The Hill Section- Scranton’s best urban district and home of the University of Scranton

The boundaries of the Hill Section are a bit fuzzy but its pretty easy to carve out with Dwtn to the West (along Jefferson), Dunmore to the north, and the highway to the south and east. I included Scranton University in this evaluation. The Adam biz district just to the west of the Hill Section in Dwtn essentially functions as Scranton University’s biz district. Some business activity along Mulberry and a couple of  mixed-use blocks at Ash St and Prescott.

The Hill Section was developed in the years following the Civil War as Scranton’s first suburb as coal barons who did not wish to live amidst the pollution in the Dwtn area and in the valleys built their homes high in the clean air of the Hill Section. Middle and working class Scrantonian’s increasingly moved to live in the Hill Section a couple decades later as they moved up in society. The Hill Section has also hosted many waves of immigrants including many Eastern Europeans in the turn of the 20th century, African Americas in the mid twentieth century, and in the present day  immigrant groups from Latin America, and East and Central Asia. The University Of Scranton, which is the largest Hill Section institution was founded in 1888 as Thomas College but was renamed The University of Scranton and moved to its current location in 1940. 

This is Scranton’s best urban area thanks to its density, seamless connection to Dwtn, large institutions, good walkability, and housing diversity and affordability. For this to be a premiere urban district I would start with further urbanizing Mulberry Street with mixed-income apartment buildings to fill in the many underutilized lots. Other important areas to improve is more frequent transit service, bike lanes, more walkable schools, and important retail amenities (i.e. supermarket, post office, and public library).

Click here to view my Hill Section album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great density for a middle-sized City neighborhood.
* The Adam biz district just  to the west of the Hill Section in Dwtn but essentially functions as Scranton University’s biz district. Some business activity along Mulberry and a couple mixed-use blocks where Prescott and Ash St. intersect.
* Very consistent sidewalk infrastructure generally in good shape. ADA curb cuts consistent along the main streets but only exist on about 1/3 of residential intersections.
* Excellent access to Dwtn being on its eastern edge and lots of employment opportunities within the Hill Section including Scranton University, Moses Taylor Hospital, and the Geisinger Community Medical Center.
* Great street grid and connectivity.
* Decent rental options especially 2-beds. 1-beds lease btwn $800-1.2K. 2-beds btwn $900-$1,800. Also a good # of 3 & 4 bed rentals leasing anywhere from the low 1Ks to mid 2Ks.
* Pretty good for sale market albeit without any condo options. 2-beds sell btwn 85K-low 300s. 3 & 4 beds btwn 50K-low 400Ks.
* Overall a safe community with limited blight.
* Good array of historic homes. For Scranton standards properties are in pretty good condition.
* Some urban in-fill especially near the university along Mulberry St. Some autocentric crud in spots but not too bad.
* Good tree canopy throughout.
* The neighborhood hosts the best park in the City: Nay Aug Park which is a planned park with great trails, a bandstand, outdoor pool, museum, iconic bridge, etc. Nearby are tons of ballfields, and Darcy park. However there are only a handful of smaller parks throughout the rest of the neighborhood although Scranton University has nice quads. Half of the residents aren’t within a 10 min walk of a park.
* Decent cultural amenities including several restaurants & bars, the Scranton Art and Natural History Museums, cultural amenities of Scranton University, the Caitlin House Museum and convenient access to Dwtn cultural amenities especially all the bars and restaurants along Adam St.
* Decent retail amenities including a pharmacy, some boutiques, a couple antique stores, a couple banks, the University bookstore, a couple dessert joints & gyms. a florist, two hospital, several medical offices, and convenient access to Dwtn retail amenities, which is pretty good.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Biking infrastructure is very limited.Transit is so so.
• Student population dominate the demographics of the Hill Section but still some age diversity and a fair # of households with Children.
• Only a handful of small elementary age schools. Public schools are located north of Dwtn. Not too far away, but also not walkable to Hill Section residents.
• Missing retail amenities including a post office, community library, churches, and grocery store.”