Driving around the country, you may have seen something rising from a field that resembles a large bowling pin. Or, more likely, you have driven past these without a second glance. This was my experience with the East Texas VOR/DME. As part of my job as a cultural resource specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), I determine if properties around projects are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. I have driven the State Route 78 corridor through the Lehigh Valley an uncountable number of times but never noticed this particular building. The property is adjacent to the highway where we were proposing work, so I decided to find out more about it.
Author: Guest Contributor (Page 1 of 17)
The Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Office occassionally asks our partners to share their news, successes, challenges, and perspectives on historic preservation matters in Pennsylvania.
On large stained and moss-covered stone masonry abutments over a single line of tracks in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County rested a dinosaur, a wrought iron relic of the past originally constructed to support the industry of a developing nation. Its appearance was worn and weathered from over 140 years of service.
Random holes and a mixed bag of fastener types and sizes littered the visible faces. The original railroad floor system was long gone and replaced with a timber vehicular deck. Its live load carrying capacity was a mere fraction of what it once was. However, under all of this rust was a diamond, a rare and complete example of a wrought iron pin-connected warren pony truss with built-up corrugated diagonal tension members, the last of its kind.
This is the story of relocation and reuse, adaptive reuse, of the last known remaining pin-connected wrought iron Warren pony truss in Pennsylvania – The Howellville Truss (2004RE01890).
September is International Underground Railroad Month and this week’s post features the story of Robert Purvis and Byberry Hall.
In 1844, Robert Purvis, a prominent Black abolitionist and leading figure in the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia, moved with his wife Harriet and their children to Byberry, a rural village in the far northern part of Philadelphia County.
For the next 27 years, they helped make Byberry a center of abolition and Underground Railroad activity. In 1847, Robert and two others built Byberry Hall as a meeting place for discussion of anti-slavery and other social issues. The building is now a key site on the Poquessing Trail of History.
Railroads played a vital role in Pennsylvania’s economic development, particularly during the Industrial Revolution and beyond. They facilitated the transportation of goods, raw materials, and people, fostering industrial growth, urbanization, and the expansion of markets. The construction of railroads like the Beech Creek Railroad and the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad, that primarily transported coal and other materials to homes and factories throughout Pennsylvania, played a significant role in the industrialization of the state.
Pennsylvania has 49 Certified Local Governments, one of which is Lower Makefield Township in Bucks County. The Certified Local Government (CLG) program is a partnership between municipal governments, the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO), and the National Park Service (NPS) that promotes and supports effective historic preservation programs and policies in Pennsylvania municipalities.
The Howellville Truss Bridge is a great example of a Warren Pony Truss bridge, originally built in 1879 to serve the Northern Central Railway, which ran between Baltimore, Maryland, and Sunbury, 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.
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