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Areas of minor, heavy congestion reported this morning in the Wyoming Valley

AP PHOTOS: Editor selections from the past week in Asia

<p>Genealogists are accustomed to tracing ancestors scattered far and wide by war, famine and economic depression.</p><p>In mid-20th-century America, though, another kind of massive change took place.</p><p>Fifty years ago this autumn a U.S. president by the stroke of a pen altered the faces of many American communities through massive urban redevelopment. It was initially called the Model Cities program, and wherever applied it meant movement of people, relocation of businesses and realignment of urban streets.</p><p>Untangling all that means work for a genealogist who wants to figure out why an old business district vanished, why a street is no longer there or why an ancestor of a half-century ago suddenly turns up in another town.</p><p>The program as envisioned by President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisors was intended for a few big cities with deteriorated sections. But powerful U.S. Rep. Daniel J. Flood managed to get the city of Wilkes-Barre on the list for the federal money.</p><p>Much (though not all) of the local impact of Model Cities would be felt in the city&#8217;s Heights section, centering on East Market Street. There, whole blocks were torn down; streets rerouted, expanded or abolished; and thousands of residents displaced. New residential and commercial buildings (with new addresses) appeared, including public housing.</p><p>While much the same process was happening elsewhere in America, Wyoming Valley underwent a unique one-two punch of change when massive flooding spawned by tropical storm Agnes struck in 1972. A new influx of federal flood recovery money extended rebuilding beyond the end of Model Cities in 1974 into a whole new era of urban redevelopment that would last through the rest of the 20th century.</p><p>This program, incidentally, went far beyond Wilkes-Barre, bringing massive change to many local communities hit by the disastrous flooding or otherwise qualifying for redevelopment help. Once again people moved (sometimes temporarily to trailer parks), buildings vanished and towns&#8217; infrastructure was realigned.</p><p>For genealogists (particularly those living outside the area), the bottom line is this: factor Model Cities, flood recovery and urban redevelopment into the study of your late-20th-century ancestors here in Wyoming Valley. Hit the old maps, the city directories and the picture books about the flood to see the &#8220;before&#8221; and &#8220;after&#8221; lives your ancestors lived, and don&#8217;t be surprised by what you find.</p><p>Joining the DAR: Do you have ancestors connected with America&#8217;s War of Independence? Would you like to join the Daughters of the American Revolution or its affiliated groups? If so, the DAR will help you. There&#8217;s a free genealogy workshop scheduled for 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Aug. 27 at the Hoyt Memorial Library, Wyoming Avenue, Kingston. Presenters will be Cynthia Brenner and Kathleen Smith of the DAR&#8217;s Shawnee Fort Chapter. Bring all relevant paperwork that you have. To reserve your place by Aug. 23, email smithkdar2001@hotmail.com or call 570 704-9809.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TOM_MOONEY-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Tom Mooney</p><p>Out on a Limb</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at tommooney42@gmail.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Out on a limb: Model Cities, flood recovery and urban redevelopment alter ancestor information in Wyoming Valley