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Welcome to the Duryea, Pennsylvania Contents Page

Within these pages you will find information and pictures of all kinds pertaining
to the History of the Borough of Duryea and the people who lived here right up to
the early 1960s. If it relates to Duryea, PA, most likely we have something about it.

HELP! PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE!!! This is an urgent plea to the tens of thousands of regular viewers of www.DuryeaPA.com! The site needs your help! We are quickly running out of sources for getting those precious pre 1960 photos and documents and we have no way of contacting you but through a letter like this. We get 98% of our photos by directly contacting people who we know. We have gotten very few photos from viewers who just send them in. Many people promise to send them but for whatever reasons do not. The website can only succeed if our loyal viewers like you are willing to “chip in” and help out. There are thousands and thousands of Duryea photos out there that are slowly disappearing along with the people who have them. In many cases, these photos are deteriorating in damp basements or attics or, even worse, are thrown out when families do spring cleaning or move to a new location. These historical photos can never be replaced and will be lost to the ages forever. It is of the utmost importance that these photos get preserved for our children, grandchildren, and future generations of people who had family ties to Duryea. Saving these pictures may seem unimportant now, but as we get older we have a tendency to look to the past and remember what life was like for our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. The website is the ultimate source for Duryea history and records. All Duryea records were lost in a fire when the town hall burned many years ago. Absolutely nothing is available at the Borough Hall. You can help to rebuild those records by sharing your photos and helping in this community project. PLEASE send as many photos and documents (pre 1960) as you wish on any of the following topics: sports, street scenes, coal mines, stores, saloons, church events, parties, parades, families, school friends, military, or ANYTHING else not mentioned. You can send original photos or copies (on glossy photo paper) to: Bernie Stiroh, 59 Lakeside Trail, Kinnelon, New Jersey 07405. All photos will be safely returned the next day, or you can scan them to: Email Me The website is truly "one of a kind" and without your support , it too will be "lost to the ages forever" like the pictures that are quickly disappearing.Please rally around the cause and help out in preserving Duryea’s glorious past. Thanks in advance for your help and support, The Research Team and Volunteers at www.Duryeapa.com We now have a backup site at WWW.PADuryea.Com so if this site goes down you can view that site.

