Old Forge, PA- A Scranton Metro Historic Town know for its unique pizza

Old Forge like most boroughs in the Scranton area was settled in early 19th century. It received its name after an old iron forge along the Lackawanna River. Like much of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Old Forge’s development was strongly influenced by the ups and downs of coal mining industry. The town reached 5,500 residents in 1900 and quickly doubled to 11K in 1910 but after 1930 Old Forge went into a consistent decline until 2010 where the population bottomed out at 8,500 from a peak of 12,500 souls. For Northeastern Pennsylvania this level of decline isn’t that bad. Old Forge is also known for its unique style of pizza. The past couple of decades have generally been good to Old Forge as it has witnessed more economic diversity and opening of several new shops.

It will be difficult to make Old Forge a viable urban place as its main street lacks cohesion and is semi-autocentric in character and the population density is very low. Without a major population increase making new construction feasible I don’t see the urban form of Old Forge changing anytime soon.

Click here to view my Old Forge album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Only a 15 minute drive to dwtn but public transit is still 45 min- 1 hr.
* Good walkable schools.
** Limited 1-bed options but lots of 2-bed rentals leasing anywhere btwn 1K and the low 2Ks. Some 3-bed options leasing around 3K.
* For sale 2-beds sell btwn 70K-280K, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 70K-400K.
* Decent Park amenities.
* So so retail amenities including a dollar store, butcher shop, a couple drug stores & banks, a couple dessert joints, a t-shirt store, several salons,  a couple medical offices and plenty of churches.
* Overall a very safe community.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• No bike infrastructure.
• Not great public transit access
• Culturally there is a good # of restaurants & bars and a small performing arts theater, but not much else.
• Limited density for an urban district.
• No walkable supermarket, post office, or library.
• Main street lacks cohesion is a really lengthy semi-autocentric corridor. Really no clear center of Old Forge.
• Tree canopy is good in spots but on most streets is limited.”