Pennsylvania Historic Preservation

Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Category: Community Character (Page 1 of 20)

Large brick building at intersection of two streets with cars and small trees in front.

Out with the Model Ordinance in with the Ordinance Guidebook and Workbook

September 23, 2026 / / 0 Comments

For many years, the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) had a model historic preservation ordinance to help Pennsylvania’s municipalities protect historic places in their communities. The tool, while it had its uses, proved to be unequal to the task of accounting for the wide variety amongst Pennsylvania’s more than 2,500 municipalities. The model ordinance helped communities answer the question ‘how can we protect historic places,’ but it did not help communities address why they want to protect historic places or determine what residents in their communities valued.

The PA SHPO’s new Preservation Ordinance Guidebook and Workbook seeks to address not only how but also what and why to help communities develop implementable preservation ordinances which meet community needs.

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Large group of people stand outside theater building.

A Delaware County Landmark Reopens!

December 3, 2025 / / 2 Comments

I fondly remember my evening outings to my downtown movie theater as a child, especially waiting in a long queue at the Eric Pacific to secure coveted tickets to see the Empire Strikes Back in 1980.  While the theaters opened in Lancaster City in the 1980s were modern replacements of the landmark movie houses of the early twentieth century, the excitement of a day out at the movies was always a special memory.

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Metal bridge over rocks and grass.

Preventing Extinction: Saving the Last Wrought Iron Warren Pony Truss in PA

October 15, 2025 / / 4 Comments

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).

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