Living in Swoyersville, PA — A Coal Borough That Kept Its Footing

Swoyersville is a Wyoming Valley borough of 5,008 residents (2020 Census), tucked between Kingston, Forty Fort and Luzerne on the west side of the Susquehanna. It began as part of Kingston Township, which the Susquehanna Company chartered in 1790, and broke away to incorporate as its own borough in 1888.

The name has a story most residents can tell you. The town was originally Swoyerville, after mine owner John Henry Swoyer. In the 1950s the borough put the question of adding an “s” to a special vote. The measure passed, and Swoyersville has been Swoyersville ever since.

The Coal Story

Coal mining was the borough’s chief industry until the 1950s. After the Knox Mine Disaster — the 1959 catastrophe that sent the Susquehanna pouring into the workings and effectively ended deep anthracite mining in the Wyoming Valley — mining here ceased except for continued work at the colliery on Main Street, which ran into the 1960s.

What that left behind is visible in the landscape, and the borough has worked at reclaiming it: roughly seven acres of residual coal waste from the Harry E. Colliery have been targeted for conversion into recreational sports fields. It is a slow project, and we would rather describe it as underway than promise you a finished park.

Outdoors & Parks

Morgan Recreation Park is the borough’s park, donated to Swoyersville on February 16, 1953 as a memorial to Jesse Taylor Morgan.

The borough’s recreational history runs deeper than what survives today. Skadoo Park, owned by Holy Trinity Church, had a pavilion where churches brought in bands and held dances. The Polo Grounds, near Church Street across from the Roosevelt School, held the first baseball diamond in the area with bleachers — admission was fifty cents.

Food & Drink

Swoyersville sits in the middle of the valley’s densest restaurant corridor. Kingston is immediately adjacent, Forty Fort is next door — where Pizza L’Oven has been serving pan-fried Sicilian pizza since 1975 — and downtown Wilkes-Barre is a few minutes across the river.

Schools

Swoyersville is served by the Wyoming Valley West School District, formed in July 1966 when nine districts merged under Pennsylvania’s Act 299 reorganization law. It serves nine boroughs: Courtdale, Edwardsville, Forty Fort, Kingston, Larksville, Luzerne, Plymouth, Pringle and Swoyersville. The district’s single high school, Wyoming Valley West Senior High School, is in Plymouth and serves all nine.

School Performance

State assessment results for the high school serving Swoyersville, from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Future Ready PA Index, 2024–25 school year:

• Wyoming Valley West Senior High School — Keystone Literature 40.1% proficient or advanced (statewide 49.9%) · Keystone Algebra I 22.5% (statewide 41.7%) · four-year graduation rate 87.2% (statewide 88.0%)

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Education, Future Ready PA Index, 2024–25. We publish these same three measures, from this same source, on every community page in this guide.

Everyday Essentials

Kingston covers groceries, pharmacies and daily retail next door, with the full Wilkes-Barre lineup minutes away. Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, operated by the nonprofit Tenor Health Foundation since February 2026, is the nearest hospital with an emergency department.

The Homes

Swoyersville is a compact, well-established borough of coal-era singles and doubles on a walkable grid — the housing that got built when the mines were running and the population was climbing. It offers a more accessible price point than neighboring Kingston and Forty Fort while sitting in the same school district and the same five-minute radius of everything, which is the whole argument for buying here.

Because it sits above the river rather than on it, much of the borough avoids the floodplain questions that dominate the riverfront towns — but confirm the flood determination on any specific parcel rather than assuming.