Category: Community Character (Page 5 of 18)

Preservation Success Story: Old Erie on Foot

May 12, 2021 / Shelby Weaver Splain / 1 Comment

Continuing our theme of Preservation Success Stories this Preservation Month, we’ll feature short interviews with our 2020 Community Initiative Award winners for the next few weeks.

First up is Erin Phillips, aka Old Erie on Foot in the social media world. In July 2018, Erie resident Erin Phillips started her Old Erie on Foot project on Instagtram with a hashtag and a call to action for fellow history and Erie enthusiasts to discover and explore the area’s amazing older and historic places. She believes that “every old building has a story that needs to be told.”

Make this Preservation Month a Success by Sharing Your Story!

May 5, 2021 / Shelby Weaver Splain / 0 Comments

National Historic Preservation Month was started in 1973 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to draw attention to older and historic places across the country and to highlight the benefits of historic preservation in the nation’s communities.

This year, we’re celebrating National Historic Preservation Month by asking our readers to share with us a Preservation Success Stories in their communities. And you might just win something!

Section 106: Not Always the Preferred Preservation Outcome

April 28, 2021 / Barbara Frederick / 0 Comments

The Section 106 process was created to ensure that federal agencies consider historic properties in the planning process for projects they sponsor.

Designing for Distance in Pennsylvania’s Historic Communities

April 21, 2021 / Cory Kegerise / 0 Comments

To say that COVID-19 changed things about away we live our lives would be the understatement of the century. Virtually everything about the ways in which we live, work, learn, recreate, shop – everything – changed in an instant and we have spent the last 12+ months learning how to adapt, as individuals and communities. The pandemic has also prompted a lot of pondering and forecasting about the long term effects on our society and how many of these adaptations will become part of our “normal” lives going forward. In Pennsylvania’s traditional communities, the sudden loss of foot traffic, festivals, and events hit small businesses and restaurants especially hard. Revitalization organizations and local governments have had to reimagine, with little or no time or experience, how to allow people to use streets, sidewalks, parks, and trails in a safe and responsible manner. Enter Designing for Distance.

Colorized historic postcard showing wood church building. — Undated historic postcard of Grace Lutheran Church. From the collection of the Historic Franklin Preservation Association.

Preserving Pennsylvania’s Stick Style Architecture: Old Lutheran Church in Franklin

April 7, 2021 / Karen Arnold / 3 Comments

The mid-nineteenth century oil boom is synonymous with northern Venango County, which brought population and construction growth to the city of Franklin.

A technician works on-site at Cantini’s Mosaic Tunnel, 1964. Courtesy: Virgil Cantini Papers and Photographs, c1935-2009, MSS 0722, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center.

Virgil Cantini: A Purpose in Public Art

February 24, 2021 / Guest Contributor / 1 Comment

On a sunny August morning in 2017, a group of Pittsburgh-based architects, historians, artists, students, preservationists and art enthusiasts convened before venturing out with a shared goal; to experience first-hand nearly all public artworks accessible in the vicinity, both indoors and outdoors, created by the late Virgil Cantini (1919-2009).

The 2020 PA SHPO Community Initiative Award Winners

January 20, 2021 / Shelby Weaver Splain / 0 Comments

For the past several years, the PA SHPO has used their Community Initiative Award to recognize the hard work and dedication of organizations, municipalities, individuals, and others whose work embodies the spirit of #PreservAtionHappensHere.

The three recipients of the 2020 awards have demonstrated the power of digital engagement and the importance of 21st-century tools and technology to advocate, promote and preserve Pennsylvania’s older and historic places, which has been especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kicking Off PA SHPO’s Baseline Survey Effort

January 13, 2021 / Shelby Weaver Splain / 3 Comments

PA SHPO is kicking off a three-year effort to collect baseline survey information about thousands of older and historic places across a huge part of Pennsylvania.

2020 Blog in Review

December 30, 2020 / Shelby Weaver Splain / 0 Comments

In this crazy year, the PA SHPO’s blog is the one thing you could count on every week to bring you all sorts of current, relevant, fun and interesting information. I have actually won a trivia contest or two because of something I read in one of our weekly posts!

Here is a short recap of the year at pahistoricpreservation.com…

Colorized historic postcard of large department store with trolleys, horses, carts, and people in the foreground. — Historic postcard of Kaufman's Department Store in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. PA SHPO files.

Window Shopping at 5 of Pennsylvania’s Historic Department Stores

December 23, 2020 / Elizabeth Shultz / 12 Comments

With the widespread availability of plate glass at the end of the nineteenth century, department stores and window-shopping culture flourished in cities and towns throughout Pennsylvania – especially during the holiday shopping season near the end of the calendar year.