How City Hall arrived at Mulberry, Washington
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The city of Scranton was incorporated in 1866 to include the boroughs of Scranton, Hyde Park and Providence. A city hall was needed, and the city charter created a commission to select and purchase a site.
After several meetings and public hearings, the commission bought 12 acres at the jointure of the Providence, Scranton and Hyde Park roads.
The location was a half-mile from Providence Corners - and at least a mile and a half from either Scranton or Hyde Park. The people of Providence were happy with the site, but it was generally opposed by residents of the other two sections of the city.
The distance of a mile and a half seems nothing to us today, and the modern citizen might wonder what all the fuss was about. But consider the fact that no transportation facilities - no trains or street cars - led to the proposed site. The mayor, his Cabinet, the police chief and officers and the staff - all the workers that would be housed in this building - had only dirt roads available to them. A person walking at a stiff pace can make a mile in about 15 minutes. Horses or a horse and carriage would travel at about the same rate of speed. For more than half the year, weather conditions made the dirt roads virtually impassable.
It soon became clear that the chosen location would not do. The municipal buildings had to be located where the people were, and the people were where the business was - and the business was in Scranton proper.
The southeast corner of Washington Avenue and Mulberry Street was chosen, and City Hall was under construction from 1886 to 1888.
Architects Edwin L. Walter and Frederick Lord Brown designed the building, and the noted Scranton firm of Conrad Schroeder built it. Constructed of native West Mountain stone, it stands three stories tall with a tower of about 160 feet. The Victorian Gothic style features turreted, four-story towers capped by steeply-pitched hip roofs, adorned by decorated pinnacles. Gothic arched windows, stained glass and gables further characterize the building. Stained-glass rose windows decorate the central band.
The new structure had room for all the business of the city, including the Police Department. To accommodate the Fire Department headquarters, the building includes a three-story palazzo-type structure with an enclosed bridge that connects it to the second floor of the main building. Its somewhat simpler design includes openings with segmented arches capped by crenellated parapet walls. A dentilated cornice sets the building off.
Col. Ezra H. Ripple was mayor during this era - from 1886 to 1890. Col. Ripple had fought during the Civil War and, in 1902, penned a memoir of the time he spent in the notorious Andersonville Prison - known in the south as Camp Sumter. Col. Ripple titled the work "Dancing Along the Deadline." The prison's perimeter - the deadline - was so called because crossing it meant instant death by a guard's bullet.
Col. Ripple survived the inhumane conditions of this prison to return to his city. He served in the Scranton City Guard as captain of Company D. When the City Guard was consolidated with the 13th Regiment, Col. Ripple became a major. He was commissioned lieutenant colonel in 1883 and colonel in 1888. Lackawanna County was dedicated in 1878, and the following year, Col. Ripple was elected its first treasurer. He served as a member of the city's select council and, in 1888, as a presidential elector on the Harrison-Morton ticket.
But Col. Ripple had the honor of serving as Scranton's mayor during the construction of City Hall, the building that would define the young city and stand as one of its proudest landmarks. Its cornerstone bears the name of Col. Ezra H. Ripple. The Scranton Municipal Building and Fire Station were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
CHERYL A. KASHUBA writes on behalf of the Lackawanna Historical Society. She is co-author of the book "Scranton." Contact the writer at localhistory@timesshamrock.com.
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