Yeah, Scranton area is kind of an extreme commuter area now for the NYC region, so there's finally some growth. Lots of commuter buses, and a long-planned rail link. It's extremely cheap compared to closer-in suburbia.
I'd assume places like Scranton were declining 100 years ago bc mining and the railroads started declining. Pretty sure that area was economically dependent on mining and railroads.
But yeah, at some point in U.S. history, Scranton was considered pretty important. So important that the rail corridor between NYC and Scranton, called the Lackawanna Cutoff, is arguably one of the most impressive on earth. When it was built, it was considered an engineering wonder and kind of the first "high speed" rail line on earth. It's pretty much a giant viaduct, with a bunch of impressive bridges and tunnels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lackawanna_Cut-Off