Nanticoke is now basically residential with some light manufacturing development and retailing. It is also the home of the main campus of Luzerne County Community College

1002 Center Street, Wanamie, PA 18634 Phone: 570-735-4735 • Fax: 570-735-5595 Website: N/A • E-mail: rvzika@pa.metrocast.net Population: ________________________________________5,006 (2000 census) Square Miles: __________________________________________________16.6 Name of Commissioners President: ____________________________Paul Czapracki Type of Government: __________________________________Board of Supervisors School District: ______________________________Greater Nanticoke School District Public Library: __________________________________Luzerne Co. Library System Range of Housing costs: ____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ________________________________________________N/A UTILITIES Cable: ________________________________________GMP 570-455-6851 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________________________Township Hauler

NESCOPECK BOROUGH 501 Raber Avenue, Nescopeck, PA 18635 Phone: 570-752-6008 • Fax: 570-752-6038 Website: N/A • E-mail: nescopeck@pa.metrocast.net Population: __________________________________________________1,528 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________3 Name of Mayor: ______________________________________Timothy P. Kelchner Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: __________________________________________ Berwick Area Range of Housing Costs:__________________________________Average $68,000 (Feb to July) $31,000 to $100,000 Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________1.177 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________________________________Metrocast Gas: ______________________________________________________UGI Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-717-7292 Waste Removal: ____________________________________Resident’s Choice

NUANGOLA BOROUGH Attn: Dawn Marie Chalk, 5150 Nuangola Road, Mountaintop, PA 18707 Phone: 570-868-5808 • Fax: N/A Website: www.nuangolaborough.com • E-mail: N/A Population: ____________________________________________________701 Square Miles: __________________________________________________1.12 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________Norman Rule Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District:__________________________________________Crestwood Area Seasonal Library: ______________________________________Nuangola Library Range of Housing costs: ____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________________.444 UTILITIES Cable: ____________________________________________Metrocast Cable Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________________________________________Wells Waste Removal: __________________________________Septic Systems on lot

Nescopeck operates its own wastewater treatment plant and has a municipal police department.

NESCOPECK TOWNSHIP 429 Berwick-Hazleton Highway Nescopeck, PA 18635 Mailing Address: PO Box 314, Nescopeck, PA 18635 Phone: 570-379-2117 • Fax: 570-379-1003 Website: N/A • E-mail: nescotwp@epix.net Population:______________________________________________approx. 1,100 Square Miles: ______________________________________________approx. 24 Name of Chairman: ________________________________________Robert Houck Type of Government: __________________________________ Board of Supervisors School District: ________________________________Berwick Area School District Public Library: ________________________________________Residents can use Berwick Public Library Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: __________________________________1.08 mills – Township UTILITIES Cable: ____________________________________________________GMP Gas: ______________________________________________________N/A Electric:____________________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. Water: ____________________________________________________Well Waste Removal: __________________________________Individually contracted

The first inhabitants in Nuangola were the Indians who settled along the banks of the lake, which, because of its shape, was first called Three Cornered Pond, and was later called Triangular Lake. Legend says the US post office selected the name of Nuangola when a post office was established in the community; the name derived from the legend of an Indian maid, Nuangola, who drowned in the lake, presumably because of a love affair. The name Nuangola probably derives from an Algonquian language spoken by the indigenous American Indians of the area (most likely the Delaware, the region's largest tribe, although some Nanticoke and Shawnee also lived there at the time).

In 2008, Nuangola Borough celebrated its centennial with the motto, “100 Years of Preserving the Past, Present and Future.”

PENN LAKE PARK BOROUGH

Nescopeck Township is located near the Luzerne/Columbia County line. It is bordered by Nescopeck Borough, Hollenback, Conyngham, Black Creek, Sugarloaf and Mifflin Townships. The Township is primarily agricultural in a quiet serene setting, bordered by the Nescopeck Mountain range. In 2001, the Township purchased the former Motor Vu Drive-In Movie Theater. The existing building has been renovated into a new municipal building with offices and meeting rooms, as well as a community room, which is available to Township organizations for their use. The township owns and maintains Lenape Park which offers walking trails, wetland areas, an activity field and picnic pavilions. The park also offers a playground, benches and a gazebo. In autumn, the park offers splendid views of the Nescopeck Mountains.

An annual consignment sale is held at the township fire hall every year in April to help raise money for the fire department.

c/o Theresa Wojciechowski PO Box 14, White Haven, PA 18661-0014 Phone: 570-443-8017 • Fax: N/A Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A Population: ____________________________approx 500, summer/winter residents Square Miles: ________________________________8-developed and undeveloped Name of Mayor: __________________________________________Leroy Warner Type of Government;____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ____________________________________________Crestwood Range of Housing Costs: ____________________________$100,000 to $350,000 Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________________4 mills UTILITIES Cable: ____________________________________________________GMP Gas: ______________________________________________________N/A Electric:____________________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. Water: ________________________________________________Mostly wells Waste Removal: __________________________________J.P. Mascaro & Sons

NEW COLUMBUS BOROUGH Attn: Debbie Fink 243 Old Tioga Turnpike, Shickshinny, PA 18655 Phone: 570-864-2732 • Fax: 570-864-2732 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________Allen Chapin

www.luzernecounty.org

Penn Lake Park is a small and picturesque residential haven that is clandestinely located between White Haven and Bear Creek, PA, in the Pocono Mountains. Penn Lake Park has been in existence since 1938, mostly as a summer vacation community, but has increasingly become the place to live year round. There are always plenty of things to do. Swimming, boating or fishing, and if that’s not enough you can always

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The Commissioners serve as liaisons between the people of Plains Township and the County, State and Federal Governments. Some of their responsibilities include making appropriations, adopting a budget, levying taxes and adopting ordinances and resolutions to make rules and regulations.

get a workout on the tennis and basketball courts, or simply biking around the lake.

In 1974, Penn Lake Park was incorporated and became a borough with its own Mayor and Council governing body. Although there are no churches, stores or industry within Penn Lake Park, all are easily accessible by driving a short distance either to White Haven or Bear Creek.

PLYMOUTH BOROUGH

PITTSTON CITY

162 West Shawnee Avenue, Plymouth, PA 18651 Mailing Address: PO Box 246, Plymouth, PA 18651 Phone: 570-779-1011 • Fax: 570-779-2418 Website: N/A • E-mail: plymouthborough@comcast.net

35 Broad Street, Pittston, PA 18640 Phone: 570-654-0513 • Fax: 570-602-8246 Website: www.pittstoncity.org E-mail: pittstoncityclerk@gmail.com

Population: __________________________________________________6,507 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________1 Name of Mayor: ______________________________________Dorothy E. Petrosky Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ______________________________________Wyoming Valley West Public Library: ____________________________________Plymouth Public Library Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________42.3 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Adelphia Cable 570-451-4300 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 570-829-8600 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-4844 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: ________________________________________Private Hauler

Population: ____________________________8104 Square Miles: ____________________________1.7 Name of Mayor: ____________________Jason Klush Type of Government: ____________Mayor and Council School District:______________________Pittston Area Public Library:______________Pittston Memorial Library Property Tax Rate: ____________________5.85 Mills UTILITIES Cable: ______________________________________________Comcast Cable Gas:______________________________________________Central Penn Gas Electric: ____________________________________________________PPL Water: ____________________________________________________PAWC Waste Removal:______________________________Pittston City Sanitation Dept.

Pittston is the midpoint city between Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Named after the famous statesman William Pitt, the city was laid out in 1768 and settled about 1770, was incorporated as a borough in 1855, and was chartered as a city in 1894.

