Pepper Hill Fire of 1938

Posted by on Aug 22, 2017 in | 0 comments In 1933 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a New Deal program, and several camps were located in Pennsylvania. The CCC was charged with various types of projects including structural improvements, transportation enhancement, wildlife preservation, flood control and fire protection. When several forest fires broke out in the vicinity of...
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Pennsylvania Firehouses: The Evolution of Design

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Firehouses: The Evolution of Design Firehouses are among the most easily recognizable and popular public buildings across the nation. Beginning with the construction of the first permanent homes for volunteer companies in the early nineteenth cen­tury, fire station design has been influ­enced by functional requirements. Be­yond serving as a place to store fire­fighting equipment, however, the fire­house was also a public building,...
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Shorts

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Shorts The seventeenth annual Conference on Black History will be conducted by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission on Friday and Saturday, May 13-14, 1994, in Erie. The theme of this year’s event is “African Americans at Work in Pennsyl­vania.” For additional information, write: 1994 Conference on Black History, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, P. O. Box...
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A Capital Idea! A Brief and Bumpy History of Pennsylvania’s Capitols

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Capital Idea! A Brief and Bumpy History of Pennsylvania’s Capitols A mere one hundred or so miles separate Philadelphia’s Chestnut and Harrisburg’s Third streets. But the path­ – metaphorically, at least­ – between the Keystone State’s first and final capitol build­ings seems far longer and rockier than geography suggests. From the Commonwealth’s earliest days, when the government met in Philadelphia’s elegant State...
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The Valley That Changed the World: Visiting the Drake Well Museum

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Valley That Changed the World: Visiting the Drake Well Museum “They’ve struck oil!” They were only three words, but they thundered triumphantly throughout the valley along northwestern Pennsylvania’s Oil Creek during the days following the long-anticipated breakthrough – one that would change the world forever – on an otherwise quiet Saturday in August 1859. To many it was a miracle, one on which great fortunes would be...
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John A. Mather’s Lens: The Unerring Eye of History

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on John A. Mather’s Lens: The Unerring Eye of History When the dapper Englishman John Aked Mather (1829-1915) stepped from the stage coach in Titusville, Crawford County, that October day in 1860, he had no idea that he was about to become the pre-eminent chronicler of a Pennsylvania phenomenon, petroleum. But for five and a half decades Mather recorded the birth and development of the new industry, one which would forever change the way the nation...
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Erie Maritime Museum: A New Museum Opens a Window to History

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Erie Maritime Museum: A New Museum Opens a Window to History Nearly two centuries ago, a newly built squadron of United States Navy warships set sail from the shores of Lake Erie to battle a contingent of the British Navy, the most formidable naval force in the world. The ensuing battle of the War of 1812 shocked the British admiralty and boosted the morale of the U.S. Navy and the entire nation. The legacy of this battle is graphically chronicled by the...
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Slatington Hose Company Leather Firefighter’s Helmet (c.1890)

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Slatington Hose Company Leather Firefighter’s Helmet (c.1890) Realizing their borough lacked a system for fighting fires, the residents of Slatington, located in northern Lehigh County, organized the Slatington Hose Company, Number 1, in 1885. Much like most firefighting units of the day, the Slatington Hose Company, Number 1, quickly became an important – and integral – part of the community. A significant piece of local firefighting...
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Painted With Pride in the U.S.A.

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Painted With Pride in the U.S.A. Although not a sketch artist like William Forbes and Alfred Waud, who drew scenes from the battlefield, African American painter David Bustill Bowser (1820-1900) is considered a Civil War artist-but for a much different reason. Active in Philadelphia from 1844 to 1889, he painted portraits of abolitionist John Brown and President Abraham Lincoln. Most important, he painted the regimental colors...
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