May is Historic Preservation Month!  PA SHPO traditionally kicks off the month by announcing the newest Community Initiative Award winners.

For 2024, the awardees are two organizations whose projects demonstrate the importance of embracing and preserving local history and the places that help tell their communities’ stories.

Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Month

On April 28, 2025, Governor Shapiro proclaimed May 2025 to be Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Month and encourages all Pennsylvanians to provide their support in furthering the preservation of the Commonwealth’s rich history.

This proclamation recognizes the importance of historic places and the many benefits they bring to our communities… which, some might say, makes them the keystone of Pennsylvania’s communities.

I hope you’ll take a moment to read the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Month 2025 Proclamation and be inspired.

Community Initiative Awards

Each year, the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) recognizes the hard work and dedication of outstanding organizations, municipalities, agencies, and individuals whose work embodies the theme of Pennsylvania’s statewide historic preservation plan with a PA SHPO Community Initiative Award. These awards highlight projects that underscore the vital role of local history and the places that embody community stories.

PA SHPO selected two winners for 2024.

The Welsh Church Project, Borough of Lansford, Carbon County

The Lansford Historical Society (LHS) is recognized for its stewardship and preservation of Lansford’s historic Welsh Church.

Two people standing outside a small wood building working on siding, with piles stacked around them.

One of the many work days at Welsh Church – this one for the clapboard siding. Photo from Lansford Historical Society Facebook post date July 26, 2020.

Built in 1850 as the Welsh Congregational Church on land donated by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, the building has held an important place in the local community for 175 years and is the second oldest Welsh Congregational Church in Pennsylvania. The congregation and its Welsh Congregational Church Preservation Society restored the church in 1985 but a 2009 fire left significant exterior and interior damage.

Large open room with dusty floor, boarded windows, plaster walls, holes in ceiling, and construction materials.

Interior of the Welsh Church, looking toward the original alter, in 2023. Photo from Lansford Historic District Facebook post dated September 1, 2023.

In 2018, after learning that the church was slated for imminent demolition, LHS mobilized their resources to purchase the building and begin stabilization work. Over the past several years, they have invested in stabilizing and restoring the Welsh Church and reconnecting the community with this local landmark. LHS continues to raise funds to complete the church’s restoration and share their work at events like the North American Festival of Wales.

Restoration of the Huntingdon Borough Clock, Borough of Huntingdon, Huntingdon County

Huntingdon Borough, Huntingdon Presbyterian Church, Huntingdon Landmarks and the Huntingdon County Planning Department are recognized for their successful collaboration to restore and reinterpret the 1911 borough clock.

Looking up at a tall brick steeple with louvered window and clock face.

The Huntingdon Presbyterian Church steeple and restored clock.

For 143 years, a clock in the Huntingdon Presbyterian Church steeple marked time for residents in the small borough and county seat. Through an agreement between Huntingdon Borough and the church, the first clock was installed in 1873 and replaced after a fire in 1911 with a Seth Thomas clock. In the 1950s the borough changed the clock’s operation from mechanical to electrical in the 1950s and by 2016, the clock had stopped working.

Clock mechanism inside a room in front of stained glass windows with wire connecting it to weights

The restored clock mechanism is located just inside the church’s steeple doors, where visitors can see it in action. Photo from Huntingdon Presbyterian Church Facebook page, May 2024.

The project to restore the Borough’s clock started in 2017. Through fundraising and public funding initiatives, Huntingdon Borough, Huntingdon Presbyterian Church, Huntingdon Landmarks and the Huntingdon County Planning Department pooled their resources to fund and manage the restoration work. In 2022, they hired Balzer Family Clock Works of Freeport, Maine, to return the clock to like-new condition. While the clock face was restored in the steeple, the 1911 mechanism was installed inside the church’s main doors to engage the community in this piece of local history through its new, visible location.

Congratulations to the 2024 winners! And Happy Preservation Month!

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