Plymouth Borough was incorporated in 1866. It is a community of 6,507 residents.

Plymouth is bordered by the Susquehanna River on one side and Plymouth Mountain on the other.

Originally, referred to as Shawneetown after a community of Shawnee Indians, the Borough was renamed Plymouth as a tribute to the first place the Puritans had touched in the new world: Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Years later, Plymouth remains prosperous. Main Street features barbershops, drug stores, banks, churches, offices, and a public library. In addition, Plymouth is saturated with outstanding restaurants, pizza shops, and delis.

PITTSTON TOWNSHIP 421 Broad Street Pittston Township, PA 18640 Phone: 570-654-0161 Fax: 570-655-4488 Website: www.luzernecounty.org/living/municipalities/pittston_township E-mail: pitttown@comcast/net

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP 925 W. Main Street, Plymouth, PA 18651 Phone: 570-779-5388 • Fax: 570-779-9606 Website: www.plymouthtownship-pa.gov • E-mail: plytown@epix.net

Population: __________________________________________________3,450 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________19 Name of Chairman: ______________________________________Joseph Adams Type of Government: ____________________________Township Board of Supervisors School District:________________________________________________Pittston Public Library: __________________________________________________None Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________.25 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Comcast Cable 570-451-4300 Gas/Electric:__________________________________________________N/A Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________________________United Sanitation

Population: ________________________________________2,097 (2000 Census) Square Miles: __________________________________________________17.5 Name of Chairman: ________________________________________Gale Conrad Type of Government: ______________________________Three Board of Supervisors School District: ______________________________Greater Nanticoke Area School Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$50,000 to $150,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________34 mills UTILITIES Cable: ____________________Gans Multimedia Partnership 570-455-4251 Gas/Electric: ________________________________UGI Utilities 570-819-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________Plymouth Township/Phillips Sanitation

PLAINS TOWNSHIP 126 N. Main Street, Plains, PA 18705 Phone: 570-829-3439 • Fax: 570-829-0710 Website: N/A • E-mail: plainspslu@comcast.net

PRINGLE BOROUGH 89 Evans Street, Pringle, PA 18704 Phone: 570-288-2339 • Fax: 570-288-2366 Website: N/A • E-mail: mpkupetz@aol.com

Population: __________________________________________________10,906 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________13 Name of Commissioners President: ________________________________Joseph Spagnuolo Type of Government:________________________________Board of Commissioners School District: ________________________________________Wilkes-Barre Area Public Library: ______________________________________________Osterhout Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$35,000 to $350,000 Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________Twp. – 35 mills/ County – 94.9 mills/School 26.9 mills UTILITIES Cable: ______________________________________Comcast 800-COMCAST Gas: __________________________________________UGI 800-432-8017 Electric:______________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: ____________________By Municipal Employees 570-829-3430

Population: ____________________________________________________997 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________.5 Name of Mayor: ______________________________________Stanley Zamerowski Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ______________________________________Wyoming Valley West Public Library: ______________________________________Hoyt Library, Kingston Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________.45 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________________________Service Electric Cable Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 570-829-3461 Electric:____________________________________UGI Utilities 800-962-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________________Municipal 570-288-2339 The Borough of Pringle was incorporated on January 17, 1914, by the inhabitants of the villages of Pringle and Cooper Hill. The borough was named Pringle in honor of Thomas Pringle, upon whose farm the village of Pringle Hill was built. Some of the

Plains Township was formed on November 10, 1851. It is located between WilkesBarre and Pittston. A five-member Board of Commissioners governs Plains Township.

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current residents of the Borough are the descendants of the original founding fathers, and they still refer to their homes on “Pringle Hill.” Visitors are entertained by the view of Wyoming Valley and the surrounding mountains, visible from almost every street in the borough.

The West Side Area Vocational Technical School is located on Evans Street, as well as the Town Hall and the Pioneer Volunteer Fire Company.

Salem Township was established in 1786 and is situated in the lower end of Luzerne County along the Susquehanna River. With a population of 4,300, the township has residential and commercial property as well as large agricultural sections. The Susquehanna Steam Electric Station is situated here and provides us with the Riverlands, a park for fishing, hiking and relaxation for the area. Berwick Offray, which provides ribbon and bows worldwide, is located in Salem Township and is one of our largest employers, as is Crispin Valves. We offer expanded Keystone Opportunity Zone to entice new businesses to the area.

RICE TOWNSHIP 3000 Church Road, Mountain Top, PA 18707 Phone: 570-868-6400 • Fax: 570-868-6124 Website: www.twp.rice.pa.us • E-mail: ricetwp@pa.metrocast.net

SHICKSHINNY BOROUGH 35 W. Union Street, Shickshinny, PA 18655-1037 Phone: 570-542-2178 • Fax: 570-542-5835 Website: N/A • E-mail: shickboro@pa.metrocast.net

Population: __________________________________________________2,460 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________10 Name of Chairman: ________________________________________Ann M. Kijek Type of Government: ________________________________Second Class Township School District: ____________________________________________Crestwood Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________________7 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Gans Multimedia Partnership 570-455-4251 ______________________Service Electric Cable Vision 800-232-9100 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________________________________N/A

Population: ____________________________________________________959 Square Miles: __________________________________________________1.3 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________Beverly Moore Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: __________________________________________Northwest Area Range of Housing Costs: ________________________________$30,000 – $70,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________25 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________GMP Cable TV 800-633-8578 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 570-829-8600 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 800-862-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ________________________________Private Haulers (Various)

Rice Township is a Second Class Township governed by a three-man Board of Supervisors. The Township was chartered in 1928 and was formerly part of Wright Township, which held most of what is presently known as Mountain Top. The Township is located at the center of Luzerne County and is comprised of approximately ten square miles. According to the 2000 Census the population is 2,460, making Rice Township the fastest growing community in Luzerne County. New homes are being built every day. The Township owns and maintains over 16 miles of roads.

SLOCUM TOWNSHIP RR #3, Box 1289B, Wapwallopen, PA 18660 Phone: 570-868-6255 • Fax: 570-868-3815 Population: __________________________________________________1,350 Square Miles: __________________________________________________16.4 Name of Chairman: ____________________________________Charles R. Herring Type of Government: ________________________________Second Class Township School District: __________________________________Crestwood School District: Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ________________________________________________N/A UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________GMP Cable TV 570-455-6851 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-372-5775 Water: __________________________________________________On site Waste Removal: ____________________________________Keystone Sanitation

ROSS TOWNSHIP 72 Broadway Road, Sweet Valley, PA 18656 Mailing Address: PO Box 330, Sweet Valley, PA 18656 Phone: 570-256-3703 • Fax: 570-256-2989 Website: N/A • E-mail: rosstwp@epix.net Population: __________________________________________________2,742 Square Miles: __________________________________________________43.2 Name of Chairman:______________________________________Stanford E. Davis Type of Government: __________________________________2nd Class Township School District: ________________________________Lake Lehman School District Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$25,000 to $650,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________.23 mills UTILITIES Cable:__________________________Blue Ridge Cable Company 570-477-3151 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 800-962-1212 Water: ______________________________________________Wells (private)

Slocum Township was first settled in the 1780s by Revolutionary War soldiers who were awarded two tracts of land for service to the country. It has grown from a farm community to a rural bedroom community of Wilkes-Barre.

