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.
What is the Community Initiative Award?
The Community Initiative Award from the State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) recognizes organizations, municipalities, agencies, individuals, and others whose work embodies the spirit of #PreservationHappensHere, which is the idea that great preservation activities of all shapes and sizes are happening every day across Pennsylvania.
Started in 2016 for the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act, the Community Initiative Award (CIA) is now an annual program. Each year our list of candidates has grown from a few staff suggestions to dozens and dozens of different places and projects across the Commonwealth.
PA SHPO presented Bob Joyce and his team with their 2023 Community Initiative Award for their work at the Titusville Iron Works.
Telling us about your story is easy!
It is the easiest award application ever because there is no formal application or nomination procedure to be considered for a PA SHPO Community Initiative Award – simply do one of the following:
- use the #PreservationHappensHere hashtag in your social media posts or
- submit a Preservation Success Story through PA-SHARE.
To submit a Success Story through PA-SHARE:
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- A PA-SHARE account is not required to submit a story.
- Sign in to PA-SHARE with your account or as a Guest User.
- Go the the Submit page and open the Success Story wizard.
- Fill in the short form and provide at least one photograph.
- Click “Submit to SHPO”.
- Step-by-step instructions are available: Submitting a Success Story in PA-SHARE.
Candidates are considered on an annual basis by the calendar year for projects that have reached a significant milestone within the past year. Stories submitted between now and December 31 will be considered for a 2024 Community Initiative Award.
Award presentation to Blairsville Area Underground Railroad in February 2024.
What is the award?
The Community Initiative Award is a framed certificate and a time capsule (yes, a real time capsule!) for you to commemorate your project.
Your preservation story will also be featured in a post on this blog, in the monthly PA SHPO newsletter, and through PHMC’s social media outlets in May during National Historic Preservation Month. Later in the year, we also publish an article in the PA Heritage magazine about the awardees.
The Community Initiative Award includes a framed certificate and authentic time capsule.
Celebrations
Since PA SHPO started the Community Initiative Awards in 2016, we have recognized 24 communities across the Commonwealth for their preservation successes. Many awardees ask me what they should do with time capsule once we’ve delivered it to them. My answer always directs them to focus on their community and to think about what type of event would foster greater community engagement around the historic place or organization.
Here are just a few examples of some time capsule burial ceremonies from past awardees.
Concord Township and the Preservation of Spring Valley AME Church (Concord Township, Delaware County)
Concord Township was recognized with a 2022 Community Initiative Award for its stewardship of the historic Spring Valley African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the focal point for the area’s Black community for a century, and engagement with the descendant congregation. You can read more about their efforts in this blog post.
Earlier this year, Concord Township sponsored a Juneteenth event on June 19th at the newly-reopened Spring Valley AME Church and used the opportunity to bury their time capsule. Descendants of Spring Valley AME’s late 19th and early 20th century congregants spoke about the importance of the church and the township’s work and threw the first shovelfuls of dirt over the time capsule.
At the Spring Valley AME Church time capsule burial event in June 2024.
The township filled the capsule with materials that documented the history of the church and the Township’s work toward its preservation. One of the descendants of the church co-founder contributed a photograph of the five living generations of this founding family.
Kye Carter, a descendant of one of Spring Valley African Methodist Episcopal Church co-founders, shovels dirt over the time capsule.
Fighter’s Heaven (Wayne Township, Schuylkill County)
Owner Mike Madden and his team were recognized with a 2019 Community Initiative Award for their work to preserve Fighter’s Heaven, where heavyweight champion boxer Muhammad Ali prepared for some of his most famous fights, hosted world-renowned fighters, artists and entertainers, and shared his passion for boxing and life with his neighbors. Madden purchased the property, which had seen better days, in 2106 and it took over three years to stabilize the buildings, which include the gym, a mosque, the mess hall and Ali’s cabin. Today, the property is used as museum, exhibit, and interpretive space to teach visitors about Muhammad Ali and his legacy.
The team at Fighter’s Heaven hosted an event in June 2022 to bury their time capsule. Filled it with photos, newspapers, and other memorabilia from Ali’s life and their work restoring the property, the time capsule is buried next to Ali’s gym and marked with a plaque.
The contents of the Fighter’s Heaven time capsule before burial.
Fighters Heaven owner Mike Madden showing off the plaque that marks the location of their Community Initiative Award time capsule.
After receiving the time capsule, the Fighter’s Heaven received a Pennsylvania historical marker and listed the property in the National Register of Historic Places.
Friends of Sheepford Road Bridge/West Shore Historical Society (Lower Allen Twp., Cumberland County and Fairview Township, York County)
The Friends of Sheepford Road Bridge, a committee of the West Shore Historical Society, was recognized for its grassroots effort to save the 1887 Sheepford Road Bridge, significant as a rare Phoenix column through metal truss bridge, after investigations showed the structure was no longer safe for vehicular use. You can read more about their efforts in this blog post.
In October 2023, this group hosted an event at Sheepford Road Bridge to bury their time capsule award and recognize a significant donation from Energy Transfer toward the next phase of the bridge’s preservation. Elected officials, local residents, members of the Friends of Sheepford Road Bridge and the West Shore Historical Society, employees of Energy Transfer and others gathered at the bridge to celebrate this true grassroots initiative.
Time capsule burial and donation celebration at the Sheepford Road Bridge in October 2023.
The time capsule was filled with photographs, news stories, reports, and other memorabilia documenting the successful effort to save the historic bridge.
Table displaying the Sheepford Road Bridge time capsule contents.
