Lackawanna
County, Pennsylvania, USGenWeb
Donald
T.
Murray
(1929 – 2018)
Minooka Pen & Ink Artist
 |
5a,
b) Moffat Coal Breaker, Taylor, PA Acrylic and watercolor paintings of the Moffat Coal Breaker in Taylor PA. The breaker was built in 1915-16 by the D. L. & W. Railroad. At that time, most breakers were made only of wood and steel. The Moffat Breaker was unusual because it was also reinforced with concrete. The breaker was razed in about 1980. |
 |
 |
6) Bootleg Breaker, Nov
1961 (location not identified) Bootleg mining was illegal coal mining common in the late 1920s and throughout the Great Depression when collieries closed down, leaving tens of thousands of miners out of work. Typically, a small group of men, including unemployed coal miners, would dig holes into existing mines owned by others, often a coal company. They would then remove and prepare the coal for sale on a bootleg market. Don Murray’s pencil drawing illustrates a bootleg breaker, a crude wood and metal structure built above the mine entrance that enabled bootleg miners to hoist loads of coal to the surface, where it would be broken up, cleaned and prepared for sale. Sometimes these breakers were hidden inside buildings to avoid detection. Don grew up in the Anthracite Coal Region during the Depression and may have seen bootleg breakers near closed mines in West Scranton. He probably referenced an old photograph for this drawing. |
 |
7)
Quint's Army & Navy, Scranton, PA Pen & ink drawing of Quint’s Army & Navy Store, a Scranton landmark, located at 107 Lackawanna Ave, at the corner of Franklin Ave. It closed in 2007 and was razed in October 2010. For 87 years, the store sold everything from boots to hunting knives. Earl Quint owned the business for many years. In 2004, it was sold to the owners of the nearby Penn Furniture Store, who had it razed and turned into a parking lot for their customers. |
 |
8)
Bogart Place, off Cedar Ave., Scranton, PA Watercolor painting of the alleyway behind the Coney Island Restaurant on Cedar Ave. The name of the alley was changed recently to Bogart Court. Building facades were restored, and shops and boutiques were added as part of “The Renaissance at 500” redevelopment project in the adjacent 500 block of Lackawanna Avenue. |
 |
9)
Hotel Capitol, Spruce St. & Penn Ave., Scranton, PA Pen & ink drawing of the Hotel Capitol, located at 302 Spruce St., near the corner of Penn Ave. The building still stands. The Hotel Jermyn can be seen in the background. In the 1960s, the building between the two hotels was torn down and replaced with the Globe Parking Garage. |
 |
10) Rear of
Lackawanna Ave, before Steamtown, Scranton, PA Panoramic watercolor painting of Scranton’s skyline from behind Lackawanna Ave, before many of the buildings were razed to make room for construction of the Steamtown Mall in 1993. |
 |
11) Trolley #
409, Corner of Adams Ave. & Spruce St., Scranton, PA Pen & ink drawing of the #409 Trolley Car making a right turn onto Spruce St, near the Lackawanna County Courthouse. The Stoehr & Fister Furniture Store can be seen at right. |
 |
12) Path above Roaring
Brook, Nay Aug Park, Scranton, PA, 1962 (etching)
This etching, done in 1962, is one of Don’s earliest and most unusual pieces. The path was once located at the lower edge of Nay Aug Park, above the Roaring Brook Gorge. On a heavy, coated scratchboard, Don first layered on black ink, then used an etching knife to cut out the image. He described the piece as resembling a “negative,” with white spaces, versus black lines, comprising the image. The finished piece has a unique, silvery, monochrome look…a blend of white, black and shades of gray. |
