Jermyn, PA

Jermyn is a Lackawanna County borough of 2,156 residents in the 2020 census, eleven miles north of Scranton with the Lackawanna River splitting its east and west sides. Pennsylvania 107, Eynon-Jermyn Road, and U.S. 6 connect the borough to the Upper Lackawanna Valley. Anthracite drew the first major wave of work here: the first mine shaft opened in 1857, followed by coal processing, powder mills, and other factories. Jermyn's defining story came on October 25, 1899, when Dr. Matthew Shields taught 25 miners the first training class in first aid in American history at the Windsor Hotel.

A monument to Shields and those miners now stands by the Jermyn Community Center, the former high school on Jefferson Avenue. The borough's current landmarks include Edward Rippy Callahan Field, World War I Veterans Park, borough offices, and the Lakeland School District connection. When the mines slowed after World War II, the town's work life shifted toward the wider valley, yet the first-aid monument keeps the coal and medical histories in the same local frame.