End of an Era

An old photo of the G.A.R. Museum

1894 First National Bank & first location of GAR Post #139

A photo of the building in 2001

GAR Building looking down Penn Avenue

For 104 years, the building on the corner of Penn Avenue and Linden Street, Scranton, PA, has been the home of Lt. Ezra S. Griffin, GAR Post #139 and Lt. Ezra S. Griffin, Camp# 8, SUVCW.  On December 31, 2007 that came to a sad end . 

First sold in 1982, the Sons had one small room that held the GAR Memorial Association Museum and also was the meeting room for the Sons, Auxiliary and recently the Daughters.

A new firm purchased the building in June of 2006 and they have been generous in allowing us to stay there at a reduced amount of rent. The rent they are asking is too high to pay so we have been forced to find a new home.

The last GAR meeting held here was in 1938 with 2 members still living. The last member, Joseph Chapman, passed away on December 20, 1943.

The building has 3 1/2 stories, which included a large meeting room, a Ballroom, Armory, Library and an apartment for the caretaker. The only room left as it was is the Library and that became our meeting room and museum

We have explored several possibilities for a new home and with the generosity of Scranton's Mayor Chris Doherty and the City Council, we moved into the city’s former Police Headquarters located on the bottom floor of City Hall. A much needed new "Comm" center and jail were built to replace the outdated one. Our new location will give us a separate room for the GAR Museum, as well as a meeting room for the Sons and the Ladies will now have a room of their own.

On November 15, 2007, the last meeting of Camp #8 was held in the GAR Hall and officers were sworn in by PA Department Junior Vice Commander Howard Wolfe. The previous meeting was held on October 18, 2007 and we had the honor of hosting the PA Department Commander Lee Walters. We offer our sincere thanks to Commander Walters and his wife Charlotte for making the trip to Scranton to visit our Camp.

While we leave the GAR building for the last time with much sadness and many memories, we look to the future and our new home.  A lot of work needs to be done to prepare our new location before we move in.  It will have more room to display our artifacts and have a properly set up meeting room.