[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 21, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                BOROUGH OF DURYEA CELEBRATES CENTENNIAL

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                         HON. PAUL E. KANJORSKI

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 21, 2001

  Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 
Borough of Duryea, Pennsylvania, which will celebrate its centennial on 
April 7 with a community parade and picnic held by the Duryea 
Centennial Committee.
  Duryea was originally called Babylon because it was a veritable Babel 
of languages and nationalities due to the immigrants who came to work 
in the coal mines.
  The community was also known as Marcy Township before assuming its 
present name. The township was formed from territory taken from 
Pittston, Ransom and Old Forge townships on January 19, 1880. It was 
named for a pioneer, the first British settler in the region, Zebulon 
Marcy, who emigrated from Connecticut in the spring of 1770. A census 
taken at the formation of Marcy Township found 1,159 inhabitants, which 
had increased to 2,904 by 1890. According to the 2000 census, the 
population of Duryea is 4,634.
  The present name of the community commemorates Abram Duryea of New 
York, who bought coal lands in the area in 1845 and opened mines around 
which the town grew up. He served in the Civil War as a colonel of the 
Fifth New York Infantry in May, 1861, and was brevetted major-general 
four years later for his gallant and meritorious services.
  Prior to becoming a borough, Duryea was a post-office village within 
Marcy Township, situated two miles north of Pittston. Duryea was 
incorporated as a borough on April 6, 1901. The first set of ordinances 
was adopted by council and approved by the burgess, whose equivalent 
today is the mayor, on August 23, 1901.
  In 1901, John A. Burlington was the burgess, Gary M. Gray was 
president of the council and Charles D. Evans was borough secretary.
  At that time, a Methodist church and a Catholic church were already 
established in the borough. The community was rich in mining and 
agriculture. Within the borough, there were new coal breakers, along 
with a rapid rise in the real estate market. The community already had 
postal, telegraph and telephone communication, as well as the service 
of three leading railroads, the Lehigh Valley, the Erie and Wyoming 
Valley, and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western.
  Duryea was a thriving community, boasting one baker, two blacksmiths, 
three carpenters, three milliners, one drugstore, two dry goods stores, 
two general stores, one gentleman's furnishings store, three grocery 
stores, a hat and cap store, four hotels, an iron fence manufactory, a 
meat market, a drill moving factory, two livery stables, three 
physicians and one undertaker.
  Today, the majority of the borough is occupied by single-family 
residences. Some of these are company houses that were once owned by 
the coal companies. While there were only 400 homeowners in Duryea in 
1901, today there are 2,089.
  The borough is also still home to commercial enterprises, with two 
small businesses and three manufacturing plants, including Schott Glass 
Technologies, which makes products used in some of the greatest 
scientific ventures of our time. For example, laser glasses from the 
Duryea plant are helping scientists seek cleaner, cheaper sources of 
energy.
  Present-day Duryea, led by Mayor Mark Rostkowski, is also home to six 
churches and six cemeteries, one parochial school, a little-league 
baseball field, a field for junior football and a playground.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to call to the attention of the House of 
Representatives the centennial of the Borough of Duryea, and I wish its 
residents well as they begin a new century for their community.

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