George W. Scranton
| George Whitfield Scranton | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 12th district |
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In office March 4, 1859 – March 24, 1861 |
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| Preceded by | Paul Leidy |
| Succeeded by | Hendrick Bradley Wright |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 11, 1811 Madison, Connecticut, US |
| Died | March 24, 1861 (aged 49) Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Relations | Selden T. Scranton (brother), Joseph A. Scranton (second-cousin) |
| Occupation | Industrialist |
| Religion | Protestant |
George Whitfield Scranton (May 11, 1811 – March 24, 1861) was an industrialist and politician, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from March 4, 1859, until his death in 1861. Moving to Pennsylvania in the late 1830s to establish an iron furnace, he and his brother Selden T. Scranton are considered among the founders of the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, named for their family. They and two partners established what became known as the Iron & Coal Company. They developed a method of producing T-rails for constructing railroad track, which previously had been imported from England. The innovation led to a boom in production of track and construction of railroads.
Scranton became a major industrialist, also leading the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, which depended on the iron industry.
After his death, his cousin Joseph H. Scranton, an early investor who had moved to this city, became president and the cousin's son, William Walker Scranton, became general manager of the Iron & Coal Company. W.W. Scranton managed the company during and after the Scranton General Strike of 1877, founding the Lackawanna Steel Company.
George Scranton was born in Madison, Connecticut. Among his siblings was his brother Selden T. Scranton. He attended Lee’s Academy. He moved to Belvidere, New Jersey, in 1828 and became a teamster. He and his brother both worked at Oxford Furnace, an iron manufacturing factory.
Learning of extensive iron and coal deposits in northeast Pennsylvania, the two Scranton brothers became interested in potential for new industry and moved to this area of mining "hard" or anthracite coal. Together with Sanford Grant and Philip H. Mattes, they formed the firm of Scrantons, Grant & Company. Mattes was head of a branch of a bank in Easton, Pennsylvania, and helped gain financing.
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