Olyphant, PA- Historic home of the Lackawanna Coal Company, now a walkable bedroom suburban of Scranton

Olyphant’s history dates back to the early 19th century.  It was the headquarters of the Lackawanna Coal Company but was also a center of the railroad industry . This mining boom attracted a wave of European immigrants, including Italians, Poles, and Eastern Europeans, who sought work in the coal mines and on the railroads. As the demand for coal diminished in the mid-20th century, Olyphant experienced economic challenges and decline and quickly went from nearly 11K residents in 1930 to just under 6K in 1960. Since then Olyphant has stabilized and transitioned into a more diverse economy while retaining most of its historic footprint and tight-knit community. Olyphant now hosts just over 5K residents.

Olyphant’s strengths lies in its historic walkable fabric where most buildings along its historic main street (Lackawanna Ave) remain hosting decent retail and cultural amenities. Olyphant also hosts good economic diversity, lots of affordable housing options, and is only a 15 minute drive to Dwtn Scranton. Olyphant recently made the top 10 list for safest cities in Pennsylvania, But for Olyphant to become a great urban suburb it needs mixed-use in-fill to fill in the surface lots along the main street and bolster the Borough’s population. I’d also like to see more walkable schools, better ADA infrastructure, and several dedicated bike lanes.

Click here to view my Olpyhant Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

• Decent access to Dwtn with only a 15 minute drive and 35 minute bus ride (only comes every hour however).
• So so density.
• Good economic diversity.
• For sale homes are generally affordable but some diversity. 2-beds sell anywhere from 70K-180K, and 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 50K-300K. Decent amount of dedicated affordable housing.
• Great historic business architecture but residential historic architecture is pretty plain.
• Decent # of small and medium sized parks .
• Olyphant is actually a very safe City across all metrics and appears on top 10 safest cities in Pennsylvania. The only safety metric is doesn’t score well in is a fair amount of blight.
• Pretty good urban form and cohesion along Lackawanna, the urban biz district. Streetscaping however is pretty dated and several large parking lots in the dwtn area.
• Central Olyphant has a decent # of restaurants, bars and a live music & event venue, and a couple local museums.
• Decent retail amenities including a supermarket (just across the river), a butcher shop, family dollar, a couple pharmacies, several boutiques/clothing stores, a music store, a couple banks, a bakery, several churches, a post office (but not very walkable), and a couple doctor’s offices.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* ADA infrastructure is ok. Most streets have sidewalks and ADA standard curbs are restricted to the dwtn area.
* Bike infrastructure is limited.
* 80% White population but a growing Hispanic community (around 15%).
* Only a handful of walkable schools.
* Rentals are generally pretty affordable but limited product, esp. listings on Zillow.
 * Modern in-fill is pretty much non-existent.