Pictured is the Duryea Train Station in 1951.

Pictured is the Duryea Train Station in 1951.

The founders of www.duryeapa.com, the Duryea history site , are looking for vintage photos of Duryea – pre-1960.

The group is looking for photos pertaining to sports teams, schools, classrooms and graduations, church picnics and first communions, saloons, hotels, stores, parades, street scenes, the Phoenix and Columbia coal breakers, coal mines, miners, trains, carnivals, floods, gas stations, parties, street cars, movie theaters, etc .

They are also looking for pictures of Marcy Park and the Shukwit Dance Pavilion, Ostrowski’s Hall, the Warnke Washery, the Duryea Rec, the Magazine Field, the Duryea Silk Mill, the Echo House, farms and peek-a-boo patch houses that were across the Stephenson Street Bridge near the Babylon Colliery and lastly the Excelsior, Black Diamond and Germania Hose Companies.

Any photos that would show buildings or backgrounds of buildings on Main Street would be a major help in researching what Duryea was back in the day.

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The website was founded by Bernie Stiroh, Mike Lizonitz and Nancy Stiroh Davis in 2007 to preserve Duryea’s history . In the last 17 years, the website has amassed more than 60,000 photos, documents and records and has had more than 700,000 visitors from all over the world.

Old Duryea photos are quickly disappearing along with the people who have them. In many cases, these photos are deteriorating in damp basements, attics or even worse get thrown out when families move to a new location These historical photos can never be replaced and will be lost to the ages forever.

Photos or questions can be emailed to duryeaoldphotos@gmail.com or sent to Bernie Stiroh, 59 Lakeside Trail, Kinnelon, New Jersey 07405. The pictures will be copied and returned promptly. It is also possible to have your pictures picked up. They will be scanned and returned the next day.

These historic pictures will eventually be added to the collections which have already been presented to the Osterhout Library, the Albright Library, the West Pittston Library, the Luzerne County Historical Society, the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, the Greater Pittston Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum.

A collection of these vintage photos will be available in the near future at the Duryea Borough Building.

Thanks in advance for your continued help and support.

The Research Team and Volunteers at www.duryeapa.com