SUGAR NOTCH BOROUGH Main and Freed Streets, Sugar Notch, PA 18706-2003 Phone: 570-822-9283 • Fax: 570-822-6293 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A

SALEM TOWNSHIP

Population: __________________________________________________1,040 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________1 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________William Davis Type of Government: ____________________________Mayor and Seven Councilmen School District: __________________________________________Hanover Area Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________25 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 800-232-9100 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292

38 Bomboy Lane, Berwick, PA 18603 Mailing Address: Attn: Judy Boudman, PO Box 405, Berwick, PA 18603 Phone: 570-752-4399 • Fax: 570-752-4661 Website: www.luzernecounty.org/salem E-mail: salemtownship@pa.metrocast.net Population:______________________________________________approx. 4,300 Square Miles; ______________________________________________approx. 36 Name of Chairman; ________________________________________Steven Fraind Type of Government: ____________________________Three Township Supervisors School District: ________________________________ Berwick Area School District Public Library: __________________________Berwick Public Library (Berwick Boro) Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$75,000 to $200,000 Property Tax Rate: ______________________________________________5 mills UTILITIES Cable: ______________Metrocast Communications (A. Harron Co.) 570-802-5642 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-473-8361 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ____________________________________Resident’s Choice

www.luzernecounty.org

Sugar Notch was incorporated into a borough on April 3, 1867. George Parrish was the first burgess. In 1869, the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroads carried passengers, freight, and coal through Sugar Notch to distant markets. As a result, mines were opened, No. 9 and No. 10. In 1870, there were 724 residents; by the year 1880, the population of the town was 1,560. As a result more people settled in the area. The mines closed around 1950. The main attraction in Sugar Notch is the Roosevelt Memorial, dedicated in 1946, with Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and Congressman Dan Flood.

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SUGARLOAF TOWNSHIP

UNION TOWNSHIP

154 North Main Street, Sybertsville, PA 18251 Mailing Address: Attn: Earl T. Miller, PO Box 61, Sybertsville, PA 18251 Phone: 570-788-3575 • Fax: 570-788-3964 Website: N/A • E-mail: superjs@epix.net

21 Municipal Road, Shickshinny, PA 18655 Phone: 570-256-7600 • Fax: 570-256-9032 Website: www.pacounties.org/union • E-mail: uniontwp@ptd.net Population: __________________________________________________2,077 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________28 Name of Chairman: ______________________________________John M. Belles Type of Government: __________________________Township Board of Supervisors School District: __________________________________________Northwest Area Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________.23 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Blue Ridge Communications 610-826-2551 Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 800-962-1212 Water:______________________________________________________N/A Waste Removal: ______________________________________________N/A

Population: __________________________________________________3,652 Square Miles: __________________________________________________N/A Name of Chairman: ____________________________________Robert M. Stanziola Type of Government:__________________________Township Supervisors, 2nd Class School District: ________________________________Hazleton Area School District Public Library: __________________________________Hazleton Area Public Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$100,000 – $300,000 Property Tax Rate:________________________________________Twp: 12.9 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-454-3841 Gas: ________________________________________UGI Gas 570-450-2602 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-372-5775 Water: ______________________Conyngham Borough Authority 570-788-0608 Waste Removal: ____________________________________________Private

Union Township was formed in July 1813, of territory taken from the original township of Huntington. The township is divided up into four regions: Muhlenberg, Reyburn, Koonsville and Town Line. The Northwest Area High School is located in the Township. Union Township has five community churches. Recognized volunteer ambulance associations are: Sweet Valley, Hunlock Creek, Huntington Mills, and Shickshinny. Recognized volunteer fire associations are: Shickshinny, Sweet Valley, Hunlock Creek and Huntington Mills. Police protection is provided by the Pennsylvania State Police. The Township is mainly residential and agricultural. The Emergency Management Agency Coordinator is Mrs. Anita Swank, who is responsible for updating lists of people who require special needs during an emergency.

Sugarloaf Township derives its name from Sugarloaf Mountain. Settlement began between 1775 and 1780, although land grants had been given as early as 1769. The earliest grant was from Thomas and John Penn to John Foreman. As the community grew in population, the Sugarloaf Rifle Company was organized on May 6, 1822. The first road of any importance was charted March 19, 1804. This was the Lehigh and Susquehanna Turnpike. Portions of the turnpike still exist as Main Street, Old Berwick Road and Route 93. Sugarloaf Township today is a rural area that includes bedroom communities, farms, businesses, and a branch of Penn State University.

WARRIOR RUN BOROUGH

SWOYERSVILLE BOROUGH

Front and Hanover Streets, Warrior Run, PA 18706 Mailing Address: Attn: Dolores Mynes, 579 Front Street, Warrior Run, PA 18706 Phone: 570-825-4929 • Fax: 570-823-3301 Website: N/A • E-mail: wrboro@ptd.net

675 Main Street, Swoyersville, PA 18704 Phone: 570-288-6581 • Fax: 570-288-7553 Website: www.swoyersville-pa.org • E-mail: swoyboro@comcast.net Population: __________________________________________________5,157 Square Miles: __________________________________________________2.5 Name of Mayor:__________________________________________Vincent Dennis Type of Government: ____________________________________Borough Council School District: ______________________________________Wyoming Valley West Public Library: ____________________________________________Hoyt Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$50,000 to $175,000 Property Tax Rate: ________________________________________________.98 UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________________________Comcast Gas:____________________________________________________UGI-PNG Electric:____________________________________UGI Electric 570-819-4844 Water: ________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________________Swoyersville Borough DPW ________________________________________________Private Haulers

Population: ____________________________________________________850 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________1 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________Luke Matthews Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ________________________________________Hanover Township Range of Housing Costs: ________________________________________$65,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________30 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-825-8501 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric: ______________________________________________UGI Electric Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________J.P. Mascaro & Sons 570-735-0664

WEST HAZLETON BOROUGH 12 South Fourth Street, West Hazleton, PA 18202 Phone: 570-455-7851 • Fax: 570-455-4223 Website: N/A • E-mail: whbl@ptd.net

Swoyersville Borough was originally part of Kingston Township, one of the eleven original townships chartered by the Susquehannah Company in 1790. Although the area was pre-dominantly an agricultural community, that all changed with the discovery of anthracite coal in 1825. The town was named for John Henry Swoyer, a coal mine operator. Mr. Swoyer had developed a reputation for being very fair to his employees and gained the respect of the miners. At first the town was comprised of two villages, Maltby and Brodericks, but due to the development of the mining industry many other small "patches", mainly company homes owned by the coal companies, sprang up and added to the towns’ population.

Currently, Swoyersville Borough is a bedroom community with a few businesses scattered throughout. The Borough has long been shadowed by the coal mine influence but slowly the town is being released from that influence by mine reclamation projects and turning mine scarred land into land suitable for housing.

Population: __________________________________________________3,543 Square Miles: ____________________________________________________.8 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________Mark Rockovich Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ________________________________Hazleton Area School District Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$35,000 to $200,00 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________35 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-454-3841 Gas: ______________________________________UGI Utilities 570-455-7564 Electric: ______________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-57751 Water: ________________________Hazleton City Water Authority 570-454-2401 Waste Removal: ________________________J.P.Mascaro & Sons 800-243-7575 West Hazleton began in 1887 with its borough charter drawn on March 12th.

Consisting of mainly immigrants who worked in the anthracite coal mines, its first burgess was J.W. McMurtrie who served from 1888 to 1890. West Hazleton was home of the areas most prestigious and popular attraction, Hazle Park. Nearby sat Cranberry Ballpark, where legendary Babe Ruth played.

Today, West Hazleton is mostly residential, but consists of two shopping centers, industrial park, movie theater, and youth sports complex. Some of the areas best church bazaars, with ethnic specialties, will draw crowds from all over Northeastern Pennsylvania to West Hazleton.

