Looking Back

Ann O’Hara
Posted 8/21/12

James Archbald was born on March 3, 1793 in Ayrshire, Scotland, to a family of shepherds. The family emigrated to the U. S. in 1805 when James was 12 and settled on a farm in New York’s Mohawk …

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Looking Back

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James Archbald was born on March 3, 1793 in Ayrshire, Scotland, to a family of shepherds. The family emigrated to the U. S. in 1805 when James was 12 and settled on a farm in New York’s Mohawk Valley. In 1824 he went into the canal and railroad industry, in 1829 replacing John B. Jervis as the general superintendent of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, serving from soon after the D&H Canal and Gravity Railroad opened until 1854.

Archbald was instrumental in the planning of the Pennsylvania Coal Company Gravity Railroad, which ran from Pittston to Hawley. After his D&H career, he became vice president of the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad and in 1856 became the general manager and chief engineer of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and moved to Scranton, where he lived until his death in 1870. In 1851 Archbald was elected as the first mayor of Carbondale and served four terms. The Borough of Archbald was named in his honor.

From the collection of the Wayne County Historical Society, 810 Main St., Honesdale. The museum and research library are open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a. m. to 4 p. m.

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