SCRANTON — The revamped Robinson Park on East Mountain sports new looks and amenities.
City officials, stakeholders and others attended a ribbon cutting Monday to celebrate the $1.1 million project that brought to Robinson Park new disabled-accessible playground equipment, parking, walkways, a multiuse court for basketball and pickleball, and a trail through woods, as well as a fishing dock and kayak launch at Mountain Lake across the street from the playground.
“This project, as you see from the large group of people here (attending the ribbon cutting), has been a true team effort up here on East Mountain,” Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said. The effort involved the city, state agencies, the East Mountain Neighborhood Association and the nonprofit Deutsch Institute, which has a long-term lease on a building at the park, among others. “We got the money together and made sure that we always worked with the East Mountain residents and built a park that they and their kids are going to want to use.”
Mayor Paige Cognetti, project supporters, and community member celebrate the completed upgrades to Robison Park in Scranton by cutting a ribbon on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Renovations at Robinson Park were funded through a $481,600 Community Conservation Partnerships Program grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Bureau of Recreation and Conservation awarded in September 2022. The city also allocated as grant matches $502,885 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, called ARPA, and $141,078 in city dollars.
Encompassing 30.42 acres, Robinson Park at 98 Mountain Lake Road is the city’s second-largest park and the only city park with a lake. Much of the park footprint is woods and the lake. The trail winds along a newly paved 0.8-mile loop through the woods.
The Deutsch Institute also has renovations of the building underway. When completed, possibly later this year, the building with a distinctive A-frame roof will be used by the institute for offices and to provide recreational and wellness programming to people with disabilities and the surrounding community.
A building leased by the nonprofit Deutsch Institute at the newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The city’s 2021 Recreation Needs Assessment and Master Plan evaluated conditions of all of the city’s parks and recreation facilities, proposed improvements and raised prospects of fundamental changes to some of them. The review recommended improved access to Mountain Lake at Robinson Park. The renovation project achieved that with recent installations of an accessible fishing dock at one end of the lake and a kayak launch on the other side.
The fishing dock at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. The new addition was park of the city’s $1.1 million upgrades to the park. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The new fishing dock at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The city also improved stormwater management at the park to prevent drainage issues.
Residents earlier this month began taking advantage of the renovated park by using the new kayak launch and joining a neighborhood Bunny Hunt during the Easter holiday weekend.
Robinson Park is the latest park to get improvements under the Cognetti administration. Some of the others have included Billy Barrett Park in Minooka, Oakmont Park near Lake Scranton and the North Scranton Mini Park. Other park sites getting new aquatic and rehabilitation projects include the Novembrino Splash Pad in West Scranton, Connell Park in South Scranton, the former defunct Penn Ridge site on Capouse Avenue, Nay Aug Park in the Hill Section and Weston Field. Another project will overhaul the Grace Street Playground in the Plot Section.
Robinson Park dates to 1911, when Scranton acquired the park property from Mina Robinson, according to a public notice in the Oct. 6, 1911, edition of The Tribune Republican. Robinson and her husband, Philip, who were Bavarian immigrants from Germany, were among the city’s early brewers. After her husband died, Robinson, a widow with 11 children, became a successful entrepreneur in her own right, in brewing and banking.
Mina Robinson in 1911 conveyed to the city of Scranton a park property on East Mountain. The site is called Robinson Park. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, holding large scissors, cuts a ribbon on the newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The playground at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. The amenity was part of the city’s efforts to upgrade Scranton’s second largest park. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Mayor Paige Cognetti, project supporters, and community member celebrate the completed upgrades to Robison Park in Scranton by cutting a ribbon on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The fishing dock at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. The new addition was park of the city’s $1.1 million upgrades to the park. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
A basketball/pickleball court at the newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
A building leased by the nonprofit Deutsch Institute at the newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The new fishing dock at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Mina Robinson in 1911 conveyed to the city of Scranton a park property on East Mountain. The site is called Robinson Park. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)