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WEST PITTSTON BOROUGH

WILKES-BARRE CITY

555 Exeter Avenue, West Pittston, PA 18643-1734 Phone: 570-655-7782 • Fax: 570-602-8046 Website: N/A • E-mail: wpsjb@epix.net

City Hall, 40 East Market Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 Phone: 570-208-4158 • Fax: 570-208-4101 Website: N/A • E-mail: jjmurphy@wilkes-barre.pa.us

Population: __________________________________________________5,074 Square Miles:______________________________________________approx. .95 Name of Mayor: ______________________________________William Goldsworthy Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: __________________________________________Wyoming Area Public Library: ______________________________________West Pittston Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$50,000 to $250,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________29 mills UTILITIES Cable:__________________________________Adelphia Cable 800-892-7300 Gas: ____________________________PPL Utilities, Gas Division 800-652-0550 Electric: __________________________________PPL Utilities 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: ______________________________________Private Haulers

Population: __________________________________________________43,000 Square Miles: __________________________________________________7.27 Name of Mayor:______________________________________Thomas M. Leighton Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ________________________________________Wilkes-Barre Area Public Library: ______________________________________Osterhout Free Library Range of Housing costs: ________________________________Varies/Reasonable UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable TV, Inc. 570-825-8508 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 570-829-8600 Electric: __________________________________PPL Utilities 570-342-5775 Water:__________________Pennsylvania-American Water Company 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ____________Wilkes-Barre Dept. of Public Works 570-208-4240 Fronting on the beautiful Susquehanna River, which flows through the Wyoming Valley, Wilkes-Barre lies 552.5 feet above sea level. The Valley itself is a natural cup of some eleven and one-half square miles, rimmed by the slopes of the surrounding mountains. Wilkes-Barre was settled in 1769 by colonists from New England under the leadership of Major John Durkee, and named after Colonel John Wilkes and Colonel Isaac Barre, defenders of American colonies in British Parliament. It was incorporated as a Borough on March 17, 1806 and as a city on May 4, 1871.

Wilkes-Barre, which was long established as the Anthracite Capital of the World, has diversified its economy and now boasts a variety of industries. The city has four high schools and two 4-year colleges, King’s College, and Wilkes University, with day and evening enrollment offering degrees in varied fields.

WEST WYOMING BOROUGH 464 W. Eighth Street, West Wyoming, PA 18644 Mailing Address: PO Box 4035, West Wyoming, PA 18644 Phone: 570-693-1311 • Fax: 570-693-4028 Website: www.westwyoming.net • E-mail: wwyo100@epix.net Population: __________________________________________________2,833 Square Miles: __________________________________________________5.4 Name of Mayor: ________________________________________Joseph Herbert Type of Government: ________________________________________Mayor and Seven Council Members School District: __________________________________________Wyoming Area Public Library:__________________________________________Wyoming Library Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________30 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Adelphia Cable 800-892-7300 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 800-432-8017 Electric:____________________________________UGI Utilities 570-819-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ____________________West Wyoming Borough 570-693-1311

WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP 150 Watson Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702-7599 Phone: 570-208-4635 • Fax: 570-408-0260 Website: wilkesbarretwppolice.org • E-mail: N/A Population: __________________________________________________3,235 Square Miles: __________________________________________________2.2 Name of Mayor: ____________________________________________Carl Kuren Type of Government: __________________________Mayor and Council – Home Rule School District: ________________________________________Wilkes-Barre Area Range of Housing Costs: ________________________________________Various Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________25 mills UTILITIES Cable: ________________________Service Electric Cable Vision 570-825-8508 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 570-825-7100 Waste Removal: ______________________J.P. Mascaro & Sons 570-735-0664

The Borough of West Wyoming, nestled at the foot of Kingston Mountains, is located in the northeast section of Luzerne County, and is situated midway between the cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. In June 1898, a decree was granted separating Wyoming into two boroughs – Wyoming and West Wyoming Boroughs, with the dividing line being the Delaware-Lackawanna and Western Railroad right-of-way.

The Borough is comprised of mostly residential dwellings.

The Borough provides street and sewer maintenance, refuse collection and disposal, recreational facilities, police and fire protection to its residents.

Wilkes-Barre Township was formed in 1774 when it stretched from the Susquehanna River to the Lehigh River and included present day Wilkes-Barre City, Laurel Run Borough, Bear Creek Township and Buck Township.

With its ideal location on the major highway systems serving the region, Wilkes-Barre Township is quickly becoming the retail hub of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Recent significant developments include Exit 46 of Interstate 81, the expansion of Highland Park Boulevard, The Arena Hub retail center, Wilkes-Barre Township Commons retail center and Northeastern Pennsylvania's crown jewel – Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza which is home to Penguins Hockey, Pioneers Arena football and many other events, shows and concerts. With the recent development of many restaurants and retail centers, Wilkes-Barre Township offers a wide variety of dining, shopping and entertainment choices.

WHITE HAVEN BOROUGH 312 Main Street, White Haven, PA 18661 Phone: 570-443-9129 • Fax: 570-443-7054

Website: N/A E-mail: betty.altero@gmail.com Name of Mayor:________________________________Robert J. Croughn

www.luzernecounty.org

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Center and the State Police Barracks, to name a few. The Borough has two parks: Pettebone Memorial Park on Pettebone Street, and Butler Street Park located on the corner of 8th and Butler Streets.

Wyoming is considered “Historic.” Included in the town are some historic places: Swetland Homestead; Wyoming Monument; Wyoming Cemetery; and the Wyoming Borough Town Hall which is the county’s oldest town hall still in use. The town hall celebrated its 100th birthday in 2002.

WRIGHT TOWNSHIP 321 South Mountain Boulevard, Mountain Top, PA 18707-1995 Phone: 570-474-9067 • Fax: 570-474-2722 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A Population: __________________________________________________5,593 Square Miles: __________________________________________________13.9 Name of Chairman:__________________________________Daniel N. Frascella, Sr. Type of Government: ________________________________Second Class Township School District: ____________________________________________Crestwood Public Library: ______________________________Marian Sutherland Kirby Library Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________Median Value $88,800 Property Tax Rate: __________________________________________.5516 mills UTILITIES Cable:____________________________Service Electric Cable TV 570-825-8508 Gas: __________________________________________UGI 570-829-3461 Electric: ________________________________PPL Utilities, Inc. 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: __________________________Privately Contracted – 4 Haulers: __________________________Apex 800-222-2028; Chapin 570-479-2565; ______________________________Gittens 570-868-6462; 570-735-0664 Wright Township provides full time police protection and roads/public works, planning/zoning, recreation, recycling and volunteer fire and ambulance services.

The Township owns and operates a 35-acre recreation park consisting of a sand volleyball court, picnic pavilions and picnic tables, a playground, basketball and tennis courts, a baseball field, a soccer complex and walking trails, along with a 6-week summer program for 6-12 year olds. Also located within the township are: Wright Manor, a 30-unit apartment building for the elderly with dining/meeting/activities room, and the 1,050 acre Crestwood Industrial Park for manufacturing and warehousing. The businesses located within Crestwood currently employ about 2,500 of the area’s residents.

