LIST BELOW UPDATED AS OF 3/17/2011, 2:20 p.m.
PLEASE NOTE: WE ARE LISTING LOCAL, EXISTING RESOURCES
As part of the Heritage Action planning process, we’re in the midst of listing all the heritage resources that Pottstown has to offer. Think of a heritage resource as anything that is of any cultural, natural, historic or recreational significance in the history or current life of a community. Is there anything you’d like to see on the list?
Our next step will be to assess and rank these resources. Thanks for all the input so far!
NAME OF HERITAGE RESOURCE
Listed Historic Site/Structure
2 National Register Historic Districts
Pottsgrove Manor
Railroad Station
Roller Mills
Grubb Mansion
Jefferson Elementary School
Non-Listed Historic Site/Structure
The Carousel (planned)
Elks Club
Pottstown Historical Society
Historic Walking Tours
Potts Family Cemetery
Edgewood Cemetery
Candlelight House Tours
Cultural Site/Structure
historic churches
– Holy Trinity Church
– St. John’s Byzantine Church
– Emmanuel Lutheran Church
– Zion’s Reformed Church (Old Brick Church)
– St. Aloysius
– St. Peter’s
– Christ Episcopal Church
– Invictus Ministries
– Other churches
Edgewood Cemetery
Old St. Aloysius Cemetery
Archaeological Site/Structure
Museum or Interpretive Center
Pottstown Historical Society
Pottsgrove Manor
Educational Institution or Library
Pottstown School District
Pottstown Public Library
Montgomery County Community College
The Hill School
The Gallery School (arts)
High Street Music
Wyndcroft School
St. Aloysius School
Arts, Entertainment, Shopping
Assume all the downtown shops; maybe we’ll need a complete directory that’s easy to update on an informational kiosk?
The Gallery on High
Tri-County Performing Arts Center
Pottstown Arts & Cultural Alliance (PACA)
North Hall at MCCC
Boyer Gallery at Hill School
Center for the Arts at Hill School
High Street Music
The Ballroom on High (Swingkat)
Coventry Singers
Emmanuel Lutheran Concert Series
Sunnybrook Ballroom
Churchill – poetry & live music
Pottstown Symphony
Dada Gallery
Existing Murals
Trails, Greenways, Bikeways, Railroads
Schuylkill River Trail
Memorial Park
Bike Paths on High Street
High Street (wide – for parades)
Historic Bridges – 1903 Manatawny Bridge
Transportation
– PART – public transit
– Charles W. Dickinson Transportation Center (transit center)
– Pedestrian Underpass at MCCC
– Free bike program/bike lanes
– Airport
Natural & Scenic Sites
The Schuylkill River
Schuylkill River Trail
Riverfront Park
Manatawny Creek
Memorial Park
Parks & Recreation Areas
Pottstown Parks & Rec. Dept.
The whole Pottstown Parks & Rec. System, pocket parks, etc.
Pollock Park (Schuylkill River trailhead?)
Memorial Park
– Spray Park
– Trilogy Park
– Skate Park (planned)
– Miniature Golf/Manatawny Gateway (planned)
Riverfront Park
422 Sportsplex
High Street Yoga
Community Land Trust – Community Gardens
Pottstown Garden Club
The Dell & Far Fields at The Hill School
Festivals/Special Events
– In Riverfront Park
– Schuylkill River Festival
– Schuylkill River Sojourn (stopping point)
– First Saturdays
– Sunday Music in the Park
– Relay activities
– Weddings
– Fishing/rafting
– cross-country skiing
– biking
– Polar Bear Plunge
– Shiver on the River
Carousel of Flavor
Classic Car Shows
July 4th Celebration
Volleyball Rumble
Soapbox Derby
Parades
Family Fest
Open Doors (community day)
Halloween Parade
Candlelight Historic House Tour
Free Trolley Tours during special events
Heritage Tourism Business
– recreation
– Tri-County Bicycles
– Bike Share Program
– Bentley’s Boards (skate shop)
– Hidden River Outfitters (operates out of SRHA building)
– food/drink
– The Farmers’ Market
– Grumpy’s Handcarved Sandwiches
– Churchill, Inc.
