May is Historic Preservation Month! Since 2018, PA SHPO has celebrated by announcing the newest Community Initiative Award winners.
Category: Historic Preservation (Page 2 of 50)
There are lots of things I look forward to in March as spring nears, like melting snow, daffodils, warmer sunny days, and… the PA SHPO Annual Report!
Leading up to the new year, enthusiasm at PA SHPO was building as we plan to welcome new staff, commit to fulfilling our NAGPRA responsibilities, honor America’s 250th anniversary, and unload a sleigh-full of enhancements to PA-SHARE.
I’ll start by offering an apology to anyone who now has this holiday classic from the Sound of Music running on a loop in their head. I was looking for a new twist on our traditional end-of-year blog highlights and the “My Favorite Things” song kept popping up in my mind.
I’m excited to introduce you to some of my colleagues who joined the SHPO team over the last six months. I’ve asked Nika, Clare, Anusha, and Sarah to answer a few questions so we can get to know them better. We’re happy they’re here!
Are you exploring the field of historic preservation, public history or archaeology and looking for some real-world experience? The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Keystone Internship Program provides opportunities to pursue your professional growth and contribute to sharing Pennsylvania’s rich heritage with the public.
We’d like to invite college and graduate school students interested in historic preservation, archaeology, community planning, cultural resources, architectural history, public history, and other related fields to apply for their summer 2026 internship.
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.
We are often contacted by Pennsylvanians looking for assistance to help them preserve a historic place of worship in their community. When I learned of this new program by Partners for Sacred Places, I asked Emily Sajdak, Partners Director of Rural Initiatives, to provide our readers with some information about this opportunity. I’m happy to share the following…
Just in time for Halloween, this installment of “Historic Tax Credits @ Work” puts the spotlight on a project that creates office space in a former chocolate factory. The Blumenthal Brothers Chocolate Factory in northeast Philadelphia made some of the country’s iconic sweets that were trick or treating staples in the early 20th century.
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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