The following is quoted from Thomas Murphy's 1928 History of Lackawanna County . 1 (Remember that references to now or today refer to 1928 and do not necessarily reflect life in 2003. Among other things, Elmhurst gave up borough status and became a township in 1941.)
When back in 1847 Gilbert Dunning bought the land in and around Elmhurst that whole region was a virgin forest traversed by a single highway, the Drinker Turnpike. There was no railroad, the D L & W not having been built until some six or so years later. Dunning started a sawmill and other wood working plants and within a few years a sizable village grew up so that when the railroad was put through a station was established and named Dunning after the founder of the village. The change to Elmhurst was made about the time the borough was incorporated and was prompted by the hope of Col N G Schoonmaker to make the place an exclusive residential section. While the present name is most appropriate and pleasant sounding, it is to be regretted that the old title was not retained to perpetuate the memory of the man and family which did most for the town and which has figured prominently in the county's history for a full century and more.
John S Finch, S S Welsh, W B Edwards, and Isaac Depew, settled in and around the little village shortly after Dunning. Down the Roaring Brook from Dunning's first mill Peck & Stevens started a similar operation. Dr B H Throop of Scranton was attracted to Dunnings and purchased the Peck & Stevens mills and built two others at a little settlement called Throopville. Dr A P Gardner of Scranton bought up a considerable tract of land about a mile south of the village, built a steam sawmill near what became klnown as Forest Hill. That was in 1857. Later he developed the Glen Home farm, one of the finest establishments of its kind in the country at that time.
Lumbering operations in Dunning provided an abundance of hemlock and oak bark needed in tanning leather so that in a few years an industry of this kind was introduced. L Maynard built the first tannery in Dunning about 1857 or 1858. He later sold to Strong, Robinson & Co of New York. Governor Lucien A Robinson was a member of this firm, which in turn gave way to Eugene Snyder and he in turn to Shultz, Southwick & Co of New York. The tannery had a capacity of 50,000 hides annually.
Stout & Kreistick, Eugene Snyder, Edward Simpson, J M Rhodes, Joshua Miller and E Heermans, in addition to others mentioned, operated saw mills at one time or another in Dunning or nearby. B E Whitman & B Patridge were pioneer blacksmiths. W B Edwards had a carriage and coffin factory and CC Clay a planing mill. J M Rhodes built a grist mill near Forest Hill in 1876. He also operated a store, sawmill and blacksmith shop. At one time Dunning had a tannery, chair factory, shingle mill and several sawmills.
Gilbert Dunning erected the first frame house and raised the first crops, as well as operated the first sawmill. The Forest Hill school house built in 1855 was the first in the township. Some years later a school was built in the village. In 1926 the borough school was destroyed by fire, but immediately replaced by a new structure opened in September, 1927. Strong, Robinson & Co were the first store keepers operating the mercantile establishment in connection with the tannery. Eugene Snyder also had an early store in the village. Harrison Rhodes built a hotel in Dunning very early. The building was burned during the tenancy of George Slote. What was long known as the Railroad House near the railroad station, was built in 1872 by Crockett Robinson. Jay Knickerbocker was another old time inn keeper, who was later postmaster. Years later during the popularity of the Elmhurst boulevard Jacob Schiebel conducted a hotel located on that highway about a mile or so from Elmhurst. The building was burned in 1926.
Methodist preaching services were first held in Dunning, in a small house owned by S S Welsh, and used as a school near the present Erie railroad subway about 1856. Earlier Methodist services had been held in the township, but not in the village. W C Robinson was the leader. Later the class was transferred to the Forest Hill school house. David Davis was the first pastor, appointed about 1854. A Sunday school was organized in 1858, with sixteen pupils and Mr Robinson, superintendent. Eugene Snyder gave impetus to the development of the Baptist congregation when in 1870 he donated a plot of land and church edifice nearly opposite his store in the center of the village for a churhc. The congregtion had been organized the year previous in the village school house by Rev J C Sherman. Phineas Tuthill was the first superintendent of the Sunday school. Roman Catholics in the village and township early went to Dunmore or Moscow to church. A few years ago a start was made in holding Catholic services in Grange Hall and in 1928 a Catholic chapel was dedicated. This is served from Moscow. The first Presbyterian Church in the village that was destroyed by fire has been replaced by a new structure dedicated in November, 1913.
Within a few years after the establishment of a railroad station in Dunning, a post office was located in the village. That was in 1858. D J Peck was the first postmaster. He kept the office in the tannery.
Originally Elmhurst was in Covington Township as was all that vast region east of the mountain from Scranton. When Elmhurst was set up as a borough, however, it was taken out of Roaring Brook Township, which had been established in 1871. With the decline of the lumber industry, shutting down sawmills and wood working plants, Dunning dropped back onto the list of quiet country villages. In 1883 Col Schoonmaker of Scranton purchased much of the land for real estate development and, as noted, shortly changed the name to Elmhurst. To further stimulate home buying and give an assurance of real local government, the town was incorporated as a borough May 27, 1889. The first election was held June 18, 1889, and was hotly contested. E C Simmons was elected burgess over B Buckingham by a vote of 44 to 36.
The light track of the Pennsylvania Coal Company ran through Dunning. This is now approximately the line of the Wyoming division of the Erie. Stations are maintained in Elmhurst by both the Erie and Lackawanna. The Elmhurst resevoir of the Scranton Gas & Water Company is partly within the borough limits. The Drinker Turnpike as well as the Elmhurst Boulevard run through the borough. The Hollisterville road, a concrete highway, starts from a point near the Erie subway. Within recent years both the D L & W and the Erie eliminated the grade crossings in the borough, the former by building a viaduct, the latter a subway. Benjamin H Throop, Jr, whose grandfather was an early mill owner in Elmhurst, built a fine home and kennels in the borough. This property was later acquired by the Greek Catholics for an orphanage. A great modern brick buildinghas been erected for this purpose. A Lithuanian Sisterhood [Congregation of the Poor Sisters of Jesus Crucified and the Sorrowful Mother ], a new order, have a motherhouse in the borough, occupying the old Wehrum residence. The Connell property is now a rest house for the sisters of the Immaculate Heart of the Scranton diocese. Grange Hall is one of the oldest of its kind in the county. William H Peck, Scranton banker, operates an extensive orchard, one of the largest in the whole county, in Elmhurst.