History of Scranton, Texas: From Settlement to Decline
By: Noel Wiggins
Published: 1952
Updated: June 1, 1995
Scranton is on Farm Road 1864 thirty-eight miles southeast of Abilene in western Eastland County. In 1875 the families of D. C. and H. B. Lane and Joe and Aaron Brown settled there, and by the 1880s residents had built a school and a gin. A Mr. Reydon became postmaster when a post office was granted in 1891. In 1903 the Scranton Academy, a preparatory school, opened, and a year later Scranton had 150 residents, an incorporated school district, and dry goods, hardware, and grocery stores. The Scranton Reporter went into publication in 1911. Because the Scranton school had a high school classification in 1943, teachers had to possess credentials, and the schools received state aid. In 1980 through 2000 Scranton had a population of forty, no businesses, and no post office.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Noel Wiggins, “Scranton, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/scranton-tx.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
HNS24
- 1952
- June 1, 1995
