An Appeal for “Smoke Control”: Lois Bainbridge on the 1948 Donora Smog

Posted by on Sep 18, 2023 in | Comments Off on An Appeal for “Smoke Control”: Lois Bainbridge on the 1948 Donora Smog   “The zinc works has ruined Donora & Webster,” wrote Lois Bainbridge to Gov. James Duff on October 31, 1948. “There is something in the Zinc Works causing these deaths. . . . [The] awful acid & smoke . . . eats the paint off your houses. Even fish can’t live in the Monongahela River, the bank on which the mill is situated.” Lois Bainbridge was a resident of Webster, a town in...
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From the Susquehanna to the Rhine: The Military Career of Daniel Strickler in Two World Wars

Posted by on Nov 30, 2020 in | Comments Off on From the Susquehanna to the Rhine: The Military Career of Daniel Strickler in Two World Wars “Hold at all costs.” It’s an order no commander wants to give. It is certainly unwelcome — and perhaps even terrifying — to the subordinate who receives it. The phrase was used on the morning of December 16, 1944, at the headquarters for the 28th Infantry Division in Wiltz, Luxembourg. Maj. Gen. Norman Cota (1893–1971), the commander of the 28th, issued the order during the initial phase of the...
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“Keeping with the Dignity of the Commonwealth”: 50 Years of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence

Posted by on Dec 1, 2019 in | Comments Off on “Keeping with the Dignity of the Commonwealth”: 50 Years of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence The stately Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence overlooking the Susquehanna River at 2035 North Front Street in the Uptown neighborhood of Harrisburg, Dauphin County, reaches its half-century mark in 2018, a milestone that is being observed with a variety of events and programs throughout the year. The Georgian Revival mansion was completed in 1968, during the term of Gov. Raymond P. Shafer, its...
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Pennsylvania Governors Residences Open to the Public

Posted by on Jul 17, 2015 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Governors Residences Open to the Public Pennypacker Mills Pennypacker Mills possesses a lengthy history dating to about 1720 when Hans Jost Hite built the fieldstone house and a gristmill near the Perkiomen Creek, Schwenksville, Montgomery County. Purchased in 1747 by Peter Pennypacker (1710-1770), the house was enlarged and a saw mill and a fulling mill were constructed. The property acquired its name for the three mills. Peter...
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In the Public’s Best Interest

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on In the Public’s Best Interest Edward Martin distin­guished himself as soldier, governor, senator and, above all, as honored citizen of the Ten Mile area in Pennsylvania, the small rural community in which he was born. His full and varied life had led him from the front lines of battle to the diplomatic circles of the nation’s capitol. The people whose lives he touched knew him as a dignified, loyal and honest...
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The ‘State’ of Allegheny

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The ‘State’ of Allegheny One of the first centers of the organization of the Re­publican party and scene of its first national conven­tion in February, 1856, Allegheny County was strongly for Lincoln in the presidential election of 1860. As the vote count proceeded, one of the leaders kept sending telegrams to Lincoln’s home in Illinois, keeping him up on the news that “Allegheny gives a majority of …...
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Celebrating Fifty Years of State Historical Markers

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Celebrating Fifty Years of State Historical Markers On a September day in 1946, three men stood alongside U.S. Route 22, fourteen miles east of Harrisburg, inspecting a distinctive blue and gold sign that had just been erected. They were James H. Duff, chairman of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (who in four months would be inaugurated the Commonwealth’s thirty­-fourth governor), and Commission members Charles G. Webb and...
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A King Crowns the World’s Greatest Athlete

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on A King Crowns the World’s Greatest Athlete On a sun-drenched July afternoon in 1912, thirty thousand spectators thronged the closing ceremonies of the fifth Olympiad held that year in Sweden’s capital of Stockholm. The event was quite a spectacle, punctuated by pomp and circumstance befitting a royal pageant. The stadium, especially constructed for the games, was electric with excitement. As a chorus of four thousand voices filled...
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The Aaronsburg Story

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Aaronsburg Story Thanks to Penn State coach Joe Paterno and his loyal fans, it’s not uncommon to find tens of thousands of motorists jamming Centre County roads on autumn weekends. Fifty years ago this fall – Sunday, October 23, 1949, to be precise – thirty thousand people from throughout the United States converged not in State College to enjoy a football game but in the considerably smaller...
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The Gentleman from Pennsylvania: An Interview with William W. Scranton

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Gentleman from Pennsylvania: An Interview with William W. Scranton Bill Scranton is precisely what one expects of a diplomat and statesman. He is courtly, not supercilious. He is a good conversationalist, but not loquacious or self-aggrandizing. He is as graceful as he is gracious. His recall of the people and the places and the events in his life is phenomenal. In the best of northeastern Pennsylvania’s vernacular, he is a Class Act – and in a...
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