Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Category: Religious Buildings

Celebrating Concord Township and the Spring Valley AME Church

This week’s 2022 Community Initiative Award winner spotlight is on Concord Township’s preservation of the Spring Valley AME Church  in Delaware County.

This project in Delaware County caught the eagle eye of one of my colleagues last year from some press reporting and I’m glad it did. She just happened to be the SHPO’s reviewer for most projects that were undertaken with funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), particularly using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money.

Using CDBG funds for historic preservation – like Concord Township did – is a great way for communities to invest in the older and historic places that matter to them and that tell their full stories.

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The Union Project: Planning for a Community Asset

At the start of the 20th century, Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood was becoming a bustling place. The leaders of the United Presbyterian Church decided to build a new church, which became the Second United Presbyterian Church, at the corner of North Negley and Stanton Avenues in the city’s east end in 1903. 

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