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WILKES-BARRE — There’s still time to get your ticket to a party that’s been 250 years in the making.
Wilkes-Barre is the oldest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, tracing its roots to a village founded by Connecticut settlers in 1769.
The City of Wilkes-Barre will celebrate its 250th anniversary with a Founders Day celebration on Saturday, Sept. 7 in Kirby Park, and the historic occasion also will include a special cocktail reception to be held on the rooftop level of the Citizens Bank Building, 8 West Market St.
The reception, set for 7 to 10 p.m. on Sept. 7, will be a 21-and-over event featuring food stations and cocktails catered by Jonathan’s Restaurant, music by Rich Jenkins, a complimentary wine glass — and, of course, a rooftop view of the evening’s fireworks, which are set to begin around 9 p.m.
Attire is formal and tickets are $125 a person, with attendance limited to 150 guests.
The City of Wilkes-Barre has partnered with the Wilkes-Barré Preservation Society, Diamond City Partnership, the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, and the Times Leader Media Group to sponsor the event.
Tickets are available online through the event’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/citizens-bank-building/250th-founders-day-celebration-of-wilkes-barre-rooftop-gala/1079827475740979/
Public activities in Kirby Park, meanwhile, will begin at 11 a.m. and include games, food vendors, hot air balloon rides and live entertainment.
History
The first attempt at settlement was in 1762 by members of the Susquehannah Company of Connecticut. Permanent settlement was in 1769 and by 1770 Sons of Liberty leader Colonel John Durkee laid out 50 town plots and named the Yankee village after John Wilkes and Isaac Barré, two British members of Parliament who supported the colonial America cause in the House of Commons.
Originally, Native American tribes known as the Iroquois Confederacy came to Wilkes-Barre and the Wyoming Valley to fish and hunt. Several smaller tribes would briefly pass through the area at the invitation or subjection of the Iroquois.
The initial Connecticut settlers claimed Northeastern Pennsylvania under a 1662 charter from King Charles II of England. A few years later in 1681, King Charles would also issue a charter to William Penn for the same lands. To complicate the situation further, Iroquois tribes would sell the disputed territory to both “Yankees” and “Pennamites.” After 40 years, the conflict was resolved so that the Connecticut settlers retained title to their lands but swore an oath of allegiance to Pennsylvania.
In 1786, Wilkes-Barre was named the county seat of Luzerne County. In 1806, Wilkes-Barre was incorporated as a borough. In 1871 it was incorporated as a city.