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.
Category: Railroads (Page 1 of 2)
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).
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.
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.
This latest installment of “Historic Tax Credits @ Work” features a successful project to transform an underutilized train station into a community asset.
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.
This is part of a biannual blog series highlighting the agreement documents executed by PA SHPO in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and its implementing regulations.
Between July 1 and December 31 of 2022, PA SHPO has been a signatory to approximately nine (9) Section 106 agreement documents with four different federal agencies as part of consultation for the resolution of adverse effects to historic properties.
Below illustrates a selection of the agreement documents executed within the past six months.
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The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) recently approved 37 new historical markers, making this one of the largest number of new markers in the program’s history.
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This week our Preservation Month celebration of the 2021 Community Initiative Award winners takes us west to Allegheny County – specifically, the Borough of Wilkinsburg.
The Wilkinsburg Train Station Restoration Project, led by the Wilkinsburg Community Development Corporation (WCDC), received one of PA SHPO’s 2021 Community Initiative Awards for bringing a community landmark back to life.
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We have an interesting mix of National Register recent listings to bring you for this installment of “Just Listed”. We’ve got an African American YMCA, a few interesting industrial properties making everything from jute cordage to furniture to yarn, a farm, a house, farm, school, and more.
If you’re interested in learning more about any of these properties – or looking to up your trivia game with some Pennsylvania fun facts, you can find a copy of the full National Register Nominations on PA-SHARE.
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