{"nrhp_refnum":"99001197","name":"North Scranton Junior High School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1539 N. Main Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Scranton","county":"Lackawanna County","state":"PA","lat":41.42843568100005,"lon":-75.64709460399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-09-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick and stone junior high school building on a 4.4 acre terraced parcel at the crest of a hill overlooking the Lackawanna River, at the intersection of North Main Avenue and Green Ridge Street in the North Scranton neighborhood of Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was constructed in 1922-24.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is significant under Criterion A for its association with the development of public schooling in Scranton, as the first building in the district built specifically as a junior high. It is significant under Criterion C as an unaltered representative example of an early twentieth century school building and as an excellent example of the Late Gothic Revival style in the Scranton region.","narrative":"Built in 1922-24 on a hilltop above the Lackawanna River in Scranton, Pennsylvania, this three-story brick and stone building was designed by local architect Edson Gilbert in the Late Gothic Revival style. Its main east facade is centered on a four-story clock tower with a tall Gothic entrance arch, corner turrets and carved stone tracery. The school opened on September 2, 1924, for 1,200 students, and its interior included a 1,206-seat auditorium, two gymnasiums, a five-room domestic science apartment and more than forty classrooms. It is significant as the first junior high school built in the Scranton district, reflecting the state's 1921 move to add an intermediate step between grammar and high school. The building was closed in 1987 because of structural and stabilization problems. Its exterior and plan are largely original, which the nomination describes as rare among the city's schools of its era.","period_of_significance":"1922-1949","architect_builder":"Gilbert, Edson (architect); Sinclair & Grigg (builder)","architectural_style":"Late Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Decommissioned and vacated in 1987; the interior has been vandalized and stripped of stained glass, doors and cabinets, while the exterior is described as structurally sound.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.321996-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/99001197.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99001197/a23088b6b5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99001197/a23088b6b5-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scranton_PA_Jr_High_Main_Ave.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scranton_PA_Jr_High_Main_Ave.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998115","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Scranton_Junior_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7056600"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lackawanna-county/north-scranton-junior-high-school-99001197/"}