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.)
Dickson City Borough was organized in 1875. It was named after Thomas Dickson, founder of the Dickson Manufacturing Company and president of the D & H Railroad from 1869 to 1884. Originally the borough, which was carved out of Blakely, was called Dickson. The postal authorities added City to distinguish if from other post offices of the same name. A suggestion that the place be called either Hollister or Vaughn was frowned upon. Anthracite coal mining is the principal industry. Attempts to establish other industries have failed principally because of fire. A furnace and a stove plant were burned out and a squib factory destroyed by an explosion in which seven lost their lives. In addition a file works and brewery were in time abandoned. Despite the loss of these industries Dickson City today [1928] is the second most populous place in the midvalley.
To William H Richmond, who lives in Scranton, just along the borough border, and whose palatial home is now a school for the training of young men and women in useful industrial pursuits, Dickson City owes much of its early development. In 1859 Mr Richmond with a partner, Chittenden by name, opened coal drifts in Dickson, having leased the land from Messrs Pughe, Baker and Jones. Later he organized the W H Richmond & Co. A breaker erected in 1860 was said to have been the first on the D & H gravity between Carbondale and Scranton. Anthracite in the early days of mining was not prepared, being shipped for the most part "run of mine." This breaker became the property of the Elk Hill Coal & Iron Co, in which Mr Richmond was heavily interested, in 1863. The lands worked by the company were owned by the Central Coal CO, of which Col J H Johnson and Abel Bennett were the chief owners. Col Johnson and Bennett are credited with having sold much of the coal lands owned by the Pennsylvania Coal Co to that concern. The Richmond breaker was destroyed by fire in 1882.
The Priceburg section of the borough, that part which abuts on Olyphant and Blakely, had a later development. Timothy Stevens, who came in 1786 was the first white settler in Dickson. In 1814 he built a mill on the Lackawanna. Captain John Vaughn had a place further up. He made a clearing in 1797. Luke and Michael Decker came in later and purchased farms in what is now Priceburg. Dr B H Throop in the sixties bought 58 acres of the Decker's for $65 an acre. That price also included the minerals. Eli K price and Dr Pancoast made adjoining purchases. The settlement which sprung up following the start at mining was named after Mr Price. "Most of these first settlers in Priceburg," says Dr Hollister in his history, "were Germans." John Jermyn, who had made such a big success of his mining operation in Jermyn, leased the coal rights and in 1880 sank a shaft, erected a breaker and built a number of houses near the mine. The next year the Pancoast Coal Co acquired the property. The town grew rapidly.
In Priceburg is located St Mary's Polish Catholic Church, said to be the largest Polish Catholic congregation in Lackawanna County. Poles dominate not only in Priceburg, but the borough generally.
In 1872 during a period of labor unrest an attack was made on L E Judd, superintendent of the Richmond colliery. The Molly Maguire's were charged with the outrage. Mr Judd was not fatally hurt and a few years later was made postmaster.
The Elk Hill Co owned the Dickson City File Works, which had a wide reputation in the eighties for the superior quality of its files. Thomas Sheldon, an English file cutter, was in charge.
The Dickson Squib factory, which manufactured miners' squibs was destroyed by explosion and fire March 31, 1904. Seven workers, all young girls, lost their lives.
The Graf Furnace Company plant, erected in the nineties, was destroyed by fire June 6, 1908. The concern is now located in West Scranton.
The Dickson City Brewing Company plant was abandoned about 1898 after the company merged with the Pennsylvania Central Brewing Company. J George Hufnagel was the organizer of the company.
The chief coal operations ion the borough are those of the Glen Alden Coal Co and the Scranton Coal Co. The Storrs colliery of the former is one of the biggest producers of that company and the same is true of the Johnson colliery owned by the Scranton company. The Storrs shaft was put down in the nineties.
In October following the chartering of the borough [1875] an election was held to fill several offices. H W Loftus was elected burgess; Henry W Smith was first chairman of the council and Frank Dy, chairman of the school board. At the time of the election of the borough there were three schools. The post office was established in 1874 with I E Judd as postmaster. William D Burke, elected in 1875, was the first justice of the peace. Thomas Grier, second postmaster of Dickson, has been an active figure in the affairs of the community since 1866. Mr Grier, now past 80, is still in public life, being a member of the Blakely Poor Board. Dickson City is in the Blakely district. Mr Grier was also a school director, prominent in Democratic politics and Catholic Total Abstinence circles. His earliest employment in Dickson was in the store of Richmond & Co. In 1870 and for many years after he was manager of the store.
In 1887 Dickson City was made a separate Catholic parish called St Thomas. The old church in Blooms Patch, Providence, was taken down and re-erected on Main Street. The dedication was on October 30, that year. For two years the parish was served by a priest from Providence. About 1890 Rev M H Conway was made pastor. He built a rectory. During the pastorate of Rev H J Gerraghty the present beautiful church was built. The dedication was on May 21, 1916. St Mary's (Polish) parish was established Jan 4, 1892. Rev B Iwanowski was the first pastor. For many years St Mary's was the only Polish Catholic Church north of Scranton. In addition there are Presbyterian, Primitive Methodist, German Lutheran and Independent Polish congregations in Dickson.
Dickson City has two companies and two banks.