As Scrantonians prepare to select a new mayor, former Mayor David Wenzel offered the Lackawanna Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees a look at some of the Electric City's most extraordinary leaders on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Wenzel, historian and author of the book, "Scranton's Mayors," gave a top 10 list of Scranton's greatest mayors, with one codicil - the list includes no living mayors.
"I like them all too much and I couldn't put one above the other," he said. "Plus, I have to live with these people."
He also refrained from commenting on the current crop of mayor candidates, focusing on the colorful mayors of Scranton's past.
He based his list on four factors: vision, accomplishments, political savvy and personal story.
Some attendees found it ironic that Mr. Wenzel, who will be remembered as one of Scranton's extraordinary mayors, is touting his predecessors. In Vietnam, a landmine injured Mr. Wenzel so badly, that he lost both legs, a portion of an arm and sight in one eye.
"He is not the sort of person to say anything extraordinary about himself," said Scranton resident and attendee Catherine Slangan. "The Scranton people had confidence in him and he did a good job as mayor."
Here's Mr. Wenzel's top 10 Scranton mayors:
1. Terrence V. Powderly, 1878-1884. One of 12 children born of Irish immigrant parents in Carbondale, Mr. Powderly had no more than a fifth grade education. By 22, he became leader of his machinist union local. At the age of 29, he was elected mayor as part of the Greenback Labor Party, defeating a Democrat/Republican coalition candidate. While mayor, he served as president of the national Knights of Labor and locked horns regularly in public disputes with labor-leery Bishop O'Hara. President McKinley appointed Mr. Powderly U.S. Commissioner General of Immigration, and he remains Scranton's youngest elected mayor and the only who was neither Democrat nor Republican.
2. Ezra Ripple, 1886 to 1890. A Union soldier in the Civil War, Mr. Ripple is known for a daring, unsuccessful escape from the notorious Andersonville prison camp in which a pack of dogs brought him down. Under his watch as mayor, Scranton became the Electric City, as Mr. Ripple oversaw the electrification of the city and installation of the electric streetcar system. He paved the first asphalt roads and dedicated the prominent Soldiers & Sailors monument on Courthouse Square.
3. James T. Hanlon, 1946-1962. The former administrator of the Clarks Summit State Hospital served four terms at a time when Scranton transformed from the Republican-dominated city to a Democratic-dominated city. He distinguished himself as a mediator in strikes and as initiator of the Scranton Redevelopment Authority. He was known for near daily handouts to the homeless in the city. Although he wasn't a drinker, male visitors to his office often got a cocktail and women got a pair of nylons.
4. John Durkan, 1922-1926. At a time when Scranton was literally falling into the ground, citizens elected mine subsidence activist John Durkan, the first Democrat elected in 30 years. He fought to make mine operators liable for damage caused by subsidence and began talks of merging Scranton and Dunmore. The GOP-dominated city council rejected the proposal, accusing Mr. Durkan of trying to tilt the city electorate by annexing Democrat-dominated Dunmore.
5. Edmund B. Jermyn, 1914-1918, 1926-1930. The most educated mayor in Scranton history attended boarding academy and business schools and ran family operations. He founded the city's recreation and health departments and the Municipal Hospital for Contagious Diseases in West Mountain. Caught in a slot machine/kickback scandal in his second term, he served two months of a one-year jail sentence, making him the only Scranton mayor to do time.
6. Frank Beamish, 1884-1886.
7. William T. Schmidt, 1962-1966.
8. John Von Bergen. 1909-1914.
9. Howard Snowdon. 1942-1946.
10. William Monies, 1869-1872.
Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com