House on a Hill: Connecting with the Past in Western Pennsylvania

Posted by on Dec 3, 2020 in | Comments Off on House on a Hill: Connecting with the Past in Western Pennsylvania “It is our family and local histories that are our most precious parts of culture, in my estimation. They put ‘meat on the bones’ of the artifacts we find. Of course, all family history is myth until we have the documentation that backs it up.” — Lynne Humphries-Russ   The narrow access road was hidden, and I almost missed the turnoff. I was anxious to see the...
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Before and After the Act: Historic Preservation in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Apr 19, 2016 in | Comments Off on Before and After the Act: Historic Preservation in Pennsylvania In 1816 the City of Philadelphia purchased Independence Hall to save it from demolition. This was the first historic preservation effort in the United States. One hundred and fifty years later, the historic preservation movement found its footing as a national priority when President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Historic Preservation Act into law on October 16, 1966. The act codified the...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost In operation between 1910 and 1916, the studio of filmmaker Siegmund “Pop” Lubin, located at Twentieth Street and Indiana Avenue in North Philadelphia, employed seven hundred people in its heyday. Dubbed “Lubinville” by the press, it was one of the largest and most ad­vanced motion picture studios of its day. The studio featured a glass enclosed stage area large...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message Pennsylvania’s archaeological and architectural heritage offer an extraordinary meld of buildings, sites, structures, districts, neighborhoods, villages, and landscapes representing every period of our prehistory and history. Public and private efforts to protect this legacy date to the nineteenth century at places such as Independence Hall, the Gettysburg Battlefield, Valley Forge, and...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost Completed in 1910, the Community Inn in Hershey, Dauphin County, originally housed the Hershey Store Company and the Hershey Inn. In 1920 the store moved out, and in 1936 Hershey architect D. Paul Witmer redesigned the structure, adding two floors. The newly named Community Inn provided tourist accommodations, a grill, and a very popular oyster bar. Refurbished in 1958, it was renamed the...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost For nearly seventy years, the S.S. Grand View Ship Hotel near Reels Corners, Bedford County, amazed, amused, and awed motorists traveling the Lincoln Highway. Sailing high along a ridge of the Allegheny Mountains, the landlocked ocean liner was the brainchild of Herbert Paulson, who launched the famous tourist attraction in 1932 On opening day, “Captain” Paulson welcomed aboard...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost Shamokin, Northumberland County, native William H. Lee (1884-1971) was well known as an architect of theaters and academic buildings, designing more than two hundred movie theaters, including the Victoria Theatre in his hometown. Opened in 1918, Shamokin’s Victoria Theatre – known affectionately by generations of residents as “the Vickie” – was commissioned by...
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