– The Brickhouse
– Juan Carlos
– Funky Lil Kitchen
– Henry’s
– Positively Pasta
– Martha’s Famous
– Beverly’s Pastry Shop
– Company Cakes
– Burger King
– McDonald’s
– Dunkin Donuts
– Wawa
– Pottstown Diner
– High Street Diner (VIP)
– Very Best Restaurant
– Frankie & Johnnie’s
– Jack Cassady’s
– The Pourhouse
– The Icehouse
– Maria Angela’s
– Maximilliano’s
– Brunish Brothers Hot Dogs & Sausage
Media & Marketing
Borough Website
Tri-County Chamber of Commerce
Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority (PDIDA)
Roy Keeler/Roy’s Rants – blogger
WPAZ
PCTV
The Mercury
The Pottstown Post/Sanatoga Post
Positively!Pottstown – blog
Citizens for Pottstown’s Revitalization
Other
Walkable town
Wide, tree-scaped streets
Plenty of parking
Coordinated programs & activities promoting physical activity & health.
Historic architecture
Keystone Opportunity Zone
Mrs. Smith Pies
Pottstown Memorial Medical Center
Health & Wellness Foundation
Great volunteers
Elks Club, Rotary Club, Ambucs, Kiwanis,
Veterans Groups & other civic associations
Brookside Country Club
Train line
Small town atmosphere
Eagles/Firebirds
Hurricane Agnes
Underground Railroad
Reading/Philadelphia Railroads/Stations
Mills/Forges
Native American Lenni Lenape tribe
Dutch naming of the river
Steel industry & metal fabrication legacy
Firestone
Positively Pottstown blog 
These are ALL suggestions, use or discard as suits your purpose
In Education, add the following:
The Wyndcroft School
St. Aloysius School
In Arts, Entertainment and Shopping:
You have no shopping. Do you want to list downtown stores easy to get to from the trail?
In historic Churches add:
St. John’s on High Street
Invictus Ministries
Also, church across Hanover from St. Al’s (I forget the name)
In Trails add:
Memorial Park
In Parks:
Add pocket Parks. (I believe Pollock Park is supposed to be a Schuylkill River Trailhead)
Spruce Street
South Evans and Cherry (quite a few others)
Also, the indoor sports place by the sewer plant
In Food and Drink add:
(I see you have some in watering holes, but they have food too)
The Very Best
High Street Diner (VIP)
Maria Angela’s
Jack Cassidy’s
The Ice House
Pottstown Diner
Media and Marketing:
You left out the borough Web site
Just some quick thoughts. Hope it helps.
— Evan
Asian place in old Weiss shopping center
Jerry’s Chicken
Wawa
Mickey D’s
Subway
BK
Wendy’s
Chinese place near Subway on High Street
Chinese place in downtown
Hey, Evan – thanks for the additions! I’m going to put everything in because whoever considers themselves a “partner” in this planning process, i.e., part of the working group, will decide how everything is prioritized, packaged and promoted. I’m just the conduit.
High Street Music – These guys are awesome and one is on the new PAID Board!! They are very active in the youth community, “From the Street to the Studio”. They hosted the breakfast at the TCN monthly meeting.
Absolutely, Katy — thank you!
How about Real Estate Services? I grew up in Pottstown and love it there. I would love to get more involved in the community’s revitalization. I would love to offer my services to help First time homebuyers and anyone interested in getting on the track to future homeownership. Lets turn all these rentals back into homes that show pride of homeownership.
Nichole Lias, Realtor for Century21 Call First on High St. in Pottstown Pa.