YATESVILLE BOROUGH Yatesville Multi-Purpose Building, 33 Pittston Avenue, Yatesville, PA 18640 Phone: 570-654-2455 • Fax: 570-654-3415 Website: N/A • E-mail: N/A Population: ____________________________________________________640 Square Miles: __________________________________________________1.7 Name of Mayor: ______________________________________Joseph Chiumento Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ____________________________________________Pittston Area Range of Housing Costs: ______________________________$80,000 to $200,000 Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________13 mills UTILITIES Cable:__________________________________Adelphia Cable 800-792-7300 Gas/Electric: __________________________PPL Electric Utilities 800-342-5775 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: __________________________________Waste Management

WYOMING BOROUGH 277 Wyoming Avenue, Wyoming, PA 18644 Phone: 570-693-0291 • Fax: 570-613-9192 Website: N/A • E-mail: wyomingboro@msn.com Population: __________________________________________________3,200 Square Miles: __________________________________________________2.8 Name of Mayor: __________________________________________Robert Boyer Type of Government:____________________________________Mayor and Council School District: ________________________________Wyoming Area School District Public Library: ______________________________________Wyoming Free Library Range of Housing Costs:____________________________________________N/A Property Tax Rate: ____________________________________________30 mills UTILITIES Cable: __________________________________Adelphia Cable 570-451-4300 Gas: ______________________________________PG Energy 570-829-8600 Electric:____________________________________UGI Utilities 800-962-1212 Water: ____________________Pennsylvania-American Water Co. 800-565-7292 Waste Removal: ______________________J.P. Mascaro & Sons 800-243-7575

Yatesville borough is a small stretch of land, roughly 1.7 square miles, surrounded

by Jenkins Township, Laflin Borough, and Pittston Township. The Borough is the seventh smallest municipality in Luzerne County. It was named after Francis Yates, Sr., an early settler in the borough. In 1809, Joel Hale built the first frame house in Yatesville. Hale and Yates were also believed to be the first to mine coal in the borough.

Today, Yatesville contains roughly 180 residences and about 10 businesses. It is home to the Pittston Area High School and the Pittston Area School District's offices.

The town was once well known for its wild blueberry bushes. However, as development of the land progressed, Yatesville lost its bushes, making blueberry picking a midsummer tradition of the past. Currently, Yatesville is home to one of the largest Bocce leagues in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Yatesville Bocce League.

Wyoming Borough was founded in 1885 by a number of progressive citizens.

At that time the borough had a population of only 1,000.

Today, Wyoming is mostly residential consisting of 3,200 residents. However, there are many commercial or non-residential listings, the Midway Shopping

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Buyers’ Guide INDEX TO CATEGORIES ACCOUNTANTS ________________________________________57 AIRPORTS ______________________________________________57 AMBULANCE – MEDICAL TRANSPORT ____________________57 APARTMENTS __________________________________________57 ART GALLERIES ________________________________________58 BANKING ______________________________________________58 CONSTRUCTION AND RENOVATIONS ____________________58 CONTRACTORS ________________________________________58 CREDIT UNIONS________________________________________58 EDUCATION __________________________________________59 EDUCATION, COLLEGE PREPARATORY ____________________59 EDUCATION, COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES __________________59

ACCOUNTANTS

ELECTRICAL ____________________________________________59

Snyder and Clemente

EMPLOYMENT ________________________________________59

575 Pierce Street, Suite 400, Kingston, PA 18704 570-288-6464 • Fax: 570-288-1518 Email: mail@clementecpa.com

ENGINEERING __________________________________________59 ENTERTAINMENT ______________________________________60

Snyder and Clemente was organized in 1958 and since that time has provided professional services throughout Northeast-ern Pennsylvania with offices in Kingston and Hazleton.

ENVIRONMENTAL ______________________________________60 FINANCIAL ____________________________________________60

SEE OUR AD, THIS PAGE

FINANCIAL SERVICES ____________________________________60

AIRPORTS

HEALTH CARE SERVICES ________________________________60 HOTELS / MOTELS ______________________________________61

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport

MANUFACTURING______________________________________61

100 Terminal Drive, Avoca, PA 18641 570-602-2000 or 877-2FLYAVP • Fax: 570-602-2010 Email: airport@flyavp.com • www.flyavp.com

OFFICE SUPPLIES________________________________________61

Your gateway to Northeast Pennsylvania and the Pocono Mountains.

Close, comfortable, convenient! All at your front door! Direct service to major east coast hubs.

ORGANIZATIONS ______________________________________61 PRINTERS ______________________________________________61

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 11

PUBLISHERS – NEWSPAPERS______________________________61

AMBULANCE – MEDICAL TRANSPORT REAL ESTATE – COMMERCIAL ____________________________61

Wyoming Valley Professional Ambulance

REAL ESTATE – COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL ______________61

6 Rose Avenue, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-825-2317 or 800-601-9881 • Fax: 570-829-6448 Email: johnruane2006@yahoo.com • www.WVPA.com

REAL ESTATE – RESIDENTIAL______________________________62 REHAB HOSPITAL / MEDICAL______________________________62

Ambulance transport for nursing home residents – local/long distance to all regional and local hospitals. First-aid center for dialysis, chemo and wound care appointments. Wheel chair van. Ride in comfort.

RETAIL ________________________________________________62 SECURITY ______________________________________________62

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 28

SEPTIC & DRAIN CLEANING ____________________________63 STRUCTURAL ENGINEER ________________________________63

APARTMENTS

TAX COLLECTION & ADMINISTRATION SERVICES __________63

Mayflower Crossing

TELECOMMUNICATIONS ________________________________63

508 Mayflower Crossing, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-822-3968 • Fax: 570-822-3446 Email: info@mayflowercrossing.com www.mayflowercrossing.com

THEATRES______________________________________________63 UTILITIES ______________________________________________63

1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom apartments. Spacious floor plans. Most utilities included with all appliances. Onsite fitness center and 24-hour maintenance.

VISITORS BUREAU ______________________________________63 WHOLESALE STEEL SERVICE CENTER ______________________63

www.luzernecounty.org

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 58

57

BUYERS’ GUIDE continued

ART GALLERIES

CONTRACTORS

Beauty Flower Poem

The Kitchen Gallery & Design Center, Inc.

Hayden Tower at the Markle Building 8 West Broad Street, Suite 428, Hazleton, PA 18201 570-578-2584 Email: kathydobash@yahoo.com • http://kathydobash.com

200 North Broad Street, West Hazleton, PA 18202 570-459-5200 • Fax: 570-459-1199 Email: kitgal200@verizon.net Quality merchandise of brand name cabinets, countertops, appliances, etc., with the experience to do new or remodeling projects for any room in your home or office.

Artist Kathy Dobash of Beauty Flower Poem offers art workshops by appointment. Specializing in drawing and painting. Beauty Flower Poem’s “Art on the Go” provides art experiences anywhere for all ages.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 15

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 33

CREDIT UNIONS

BANKING

Choice One Community Credit Union

First Liberty Bank & Trust

101 Hazle Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-823-7676 • Fax: 570-829-3937 Email: choiceonefcu@c1mail.com • www.choiceone.org

64 North Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 570-821-8551 • Fax: 570-821-8564 www.firstlibertybank.com

Serving residents and businesses in Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties with affordable financial services with three convenient locations. 101 Hazle Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA (Main Office), 983 North Sherman Ct., Hazleton, PA and 672 North River Street, Plains, PA

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 16

First National Community Bank 23 West Market Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 570-831-1000 • Fax: 570-824-2090 Email: mwright@fncb.com • www.fncb.com

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 4

People’s Choice Federal Credit Union

FNCB has ten locations in Luzerne County offering various financial products and services. We also serve Lackawanna, Monroe and Wayne County with an additional ten locations.

401 York Avenue, PO Box 2096, Duryea, PA 18642 570-451-3318 • Fax: 570-451-3319 Email: pcfcu@verizon.net • www.peopleschoicefcu.org

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 10

Serves membership with highest yields on savings and investments and lowest interest rates on loans, in a friendly, personalized atmosphere.

