Ceremonial opening held for Luzerne County tourism office inside historic train station

Approximately 70 past and present community and government leaders attended a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday for Luzerne County’s tourism office in the historic former train station in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

The county tourism bureau, known as Visit Luzerne County, has been open to the public in the new space since February, but officials held off on a ceremonial opening due to remaining exterior work, including landscaping and installation of a new grant-funded digital sign on Wilkes-Barre Boulevard, said county Tourism Executive Director Alan Stout.

Market Square Properties Development LLC purchased the property from the county Redevelopment Authority in 2016, and the county leases space inside.

Property developer and owner George Albert said many in the crowd Thursday helped with the project over the last six years, including volunteers who cleaned out trash from trespassers multiple times. He described the transformation as a “heavy lift” and “huge group effort.”

“This is truly a joint effort between everybody in the community that’s involved, and it’s enlightening to see that take place in this day and age considering where all the rhetoric is,” Albert said. “I’m glad here in Wilkes-Barre and Luzerne County, we’re still working together as a community to accomplish projects like we see here today.”

Stout thanked state Sen. John Yudichak, I-Swoyersville, for securing a $250,000 state tourism grant for his office that is funding marketing initiatives and the new digital sign, which helps promote local events to thousands of motorists daily.

Yudichak said the station preservation and other projects blending the region’s history and future require collaboration.

“This beautiful building could have gone the way of the dust bin of history. We could have lost this monument to our past, and now a testament to our future,” Yudichak said.

Tourism is “big business” in Pennsylvania, generating $46 billion in the state annually, including $4.8 billion in local, state and federal taxes, he said.

In the county, more than $1 billion in revenue and 7,200 jobs are linked to tourism, he said.

Yudichak praised the county’s beautiful mountains and trails and other amenities.

“We have a great region, and now we have a facility that is going to celebrate Luzerne County for years to come,” he said.

County Manager Randy Robertson and council Chairwoman Kendra Radle also spoke, praising the project.

Stout reiterated the station’s history, saying it was built in 1868 and served as a passenger station until 1963 and a freight station until 1972.

“For nearly 100 years, some of the finest luxury passenger trains ran from here to places such as Scranton, Philadelphia and New York,” he said.

In the 1980s and 1990s, it was known as The Station and Market Street Square and served as a popular nightclub, restaurant and hotel.

Since the tourism office opening, many have visited and pointed out the exact spots inside where they met their spouses, Stout said.

More exterior sprucing is coming, including a brick base and pillars for the digital sign and kiosks detailing the structure’s history, Stout said.