page_title: Greater Pittston
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Greater Pittston / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Oil on canvas painting depicting the Wyoming Massacre, July 3, 1778.
context_page_description: Greater Pittston is a 65.35 sq mi region in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in reference to the area in and around Pittston. As of 2010, the total population of Greater Pittston is 48,020. This region includes Avoca, Dupont, Duryea, Exeter Boro, Exeter Township, Hughestown, Jenkins Township, Laflin, Pittston Township, West Pittston, West Wyoming, Wyoming, and Yatesville.
context_section_description: 1770s: English men, women, and children (European-Americans) started to settle in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
  1 July 1778: During the Revolutionary War, Fort Jenkins (a patriot stockade in present-day West Pittston) surrendered to the British (under Major John Butler). It was later burned to the ground.
  3 July 1778: A force of British soldiers, led by John Butler, with the assistance of about 700 Indians, attacked and killed nearly 300 Wyoming Valley settlers. Today in the Borough of Wyoming, a monument marks the gravesite of the victims from the Battle of Wyoming.
  4 July 1778: Fort Pittston (located in what is now Pittston City) surrendered to the British and some of it was partially destroyed. It was later restored and used until the end of the Revolutionary War.
  September 1778: Revenge for the Wyoming defeat was taken by American Colonel Thomas Hartley who, with 200 soldiers, burned nine to twelve Seneca, Delaware and Mingo villages along the Susquehanna River in northeast Pennsylvania, including Tioga and Chemung.
  1833: The Wyoming Monument was constructed in Wyoming to commemorate the 1778 battle and the gravesite of the victims from the massacre.
  28 June 1896: The Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston City caved-in and killed 58 miners.
  1908 – 1912: The anthracite coal mining industry, and its extensive use of child labor in the early part of the 20th century, was one of the industries targeted by the National Child Labor Committee and its hired photographer, Lewis Hine. Many of Hine's subjects were photographed in the mines and coal fields in and around Pittston during this time. The impact of the Hine photographs led to the enactment of child labor laws across the country.
  1930s – 1980s: Pittston City emerged as a national center for clothing manufacturing. Thousands of workers, mainly women, labored in many factories throughout the Greater Pittston area. One such woman was Susan Sebastianelli of Pittston Township. Most were members of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) that gained higher wages, workplace health & safety improvements, and employee rights. The ILGWU was active in civic and political life throughout Pennsylvania.
  1934: The right arm of Hughestown resident, Harry Tompkins, was crushed by an Erie Railroad train.  This resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, which laid the foundation for a large part of modern American civil procedure.
  1945 – 1947: Construction of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport took place near the Borough of Avoca.
  22 January 1959: The Knox Mine Disaster in Port Griffith, Jenkins Township, claimed the lives of 12 people and essentially shut down the mining industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
  June 1972: Hurricane Agnes was responsible for massive flooding in and around the Greater Pittston area.
  1974 – 1989: Alleged ghost hauntings took place in the home of Jack and Janet Smurl in West Pittston, inspiring the 1991 film The Haunted.
  25 September 1982: George Banks kills 13 people in a shooting rampage in Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Township.
  1992: The opening scenes from the movie School Ties was filmed in West Pittston; it shows David Green, the hero of the movie (played by Brendan Fraser), hanging out with friends in the streets of the tiny town.
  15 March 1993: Two Pittston firefighters (John Lombardo and Len Insalaco) were killed while fighting a blaze in the city's downtown. A monument was built and the nearby Water Street Bridge was renamed to commemorate their sacrifice.
  2008: The "kids for cash scandal" unfolded over judicial kickbacks at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Two judges, President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan, were convicted of accepting money from Robert Mericle, builder of two private, for-profit youth centers for the detention of juveniles. One center was PA Child Care (in Pittston Township).
  2011: The Borough of Duryea received national attention for its role in the landmark Supreme Court case Boro
caption: The Battle of Wyoming in 1778
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