PNC Bank 201 Penn Avenue, Scranton, PA 18503 1-888-PNC-BANK www.pncbank.com

SEE OUR AD, THIS PAGE

Tobyhanna Army Depot Federal Credit Union

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services organizations.

300 Mulberrry Street, Suite 201, Scranton, PA 18503-1225 866-862-9328 • Fax: 570-346-6563 Email: jkanaley@tobyhannafcu.org • www.tobyhannafcu.org

SEE OUR AD, BACK COVER

CONSTRUCTION AND RENOVATIONS

Full service credit union serving over 350 businesses and family members throughout Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Wayne, and Wyoming Counties.

Tile Distributors of America 300 Mundy Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-822-6123 • Fax: 570-824-9225 Email: TileDistAmerica@aol.com • www.tile-distributors.com

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 15

Complete lines of foreign and domestic tile. All types of installation tools and setting products. Ceramic, porcelain, natural stone and glass tiles. In business since 1973.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 9

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Art Galleries — Engineering

55 North Conahan Drive, Hazleton, Pennsylvania 18201 Engineering Boundary & Topographic Surveys Water, Sewer, Road Design Construction Management Resident Project Observation Land Subdivision/Planning Wetland Studies/Mitigation Telephone: (570)455-9407 Fax: (570)455-1060 Web: www.seiengr.com

UFCW Federal Credit Union

ELECTRICAL

377 Wyoming Avenue, Wyoming, PA 18644 570-693-0500 • Fax: 570-693-6161 Email: www.ufcwpa.org

George J. Hayden, Inc. Electric Communications 235 East Maple Street, Hazleton, PA 18201 570-455-6109 • Fax: 570-455-5400 Email: georgeh@haydenelectric.com • www.haydenelectric.com

Our credit union is a financial institution providing our members with the best service and products available.

Family owned and serving Northeast PA since 1975 as an electrical and communications contractor of industrial, commercial, institutional and residential projects. New construction, retrofits, upgrades, additions and green energy solutions.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 41

EDUCATION McCann School of Business & Technology

SEE OUR AD, THIS PAGE

370 Maplewood Drive, Humboldt Industrial Park Hazle Township, PA 18202 570-454-6172 • Fax: 570-454-6286 Email: barbara.reese@mccann.edu • www.mccann.edu

EMPLOYMENT Luzerne County Careerlink

We are conveniently located 2 miles from Interstate 81 in Hazle Township. Our facility offers Associate Degree Programs in Business, Accounting, Medical, Criminal Justice, Surgical Technology, Networking, Massage, Early Childhood Education, and more.

32 E Union Street,Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 570-826-2401 • Fax: 570-826-2443 Email: careerlink@state.pa.us • www.pacareerlink.state.pa.us

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 22

Pennsylvania’s one-stop public labor exchange location for Employment and Training services for job seekers and employers.

EDUCATION, COLLEGE PREPARATORY

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 35

Wyoming Seminary 201 North Sprague Avenue, Kingston, PA 18704 570-270-2160 • Fax: 570-270-2199 Email: admission@wyomingseminary.org www.wyomingseminary.org

ENGINEERING Pennoni Associates Inc. 100 N. Wilkes-Barre Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-824-2200 • Fax: 570-824-0800 Email: info@pennoni.com • www.pennoni.com

Pre-K through grade 12, co-ed, day and boarding college preparatory school in Kingston and Forty Fort. Superior arts and athletics programs.

Pennoni Associates Inc. is a multi-disciplinary consulting firm which provides services to local, state and federal governments, private clients and other professional firms.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 21

EDUCATION, COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 17

King’s College Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 570-208-5900 • Fax: 570-208-5971 www.kings.edu

Schumacher Engineering, Inc. 55 North Conahan Drive, Hazleton, PA 18201 570-455-9407 • Fax: 570-455-1060 Email: sei@seiengr.com • www.seiengr.com

King’s College, founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross,is an independent, four-year, co-ed, liberal arts college. King’s has been selected as one of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report, and Barron’s Best Buys. It was named as one of 16 Leadership institutions nationwide by the American Association of Colleges and Universities Greater Expectations Initiative.

Providing diversified consulting engineering services since 1973: Civil Engineering, Water/Wastewater Distribution Systems, Land Planning/Development, Boundary & Topographic Surveys, Wetland Surveys/ Delineation, Resident Project Observation.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 21

www.luzernecounty.org

SEE OUR AD, THIS PAGE

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BUYERS’ GUIDE continued

HEALTH CARE SERVICES Associated Family Care Services, Inc.

Earth Conservancy

17 Elizabeth Street, Forty Fort, PA 18704 570-287-8661 • Fax: 570-287-0192 Email: associatedinc@aol.com • www.associatedfamilycare.com

Dedicated to Mine Land Reclamation, Conservation and Economic Revitalization in the Wyoming Valley

Private health care agency, providing short/long term nurses, companions and respite services for all your individual needs.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 27

www.earthconservancy.org

Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania

101 S. Main St. Ashley, PA 18706 Ph: 570/823-3445 • Fx: 570/823-8270

19 North Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 800-829-8599 www.bcnepa.com Providing comprehensive health care coverage to residents of northeastern and north central Pennsylvania for more than 70 years with the ultimate goal of improving health and the quality of life for our region.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 26

ENTERTAINMENT

Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center

F. M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts

1000 E. Mountain Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 570-826-7300 www.geisinger.org

71 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 570-826-1100 • Fax: 570-823-4890 Email: caroline@kirbycenter.org • www.kirbycenter.org

Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center offers the region’s most advanced, compassionate care. Doctors treat the most complex cases with procedures and services you won’t find anywhere else in the area.

A gorgeous, historic, non-profit performing arts center providing the best in all genres of entertainment to the community. 2009-2010 Shows on sale now, including Broadway, Comedy, Opera, Ballet, Film, Dance, Rock, Pop and Big Band.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 25

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 31

R/C Theatres Wilkes-Barre Movies 14

Greater Hazleton Health Alliance

24 East Northampton Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 570-408-9830 • Fax: 570-408-9831 www.rctheatres.com

(Inpatient, Outpatient & Emergency Care) Hazleton General Hospital 700 East Broad Street, Hazleton, PA 18201 570-501-4000 • Fax: 570-501-6203 Email: jdanish@ghha.org • www.ghha.org

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 33

ENVIRONMENTAL

Hazleton Health & Wellness Center

Earth Conservancy

(Outpatient Testing, Surgery & Rehabilitation) 50 Moisey Drive, Hazleton, PA 18202 570-501-6600 • www.hazletonhealthandwellness.org

101 South Main Street, Ashley, PA 18706 570-823-3445 • Fax: 570-823-8270 Email: admin@earthconservancy.org • www.earthconservancy.org

Greater Hazleton Health Alliance, the premier healthcare provider in southern Luzerne County, consists of the Hazleton General Hospital that features award-winning quality emergency, medical/ surgical, and maternity services, and the Hazleton Health & Wellness Center that provides a one-stop shopping concept for outpatient health services, including imaging, cardiology, pulmonology, rehabilitation, laboratory, occupational health and a fitness center.

Mine land reclamation, conservation, economic revitalization, land sales including: commercial, industrial, residential. Sales information and maps available in Earth Conservancy office or website.

SEE OUR AD, THIS PAGE

FINANCIAL Prudential Retirement 30 Scranton Office Park, Scranton, PA 18507 570-341-6000

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 29

With nearly 86 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private, and nonprofit organizations.