Hi, Nichole – Thanks for joining in and offering to help promote homeownership in Pottstown! I’ll add “real estate services” to the list. For the Heritage Action Plan, the goal is to identify and promote the existing heritage resources that will attract the most visitors from the Schuylkill River Trail and elsewhere. Then, when they’re in town, shopping & eating & checking out arts, culture & history, we absolutely want them to find an inviting atmosphere from the real estate community.
Wyndcroft School
Hi Sue, Evan really added a good number of items to the list. I would only add in:
Parks and Recreation:
Miniature Golf Course behind the Spray Park in Memorial Park
I don’t think I saw that listed.
I would also include in heritage eateries:
Brunish Brothers Hot Dogs and Sausages on Lincoln Avenue. I think it makes sense to include a ‘grocery’ that has been in business since the 1930’s.
Thanks again for all of your hard work!
Andrew
I’m not aware of Brunish Brothers but I will check it out soon… and add it to the list now.
Is there mini-golf behind the spray park now? I thought there was going to be a new mini-golf course behind The Carousel, once the road/bridge project is finished.
Thanks, Andrew!
I don’t think I saw The Ballroom on High on that list. And the Coventry Singers have been in Pottstown for years.
Right you are!! Thank you!
Nature’s assets in Pottstown :
The Schuylkill River
The Manatawany creek
Man made assets :
The Dell at the Hill School
The Far Fields at the Hill school
A common name for a specific area of town for 80 years
Chicken Hill
Thanks, Ron! Going on the list!
Sue, I saw several notations in your list denoting heritage resources that had been paid for in whole or part by the Health and Wellness Foundation. While it’s worthwhile to honor contributors to Pottstown’s heritage, I would be VERY wary of doing so in this list or in the documents created for the planning process.
Memorial Park represents a prime example. The Pottstown Kiwanis Club and Pottstown Rotary Club were among prime movers for funding the park and creating some of its features still enjoyed today. They aren’t listed. Nor are any of the seven or so veterans organizations who made possible the memorials in Memorial Park.
If a decision is made to recognize one, better recognize all. Those who are snubbed, even innocently, could well be the ones who don’t buy in to the process or its fruits.
You’re absolutely right, Joe. All good points. I will take those notes out. Thank you for pointing it out.
Hi Sue,
Just to help clarify the mini golf discussion: The Manatawny Gateway project includes the greening of industrial space between High and King Streets at the western edge of town, the construction of an interactive mini golf course and recreation center that will also house a new facility for our Parks & Recreation Dept. as well as a “Club Shack.” As the plan existed a few years ago, the mini golf course was planned for construction next to the current Spray Park. The plan was reworked and now the site will link the amenities at Riverfront Park to the amenities at Memorial Park – through trails, the Pedestrian Underpass, and link these destinations.
Also, there are a ton of great assets listed. I can think of a few more to consider:
Historic bridges and other infrastructure, such as the Manatawny Bridge that is currently being rehabilitated, – built in 1903, and the creek itself is a water body many residents have used for fishing, recreation, and study. The intermodal transit facility, now known as the Charles W. Dickinson Transportation Center in downtown Pottstown at the former Reading Railroad Station, is the new transfer point for PART. Also, the transit system buses along with the trolley. The Pedestrian Underpass located at North Hall, MCCC campus finished in 2007 creating a connection between the South Campus and downtown Pottstown. An asset to Pottstown is the physical network in place to enhance the flow of goods, services, and people – and of course, the efforts to improve an aging infrastructure, however historic and charming, in order to meet these needs is no doubt a challenge!
Hi, Erika – thanks for clarifying about the mini-golf; I hadn’t known it was originally slated near the Spray Park. Thanks also for expounding on the transit resources. Although I was trying to keep us focused on existing assets, the Manatawny Gateway project is proceeding and will be a crucial part of the entire recreation/transport network linking Riverfront and Memorial Parks. Your points about the bridges, the transit facility and the pedestrian underpass at MCCC are also really helpful; we should definitely consider all that in the context of facilitating visitors getting from one place to another. I’ll add these under “Trails, Greenways, Bikeways, Railroads” and make a general note about the transit network under “Other.”