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.
Category: Historic Preservation (Page 1 of 45)
Celebrating Preservation Success Stories with Community Initiative Awards
Earlier this week my Alexa reminded me that there are 100 days until the end of the year. After a moment of shock, my brain started its mental cataloguing of all the things that I have to do before December 31. Deadlines, appointments, holidays, the list goes on…
One reminder I’d like to put on your to-do list before the year is out is to tell us about a preservation success story in your community. Each year PA SHPO selects a few of these stories for a Community Initiative Award.
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.
Last month, PA SHPO staff and interns enjoyed a two-day educational team meeting in Venango County to learn more about archaeology, northwest Pennsylvania, and the area’s fascinating history. We were fortunate enough to have some beautiful weather and the help of our local partners and colleagues from the Jefferson County History Center, Drake Well, PHMC Sites and Museums, and the State Museum.
Many of the PA-SHPO’s partners shared my enthusiasm for the 30th anniversary of the Keystone Grant program and submitted a proposal to the grant program in March.
This year’s awardees include 44 projects that showcase the breadth of preservation happening across the Commonwealth. From historic barns and park pavilions to historic theaters and county courthouses, the selected projects highlight the varied historic resources to preserve for future generations.
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” — Henry Ford
Prominent landmarks in small towns hold a special type of nostalgic significance for those who have interacted with them.
This week’s 2023 Community Initiative Award winner spotlight is on the Slate Hill Cemetery in Lower Makefield Township, Bucks County.
Lower Makefield’s Slate Hill Cemetery is an intact Colonial-era graveyard that was established in 1690 as a Quaker burial ground and was later expanded to include the township’s first public cemetery. It contains about 580 burials, including veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops who served in the Civil War. The earliest known burial dates to 1698 and the last known burial was in 1918.
Recently, the Township – which is one of Pennsylvania’s Certified Local Governments (CLG) – began an ambitious project to document, preserve, and promote the history of the cemetery. I asked some of the folks from the Historical Commission, which is spearheading the effort, to share the story with us.
This week’s 2023 Community Initiative Award winner spotlight is on the Titusville Iron Works in Titusville.
The Titusville Iron Works traces its roots to the Titusville Manufacturing Co., the first foundry and machine shop exclusively serving the oil industry, founded in 1860. Local businessmen purchased the company in 1895, renamed it the Titusville Iron Works, diversified its product line, and expanded it with new buildings and acreage.
Over the first few decades of the 20th century, the iron works evolved as owners consolidated other companies and business interests in the facility. In the early 1940s the federal government invested in new machinery and buildings for the iron works to support the war effort. By 1964 the plant was closed and the property and buildings subdivided.
Fast forward to today, and the site of this 19th century foundry is a busy event venue and preservation success story. I asked owner Bob Joyce to share the story with us.
Each week in May, to celebrate National Historic Preservation Month, we will highlight one of the 2023 Community Initiative Award winners. In this week’s post, I asked Josh Stull with the Nicholson Heritage Association about their work preserving the Nicholson Train Station.
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