Silkman House

About this property

The Silkman House is located at 2006 Main Ave., Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. Even though it is popularly known as the Providence Branch of the Scranton Public Library, it is currently used as the technical services department of the Lackawanna County Library System and is no longer open to the public. Aaron Burr Silkman constructed the home from trees and wood that originally stood on the property in 1840. As it is still the original structure with only minor renovations, it is considered one of the oldest buildings in the city of Scranton. Aaron Burr Silkman was descended from John Silkman who arrived from Germany in the 1700s. He would serve in the Revolutionary War. His son, Daniel, would marry Joanna Brundage. She was a descendant of John Winthrop, one of the founding members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Daniel's grandchildren, William and Mary, would be some of the first people to live in the Silkman House. Aaron Burr Silkman gave the house to them six years after its construction in 1849. In return Aaron received a farm in Taylor, Pennsylvania. He would live in Scranton for a time before dying in Vineland, New Jersey in 1895. William and Mary Silkman would raise their family, including a pet parrot, in the house. During renovations items such as hoop skirts, rawhide trunks, handmade barrels, hats, canning supplies, and other family items were discovered. Some of the items, such as an old stove, are still in the house today. The last Silkman to live in the household was Augusta Silkman, who died in 1937. After her death, the property was sold by her heirs to a group of citizens to use the building as a library and cultural center. On November 1, 1938, the Silkman House was completely restored and set up for use as a branch of the Scranton Public Library. During the ceremonies, remarks were made by Thomas F. Kennedy who represented the Works Progress Administration, Harold A Wooster who was the chief librarian of the Scranton Public Library, and Mayor Fred J. Heuster. It also included a dedication ceremony for the Walter W. Winton Jr. Fountain located inside of the building, and a historical exhibition located on the second floor. As the a branch of the Scranton Public Library, the Silkman House served the Providence neighborhood of the city of Scranton. It existed until December 2005, when it was closed due to low circulation numbers. At this point the Lackawanna River Corridor Association, an environmental education organization, expanded into the first floor of the building. They had been operating out of the second floor of the Silkman House since 1996 with the Providence Branch Library operating out of the first floor.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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