“Winter Wonderland”

Posted by on Dec 16, 2022 in | Comments Off on “Winter Wonderland” Few people may be aware that one of the most memorable and popular holiday songs of all time, “Winter Wonderland,” was written in a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. For the folks of Honesdale, Wayne County, holiday festivities would be incomplete without celebrating the song and its writer, Richard “Dick” Smith, with the annual Winter Wonderland festival and parade. Born in Honesdale in...
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Western Pennsylvania’s Earliest Chinese Communities

Posted by on Sep 12, 2022 in | Comments Off on Western Pennsylvania’s Earliest Chinese Communities Most Pennsylvanians recognize Philadelphia’s popular Chinatown, yet far fewer know of the significant presence of Chinese immigrants in western Pennsylvania. On April 16, 2022, the Pittsburgh branch of the Organization of Chinese Americans dedicated a Pennsylvania Historical Marker for Pittsburgh Chinatown in front of the Chinatown Inn at 520 Third Avenue in the city. Six months prior, a marker...
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Sylvania Electric Products

Posted by on May 13, 2022 in | Comments Off on Sylvania Electric Products Nestled in the valley of the Driftwood Branch of the Sinnemahoning Creek sits Emporium, the seat of Cameron County. Emporium was known for industries that were prominent in other central Pennsylvania towns: lumber, coal, dynamite, iron smelting and tanning. By the early 20th century, however, the borough made a name for itself as the home of Sylvania Electric Products, which produced...
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Charles F. West: Athlete, Physician and Trailblazer

Posted by on Mar 10, 2022 in | Comments Off on Charles F. West: Athlete, Physician and Trailblazer On September 18, 2021, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and Washington & Jefferson College (W&J) dedicated a Pennsylvania Historical Marker honoring Charles Fremont West (1899–1979) of the W&J Class of 1924. West was a true hometown hero, as he was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, attended Washington High School, and then graduated from W&J. The dedication was...
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Cambria City

Posted by on Nov 29, 2021 in | Comments Off on Cambria City Nestled between a bend in the Conemaugh River and a steep bluff, Cambria City is a distinctive, dense neighborhood that tells the story of hundreds of immigrants who came to work in Pennsylvania’s steel mills and coal mines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Following the founding of the Cambria Iron Works in 1852, investors purchased land across the river from the mill, subdivided it,...
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Susquehannock Village at Lemoyne

Posted by on Aug 13, 2021 in | Comments Off on Susquehannock Village at Lemoyne Around 1610 a group of Susquehannocks, an Iroquoian-speaking Native American tribe, established a village perched on a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna River in what is today Lemoyne, Cumberland County. Fast forward to 2007 when archaeologists began excavating that site in advance of a proposed railroad connector project. There they uncovered evidence of the village, including a wooden...
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Linton Park, Pennsylvania Folk Artist

Posted by on Jun 4, 2021 in | Comments Off on Linton Park, Pennsylvania Folk Artist   Linton Park (1826-1906) is recognized today as a significant artist in the primitive or folk tradition; however, his work was unknown during his lifetime. At his death, in fact, he had less than $100 to his name. He never married or had children, and his relatives and neighbors considered him an eccentric hermit. Evidence indicates that he was a self-taught painter, only beginning in the...
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Dorothy Mae Richardson, Community Activist

Posted by on Mar 19, 2021 in | Comments Off on Dorothy Mae Richardson, Community Activist In the 1960s older intercity neighborhoods in Pittsburgh were being demolished as part of an urban renewal program called the “Pittsburgh Renaissance.” Many lower income residents, primarily African Americans, were forced out of their homes. Some were relocated into public housing, but others were left without a plan for affordable living. Additionally, financial institutions began “redlining”...
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ENIAC, the First All-Purpose Digital Computer

Posted by on Feb 5, 2021 in | Comments Off on ENIAC, the First All-Purpose Digital Computer Seventy-five years ago, in February 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer — ENIAC — was publicly demonstrated as the world’s first large-scale general-purpose digital computer. It was designed by John Mauchly (1907–80) and J. Presper Eckert (1919–95) at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering in Philadelphia. Research began during World War II in...
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Tommy Loughran, Boxing’s “Philly Phantom”

Posted by on Dec 28, 2020 in | Comments Off on Tommy Loughran, Boxing’s “Philly Phantom” The sport of boxing emerged in America in the 1800s, and by the early 20th century it had become one of the country’s most popular spectator sports. Philadelphia was a leading center of boxing at the time, and many of the best fighters hailed from the city. Thomas Patrick “Tommy” Loughran (1902–82) was born in Philadelphia to Irish Catholic immigrants during the heyday of boxing. He began in the...
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