Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office
The Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Office occassionally asks our partners to share their news, successes, challenges, and perspectives on historic preservation matters in Pennsylvania.
Last year, PA SHPO staff had the opportunity to visit the State Library here in Harrisburg and learn more about their work and research collections. The Forum Building – built in 1931 and now home to the State Library – had just reopened after a long renovation project.
I asked Kathy Hale, Supervisor for Public Services & Government Documents Librarian if she’d be willing to share the treasures that are the Pennsylvania State Library collections with our readers.
Two Black men, Edenborough Smith and John Harshberger appear in the 1850 census on tracts of land now situated in Laurel Ridge State Park overlooking Johnstown’s West End. From at least the 1820s, and possibly as early as the turn of the 19th century, Smith, Harshberger and their families lived in a community of Black, White, and Indigenous people that has been referred to as the Laurel Hill Settlement, Brown Farm and “the Mountain.” Eight generations lived on the Mountain until the property was claimed by the state in 1967.
In an effort to preserve one of Pennsylvania’s historic homes, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is marketing for sale, removal, and preservation a two-story, three bedroom, one bath, Italianate-style house with many beautiful original features including brick exterior, wood floors, wrap-around porch, and pyramidal roof capped by a cupola.
At the end of July, PennDOT celebrated the relocation of a historic bowstring truss bridge in Schuylkill County onto Schuylkill River Greenways’ trail system with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Bridges are a part of everyone’s lives, we walk across them, drive across them, and use them for cover in the rain. But do we ever really stop to appreciate the history of these bridges? My internship this summer focused a lot on historic bridges, especially stone arch bridge, and helped me to appreciate their value in the community.
The practice of historic preservation is like a family heirloom, passed down from one generation to the next so that when you get tasked with the role of heirloom keeper, it reminds us to not forget about the past and look to how it has shaped the present.
The Everett Theatre, an Art Deco style theatre built in 1923, continues to grace the streets of Everett, Bedford County. Located on Main Street along the 1913 Lincoln Highway heritage corridor (Route 30), the Everett Theatre is within the National Register’s Everett Historic District.
This summer I had the privilege of being a Keystone Intern for the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office. As a SHPO intern, I was part of the Archaeology Historic Preservation team housed within Environmental Review. Through this internship I got to experience the innerworkings of the PA Preservation system and how invaluable the SHPO’s work is to historic sites across Pennsylvania through site visits with the PA SHPO staff and other PHMC interns.
One year ago, I decided to uproot my life by leaving behind the corporate world and going back to school in search of a more fulfilling career. After my internship at the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), I am pleased to say that I am on the right track.
Last year, we announced PennDOT’s new funding source for historic metal truss bridges and highlighted two rehabilitation projects that were selected for the new program. With those projects well on their way, the Historic Metal Truss Bridge Capital Rehabilitation Program has since added four additional bridge projects across the Commonwealth.
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