Built in the 1800s, the Scranton State School for the Deaf has been a recognizable piece of property in Scranton and Dunmore for over a century.

SCRANTON, Pa. — The sights and sounds of ongoing construction have become a constant part of Max Conway’s day.

“For me, it’s just trying to keep this historic part of our community alive because I think if a few more years went by, these buildings probably would have had to been torn down,” said Max Conway, Dunmore.

Conway currently serves as the Mayor of Dunmore, but here he’s just another business partner who’s been hard at work the last few months working to revive the former Scranton State School for the Deaf, a nearly 9-acre property that straddles the Scranton-Dunmore border.

“I mean, I’m from the area. I live just a couple blocks from here, and I grew up a couple blocks from here, so it’s always meant something to me. These buildings have always kind of been part of my childhood,” said Conway.

Now he’s looking to transform the longtime vacant 9-building property into an apartment complex. 

Conway says lots of work had to be done on the outside, like new roofs and windows, just to start work on the inside. In some parts concrete walls, nearly a foot thick were taken out to make way for a new floor plan. “You can start to see like the vision kind of coming together, which is cool once you see like all the studs being put in,” he said.

Conway has been sure to track the progress and preserve as much as he can, knowing how much these buildings not only mean to him, but to the greater community. “Just these buildings are so historic, and honestly, like a lot of folks that went to school here or were teachers here, they’re probably the most interested in the whole project. Like they reach out to me all the time on Instagram or Facebook and asking me, you know, if they can come by for a tour or whenever we have a grand opening, if they can come in for a ribbon cutting. So it’s been really cool the reception we’ve had from the deaf community,” he said.

Conway says they expect to have the first of several building phases wrapped up by the end of this year.