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Amsden Located
In Section 10 D On Tour Map. . . |
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Amsden Located
In Section 10 D On Tour Map. . . |
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Amsden |
Amsden
Joel Amsden was born in Vermont on September 5, 1812, and educated as a civil engineer at Norwich University in New Hampshire.
He spent the 1830's and 1840's working as a surveyor and engineer for railroad and canal companies in New York.
In 1849, Amsden became the civil engineer at the Glendon Iron Works near Easton, PA and at this time began focusing on his architectural career, designing several public buildings. He met George Scranton in New York around the same time that the Scranton family was securing a contract with the New York and Erie Railroad to produce the first iron "T" rails, which would establish Scranton as an industrial center.
Mr. Scranton offered Amsden the position of engineer for the growing company and in 1850, Joel Amsden came to Scranton to assist the new Scranton and Platt Company (later Lackawanna Iron and Coal) in planning the layout for the newly formed city.
The 1850's he continued to work as company engineer for the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company and also became resident engineer for the construction of the northern division of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad preceding James Archbald as the company's chief engineer.
In Scranton, Amsden was directly responsible for developing the downtown area. Working with Joseph C. Platt, he selected the street names Wyoming and Lackawanna for two major avenues and then decided to name the other avenues after great men and streets after trees. In addition, Amsden opened his own private architectural firm in 1851 and served as Scranton postmaster in 1853.
Amsden designed:
In 1853, First Presbyterian Church, a Victorian Gothic Revival wooden structure at 115 North Wyoming Avenue in 1853. (razed in 1902 when the new church was built.)
The original St. Luke's Church, razed in 1875, which was used until 1866 when the present church was built.
In 1852, the Wyoming House, a three story brick hotel at Wyoming and Lackawanna Avenues, taken down in 1896 and now the site of the Oppenheim Building.
In 1857, he designed George Scranton's home at 523 Lackawanna Avenue, now the site of the Hotel Casey.
The Sanderson home (later the Blair home before it was purchased in 1897 to be used as the site of the New Hahnemann Hospital until 1917 when it was razed to be used as the site of Y.M.C.A.
In 1856, Amsden designed the James Archbald home at Ridge Row, now the site of a parking lot for the University of Scranton, adjacent to the Catlin House at 232 Monroe Avenue.
Joel Amsden died in 1868.
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Dunmore Cemetery
Cemetery Association Of Dunmore
400 Church Street, P.O. Box 15
Dunmore, PA 18512
Phone: (570) 343-8536 |
Fax: (570) 343-3799
Email: dunmorecemetery@verizon.net