Wyoming Valley Health Care System

SEE OUR AD, INSIDE FRONT COVER

Wilkes-Barre General Hospital 575 North River Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18764-0001 570-829-8111 • Fax: 570-552-3030 www.wvhcs.org

FINANCIAL SERVICES Pennstar Bank 409 Lackawanna Avenue, Suite 201, Scranton, PA 18503 570-343-8200 • Fax: 570-348-8374 Email: customerservice@pennstarbank.com • www.pennstarbank.com

Wyoming Valley Health Care System, Northeastern Pennsylvania’s most comprehensive health system, provides leading edge cardiovascular care, neurosurgery, oncology, orthopaedics, women’s and children’s health and much more.

PS Bank is a full service financial institution specializing in retail banking, commercial banking, and asset management from 38 full service branches throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania including 4 offices in Luzerne County.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 26

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 36

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Entertainment — Real Estate

ORGANIZATIONS American Red Cross Wyoming Valley Chapter 256 North Sherman Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-823-7161 • Fax: 570-825-7870 Email: infowyval@usa.redcross.org http://wyomingvalley.redcross.org The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization led by volunteers, provides relief to victims of disaster and helps people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 26

PRINTERS Independent Graphics, Inc. PO Box 703, 1679 River Road, Pittston, PA 18640 570-654-4040 • Fax: 570-654-9799 Email: igi@epix.net • www.independentgraphics.com Independent Graphics is a commercial printing company, with an uncommon dedication for customer service. We serve Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

HOTELS/MOTELS Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 9

884 Kidder Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-824-7100 • Fax: 570-823-5599 Email: ffi.avpfi.gm@marriott.com • www.marriott.com/AVPFI

Llewellyn & McKane, Inc. PO Box 507, 31 Hill Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18703-0507 570-822-8181 • Fax: 570-823-3579 www.llewellynmckane.com

Located in the heart of the Wyoming Valley, convenient to the Pocono Mountains, it’s the perfect hotel for business and leisure travelers alike.

SEE OUR AD, INSIDE BACK COVER SEE OUR AD, PAGE 39

PUBLISHERS – NEWSPAPERS

Ramada Inn Wilkes-Barre 20 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 570-824-7100 • Fax: 570-823-5599 Email: RamadaBanquet@Epix.net • www.RamadaWilkesBarre.com

The Times Leader 15 North Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 570-829-7100 • Fax: 570-829-2002 Email: rpugh@timesleader.com • www.timesleader.com

Banquet facilities to 500. Weddings, conventions, corporate meetings, trade shows, 107 rooms, two restaurants on property. Ski, NASCAR nearby. Walk Wilkes/Kings College. FEMA compliant.

The Times Leader is the number one reach vehicle in Luzerne County. Because of our exceptional reach and reader buying power, businesses can increase their bottom line by advertising in our multi-platform of products.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 40

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 32

MANUFACTURING REAL ESTATE – COMMERCIAL

Pride Mobility Products Corporation 182 Susquehanna Avenue, Exeter, PA 18643 570-655-5574 www.pridemobility.com

Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services 100 Baltimore Drive, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-823-1100 • Fax: 570-823-0300 Email: mericle@mericle.com • www.mericle.com

Pride Mobility is the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of power chairs, scooters, lift chairs, lifts and ramps.

Mericle owns and maintains more than 12 million square feet of commercial/industrial space and specializes in build-to-suit, leasing, construction, and brokerage projects.

SEE OUR AD, THIS PAGE

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 19

OFFICE SUPPLIES

REAL ESTATE – COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL

Tri-County Business Machines 117 East Broad Street, Hazleton, PA 18201 570-459-0754 • Fax: 570-459-5845 Email: tricountybm@epix.net • www.tricountybm.com

Lewith & Freeman Real Estate 424 Wyoming Avenue, Kingston, PA 18704 570-288-9371 • Fax: 570-288-8113 Email: lewith_and_freeman@msn.com • www.lewith-freeman.com

Established in 1969, Tri-County Business Machines is a family-owned and operated business. An authorized dealer of Kyocera office equipment. Supplying equipment, supplies and furniture for any office need.

Lewith and Freeman is Luzerne County’s #1 full service real estate firm. We are the wise choice for service, the ONLY choice for results!

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 16

www.luzernecounty.org

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BUYERS’ GUIDE continued

Kathleen Pajor

e.d. pons and associates, inc. structural engineers Custom-Made

Rosaries & Jewelry

Creating sparkle for your body and soul.

70 south franklin street wilkes-barre, pa 18701-1205 phone (570) 824-6340 fax (570) 824-6720

Weddings, Formals, Birthdays, First Holy Communion, Parties for All Occasions. Repairs Available.

277 Bennett Street, Luzerne, PA 18709 570-331-3047 • www.beadsoffaith.com

Since 1978, providing the design of residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

Prudential Poggi & Jones, Realtors

The Kitchen Gallery & Design Center, Inc.

28 Carverton Road, Shavertown, PA 18708 570-696-2600 • Fax: 570-696-0677 Email: mbjones@poggi-jones.com • www.poggi-jones.com

200 North Broad Street, West Hazleton, PA 18202 570-459-5200 • Fax: 570-459-1199 Email: kitgal200@verizon.net Quality merchandise of brand name cabinets, countertops, appliances, etc., with the experience to do new or remodeling projects for any room in your home or office.

A full service Real Estate firm. Specializing in residential, commercial, relocation, appraisal services. Serving all of Luzerne, Lackawanna & Wyoming counties.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 15

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 13

REAL ESTATE – RESIDENTIAL

SECURITY

Sand Springs Golf Course Community (Tuskes Homes)

Century Security Service, Inc.

Drums, PA 18222 570-708-3042 • Fax: 570-708-3043 Email: jen@bms-pa.com www.sandspringsgolf.com, www.tuskeshomes.com

842 East Northampton Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-825-8001 or 800-927-0524 • Fax: 570-825-9795 Email: johnruane2006@yahoo.com www.centurysecurityservices.com

A premier golf and lifestyle community located in the heart of Northeast Pennsylvania. Single family homes, golf villas, patio homes and townhouses available! Five decorated models open daily, 12 to 5.

Armed/Unarmed Security Officers • Public Safety Officers – Investigators • Trained EMT First Responders – CPR-AED Certified • Construction Services Team • 24 Hour Toll-free Communication Center.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 13

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 17

Legion Security Services, Inc.

REHAB HOSPITAL / MEDICAL

67 Public Square, Suite 1010, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 800-916-7501 Email: info@Legion Security Service.com www.LegionSecurityService.com

John Heinz Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine 150 Mundy Street, Wilkes-Barre Township, PA 18702 570-826-3800 • Fax: 570-826-9108 Email: ddiltz@allied-services.org, tpugh@allied-services.org www.allied-services.org

Your reliable partner in Pennsylvania for all your security and investigation needs.

John Heinz Rehab is a comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation hospital with eight (8) outpatient centers. It is Joint Commission accredited and licensed by the Department of Health.

• Fully licensed/bonded/insured • Professionally trained officers and investigators • 24 hour live dispatch • Rapid account setup!

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 27

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 1

RETAIL

SEPTIC & DRAIN CLEANING

Beads of Faith

Biros Septic & Drain Cleaning, Inc.

277 Bennett Street, Luzerne, PA 18709 570-331-3047 Email: contact@beadsoffaith.com • www.beadsoffaith.com

1365 State Road, Zion Grove, PA 17985 570-889-3738 • Fax: 570-889-3819 Email: birossepticdrain@frontier.com • www.birosseptic.com

CREATING SPARKLE FOR BODY & SOUL. We design custom beaded jewelry and rosaries for Weddings, Birthdays, Holy Communions and Confirmations. We conduct classes and parties for birthdays, and all of your special occasions. Repairs also available.