We are pleased to announce that the Duryea, PA Hometown Webpage is growing so rapidly. A very special THANK YOU has to go out to the unselfish people who have already shared these great old Duryea Treasures with our visitors. We are always happy to receive new items so please feel free to Email Me if you have anything you want to share with our visitors. Class of 1957 60th Reunion Photos This link contains Photos of the Class of 1957 60th Reunion at the Fox Hill Country Club on September 23, 2017 McDonald Family Photos This link contains McDonald Family Photos 2013 Update This link contains over 400 new items. 2011 2nd Update This link contains around 2,150 new items. 2011 Sunday Independent Articles This link contains around 2,650 newspaper articles from the Sunday Independent Newspaper up to 1953. 2012 1st Update This link contains almost 4,000 new items. Lukasik Brothers Photos This update contains about 140 items graciously loaned to the WWW.DuryeaPA.Com website by Bill Lukasik, Jr.! Steve and Bill Lukasik Sr. photographed the people, places and events of the Greater Pittston Area for over 50 years and these photos are but a small sampling of their work relating to Duryea. The 2012 2nd Update includes both of the links below. Please view both of them. 2012 2nd Update Pittston Sunday Dispatch Items This link contains over 4,500 news items from the Pittston Suday Dispatch. 2012 2nd Update-General Update This update contains over 600 items submitted by residents of Duryea. Contents 1896 Marcy Township Valuation Records In 1896, Marcy Township had a valuation that listed property owners and the value amount placed on that property for tax purposes. We do not know what formula was used to get the numbers listed but the ledger gives an alphabetical listing of over 1600 names. This is an extremely important document because the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire in Washington, DC. James Manoghan, Jr. was the town supervisor, assisted by William Laird and the town clerk was John F. Pesotini. This 4 X 6 inch leather bound ledger was found among the Geary Dills family photographs, papers, and documents which were in a box in the Wilmington, Delaware area. Pre1900 Items 1903 Funeral Records In the 1890s, Geary Dills and family ran a livery and undertaking business in the area of present day 620–626 Main St. The original funeral establishment was completely destroyed, along wth many other buildings, in the disastrous Simpson-Watkins fire of 1897 which destroyed almost the entire block between Pettebone and Swetland Streets. The livery business consisted of renting out horses and coaches for funerals, weddings, and social events and served the Greater Pittston area. At one time, there were over 28 horses stored in the stables in back of the Dills' homestead on Main Street. After Geary’s death in 1916, his wife, Mary, (one of the first female funeral directors in the state) ran the business until her passing in 1949. At that time her son, Joe, took over and son, Frank, followed in his footsteps. Contained in these pages, are original, unedited records and notes from 1903 which give a good representation of the vernacular and expressions of the time used by the residents of Duryea. 1900 to 1909 Items 1900s-1920 Joseph G Marcy "Real Photo" Postcard Collection Joseph Greason Marcy was a descendant of Ebenezer Marcy who settled, in the late 1700s, in the area later known as Marcy Township and Duryea. Joseph Marcy took up photography in the early 1900s and began to print his photographs on what are known as "Real Photo" Postcards and WWW.DuryeaPA.Com recently acquired over 350 picture postcards from that collection. Since the "Real Photo" Postcard process basically produced only one copy of each picture taken, this collection shows a very rare and unique view of Duryea in the early 1900s and it is highly unlikely that these images exist any where else except in this treasured collection. The collection includes street scenes, collieries, houses on the opposite side of the Lackawanna River including Peek-a-Boo which was a patch settlement near the Babylon Colliery, photos of the inside and outside of the Marcy Home at 802 Main Street, street cars, horses and buggies, Marcy family members, citizens of Duryea, and never before seen pictures of the Marcy Park area from the 1900s are also part of the grouping. 1908 to 1918 Duryea, PA School Board Meeting Minutes This link contains copies of the pages of the 1908 to 1918 Duryea School Board Meeting Minutes. 1910 Census Records Contains Census Records for the 5 Wards of Duryea. More records for other years will be added when time permits. 1910 to 1919 Items 1917 & 1918 Draft Registrations 1920 to 1929 Items 1927 Mount Vernon Class Trip 1927 Shukwit Park Polish Falcon's Girl's Convention 1930 to 1939 Items 1934 General Haller Event at Holy Rosary 1940 to 1944 Items 1940s Joseph Byank US Army Combat Photographer This link contains actual photos Joseph took while serving with the 166th Signal Photo Company, under George F. Patton, somewhere in Europe. PLEASE NOTE: Some of these photos are graphic images of the horrors of war. While most are excellent photos, some do show the brutality of war so please consider this before viewing. 1945 to 1949 Items 1950 to 1954 Items 1955 to 1959 Items 1960s Items American Legion Related Items Mary Wanda Birth Records Birth Records of Mary Wanda, Midwife in Duryea Polish Falcons Related Items Naturalization Forms This is a collection of naturalization forms people from Duryea filled out while going through the process of becoming U.S. Citizens. The information shown on these forms can be a great help in researching your family roots. This will be an ongoing process and more will be added as we find them. Reithoffer The Reithoffer Carnival got its start in Duryea in 1896 when Julius Reithoffer purchased his first steam-driven merry-go-round. Julius Reithoffer, a German immigrant, lived at 401 Main St. (The site of Swantkowski’s Drug Store) where he also operated a confectionary store with his wife and 4 children. The carnival is now one of the biggest in the country. Semanchik Winnie the Wac SS Peter & Paul Cemetery Digital Photos of Tombstones This is a collection of photos of all of the tombstones in the cemetery up to 2006. This cemetery is located on Phoenix Street at the entrance to Blueberry Hill Estates. Tribute to Our Duryea Heroes This is a video type slideshow tribute to our men & women who have served in the military over the years. You can either RUN it or SAVE it to your hard drive. If you save it to the hard drive, then you can watch it any time you want without having to download it again. But either one will work. Warnke Over 50 Articles relating to the Coal Miners Strike of 1902 in Duryea. Also included on our website are the following pages. PLEASE NOTE: The tombstone photos are not a complete view of every tombstone in the cemeteries. These are just some various tombstones that Bernie and Nancy have taken during 2010. Also, many tombstones have more than one name on them but because of link limitations, we only listed one name. If you think you have a connection to a tombstone, please be sure to view the actual photo. A Collection of some of the Tombstones from the Holy Rosary Cemetery A Collection of some of the Tombstones from the Jewish Cemetery A Collection of some of the Tombstones from the Marcy Cemetery A Collection of some of the Tombstones from the Saint John the Baptist Cemetery A Collection of some of the Tombstones from the Saint Joseph's Cemetery A Collection of some of the Tombstones from the Saint Mary's Cemetery Duryea, PA High School Yearbook Links PA Duryea 1949 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1949 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1950 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1950 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1951 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1951 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1952 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1952 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1953 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1953 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1954 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1954 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1955 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1955 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1956 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1956 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1957 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1957 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1958 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1958 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1959 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1959 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1960 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1960 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1961 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1961 Duryea High School Yearbook. PA Duryea 1962 High School Yearbook The Meecha-Woming This is a link to the ENTIRE 1962 Duryea High School Yearbook. PLEASE: Consider sharing your Pre 1965 Items with our visitors.

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Brought to you by: Bernie Stiroh Nancy Stiroh Davis Mike Lizonitz and the generous people of Duryea, PA Preserving the past for the future! PLEASE NOTE!  The photos and information on these pages are to be used for PERSONAL USE ONLY!  Under no circumstances are they to be included in any "FOR PROFIT!" Venture.  The owners of the original photos retain all copyrights to these photos.  If you wish to use them for profit, you need the permission of the original owner.  If you see a photo here that you own the copyright to and want it removed, Email Me with the details and we will remove it. Since many of these are sent to us, it is hard to verify the information regarding each one. If you have additional information about something on this site, we would love to include it. If you see something that is incorrect, please let us know so we can correct it. Thank you for viewing our site, you are visitor number to visit the Duryea Website