The New International Encyclopædia/Pittston
PITTS′TON. A city in Luzerne County, Pa., ten miles southwest of Scranton; on the Susquehanna River, above the mouth of the Lackawanna, and on the Lehigh Valley, the Central of New Jersey, the Delaware and Hudson, the Lackawanna, and other railroads (Map: Pennsylvania, F 2). Situated in the anthracite region of the State, it is engaged principally in mining and preparing coal for market, the coal traffic being very important. There are also valuable deposits of fire clay in the vicinity. The manufacturing establishments include foundries and machine shops, stove and engine works, knitting mills, flour, paper, and lumber mills, breweries, terracotta and brick works, etc. Pittston is one of the leading commercial and industrial centres of this region. West Pittston (q.v.), across the river, is more distinctly a residential section. The city maintains a public library. Laid out in 1768 and named in honor of William Pitt, Pittston was settled about 1770, was incorporated as a borough in 1803, and was chartered as a city in 1894. Population, in 1890, 10,302; in 1900, 12,550.