Full service, family owned and operated. Residential, commercial & industrial septic tank pumping, sewer line openings, pump installs and repairs - Doing The Job Right The First Time!

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 2

SEE OUR AD, THIS PAGE

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Real Estate — Wholesale Steel

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER E.D. PONS AND ASSOCIATES, INC. 70 S. Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701-1204 570-824-6340 • Fax: 570-824-6720 E.D. Pons and Associates, Inc. specializes in structural engineering services, consultation for commercial, industrial, high-rise, modular structures, site improvements, alteration work, and projects for residential clients.

TRIPLE PLAY — Cable – Phone – Internet

Fastest Available

High Speed Internet Up to 30 Megabits • High Definition Programming Dual Channel DVR’s Available • Wi-Fi at Numerous Locations Live Local Sports • Web Cams Throughout the Area for Traffic Conditions Free Customer Service • On-Line Payments • First Digital Box Free 17 Exclusive Cable Channels

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 62

TAX COLLECTION & ADMINISTRATION SERVICES CENTRAL TAX BUREAU OF PA

Call 570-825-8508

Don Wilkinson Agency, Inc.

For More Information Visit Our Web Site www.secable.com

300A Laird Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-822-0555 or 800-268-2681 • Fax: 570-822-4950 www.centaxgroup.com

UTILITIES

Tax collection, administration and enforcement services for municipalities and school districts throughout Pennsylvania: EIT, Mercantile, Business Privilege, EMS, Per Capita, Real Estate, Municipal Service fees.

UGI Penn Natural Gas One UGI Center, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711 800-432-8017 • Fax: 570-829-8914 www.ugi.com

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 41

Serving more than 158,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in 13 counties throughout northeastern and central Pennsylvania. Committed to safe, reliable and prompt delivery of natural gas to its customers.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS Service Electric Broadband Cable 15 J Campbell Collins Drive, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 570-825-8508 • Fax: 570-822-2601 www.secable.com

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 15

Cable • Phone • Internet – High Speed up to 30 megabits. Founded in 1948 by John Walson, the inventor of cable television.

VISITORS BUREAU Luzerne County Convention & Visitors Bureau

SEE OUR AD, THIS PAGE

56 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 570-819-1877 • Fax: 570-819-1882 Email: tournepa@tournepa.com • www.tournepa.com

THEATRES

You’ll Find it All Right Here!! Enjoy the Mohegan Sun Casino, first-class concerts, outlet shopping, hiking trails, golf & skiing. Call for a free guide: 1-888-905-2872 or click www.tournepa.com

F. M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts 71 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 570-826-1100 • Fax: 570-823-4890 Email: caroline@kirbycenter.org • www.kirbycenter.org

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 3

A gorgeous, historic, non-profit performing arts center providing the best in all genres of entertainment to the community. 2009-2010 Shows on sale now, including Broadway, Comedy, Opera, Ballet, Film, Dance, Rock, Pop and Big Band.

WHOLESALE STEEL SERVICE CENTER Bloomsburg Metal Company 610 North Pennsylvania Avenue PO Box 450, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18703-0450 570-822-8131 • Fax: 570-823-3768 Email: sales@bloomet.com • www.bloomet.com

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 31

Pennsylvania Theatre of Performing Arts J.J. Ferrara Center, 212 West Broad Street, Hazleton, PA 18201 570-454-5451 www.ptpashows.org

Bloomsburg Metal Company is a full Metal Service Center dealing in Steel, Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Brass and Lead. Locally owned, locally operated.

Prompt delivery from stock.

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 33

SEE OUR AD, PAGE 10

www.luzernecounty.org

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Index to Advertisers A

American Red Cross Wyoming Valley Chapter ____________________________________________26 Associated Family Care Services, Inc. www.associatedfamilycare.com __________________________27

B

Beads of Faith www.beadsoffaith.com ______________________________________________________62 Beauty Flower Poem http://kathydobash.com ______________________________________________33 Biros Septic & Drain Cleaning, Inc. www.birosseptic.com ______________________________________2 Bloomsburg Metal Company www.bloomet.com ____________________________________________10 Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania www.bcnepa.com __________________________________26

C

Central Tax Bureau of PA, Don Wilkinson Agency, Inc. www.centaxgroup.com____________________41 Century Security Service, Inc. www.centurysecurityservices.com ________________________________17 Choice One Community Credit Union www.choiceone.org ____________________________________4

E

E.D. Pons and Associates, Inc. __________________________________________________________62 Earth Conservancy www.earthconservancy.org ______________________________________________60

F

F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts www.kirbycenter.org ______________________________31 First Liberty Bank &Trust www.firstlibertybank.com __________________________________________16 First National Community Bank www.fncb.com ____________________________________________10

G

Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center www.geisinger.org ________________________________25 George J. Hayden, Inc. Electric Communications www.haydenelectric.com ______________________59 Greater Hazleton Health Alliance www.ghha.org ____________________________________________29

I

Independent Graphics __________________________________________________________________9

J

John Heinz Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine www.allied-services.org ________________________27

K

King’s College www.kings.edu ____________________________________________________________21 The Kitchen Gallery & Design Center, Inc. ________________________________________________15

L

Legion Security Services, Inc. www.Legion SecurityService.com __________________________________1 Llewellyn & McKane, Inc. www.llewellynmckane.com ____________________________Inside Back Cover Luzerne County Careerlink www.pacareerlink.state.pa.us ____________________________________35 Luzerne County Convention & Visitors Bureau www.tournepa.com ____________________________3

M

Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites www.marriott.com/AVPFI ______________________________________39 Mayflower Crossing www.mayflowercrossing.com ____________________________________________58 McCann School of Business & Technology www.mccann.edu ________________________________22 Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services www.mericle.com __________________________________19

P

Pennoni Associates Inc. www.pennoni.com ________________________________________________17 Pennstar Bank www.pennstarbank.com ____________________________________________________36 Pennsylvania Theatre of the Performing Arts www.ptpashows.org ____________________________33 People’s Choice Federal Credit Union www.peopleschoicefcu.org ______________________________58 PNC www.pnc.com ______________________________________________________________Back Cover Pride Mobility Products Corporation www.pridemobility.com __________________________________61 Prudential Poggi & Jones, Realtors www.poggi-jones.com ____________________________________13 Prudential Retirement ____________________________________________________Inside Front Cover

R

R/C Theatres Wilkes-Barre Movies 14 www.rctheatres.com ____________________________________33 Ramada Inn Wilkes-Barre www.RamadaWilkesBarre.com ______________________________________40

S

Sand Springs Golf Course Community (Tuskes Homes) www.sandspringsgolf.com, www.tuskeshomes.com ________________________________________13 Schumacher Engineering, Inc. www.seiengr.com ____________________________________________59 Service Electric Broadband Cable www.secable.com ________________________________________63 Snyder and Clemente __________________________________________________________________57

T

Tile Distributors of America www.tile-distributors.com ________________________________________9 The Times Leader www.timesleader.com __________________________________________________32 Tobyhanna Army Depot Federal Credit Union www.tobyhannafcu.org ________________________15 Tri-County Business Machines www.tricountybm.com ________________________________________16

U

UFCW Federal Credit Union www.ufcwpa.org ______________________________________________41 UGI Penn Natural Gas www.ugi.com ______________________________________________________15

W

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport www.flyavp.com ________________________________11 Wyoming Seminary www.wyomingseminary.org ____________________________________________21 Wyoming Valley Health Care System www.wvhcs.org________________________________________26 Wyoming Valley Professional Ambulance www.WVPA.com ____________________________________28

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