Significance
Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) and his close associate, Lydia Hamilton Smith (1813-1884), were significant figures in the social and political life of mid-19th century America. Stevens, who began his political career in the PA House of Representatives in the 1830s, is credited with preserving free public education in the Commonwealth when it was threatened in 1834. First elected to the U.S. Congress in 1848, he served until 1853 and again from 1858 until his death in 1868. A lifelong crusader for human rights and civil liberties, he is best known for being the first to propose what would become the 13th amendment, ending slavery in the U.S, and for being chairman of the House Managers in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.

Stevens moved to Lancaster in 1842 and acquired the South Queen Street properties in Lancaster City in the mid 1840s. Lydia Smith, the daughter of an African American mother and a white father, became his housekeeper. Smith, whose close business and personal association with Stevens continued until his death, later became a prominent businesswoman, owning property in Lancaster and operating boarding houses in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. Both Stevens and Smith are reputed to have been active participants in the Underground Railroad. These Lancaster buildings are significant in the history of the Underground Railroad and as the home and office, for more than a quarter century, of one of the most influential national political leaders of the 19th century.

Threat
Located within the boundaries of the site proposed for a new convention center, the fate of the Stevens and Smith Houses and a number of related historic structures has been debated for the past year. The Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County, which holds easements on four of the threatened properties, proposed a plan to preserve and adaptively use the buildings. The Convention Center Authority first sought to demolish the buildings and later moved to nullify the Trust's easements, escalating the conflict and signalling a challenge to historic preservation easements everywhere. Over the past several months, the rhetoric has at times been as vitriolic as the historic antagonism between Stevens and his political arch enemy President James Buchanan, also a Lancaster resident.

Through efforts of State Senator Gibson Armstrong and mediation by former county commissioner and president of 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania Terry Kauffman, an agreement was announced in mid-June that calls for preservation of two of the Stevens-related buildings as a museum on the Underground Railroad, Stevens' role in preserving free public education, and his civil rights activities. The two Smith Houses are to be moved to a nearby site and also interpreted. Funding the rehabilitation and reuse of the properties is the responsibility of the Trust under a 3-year timetable. Although preservationists are now hopeful, preservation of these significant properties is not assured until funding is secured and final design for the convention center completed.

Significance
Imagine a setting where a narrow road ties together stone and frame buildings dating from the mid-eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Twin Silo Road Historic District in Plumstead Township, Bucks County, is just such a rural agricultural area. Totaling over 300 acres, this rural landscape retains original road and field patterns that are nearly unchanged in a hundred years.
First settled by English Quakers, the area later attracted Scots-Irish and German settlers, each adding their own rural building traditions and agricultural practices. The result is a district showing the agricultural development of the area from the time of its first European settlers until the early twentieth century.

Numerous agricultural buildings, set in an open landscape of fields and meadows with woods and small streams, contribute to the Twin Silo District's historic character. Six farmhouses range in style from vernacular examples of Georgian, Greek Revival and Italianate houses, and in material from stone to wood. Secondary buildings include springhouses, carriage houses and other outbuildings.

Threat
The loss of open space and agricultural resources to development pressures continues at an alarming pace throughout the once agricultural counties of southeastern Pennsylvania. The Twin Silo Historic District is currently threatened by a proposed residential development that would result in the loss of the 140-acre Amos Strouse farm, which represents the largest intact farmstead in the district. Beyond the loss of the farm, the overall character of the district would be lost to accommodate modern roads and sewer systems necessary to the 87-house development.

Despite participation of numerous advocacy groups, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Heritage Conservancy, there is no indication that the developer will consider revised plans that reduce the impact on the district or forgo development altogether in this location. The rural character of an adjacent rural historic district, the Gardenville-North Branch Rural Historic District, has already been compromised by construction of three large residential developments and a quarry facility. The proposed development within the National Register eligible Twin Silo Road Historic District represents another example of unmanaged growth that is eroding Pennsylvania's significant historic agricultural landscape.

Significance
The historic Buck Hill Inn is situated in the idyllic forest scenery and cool climate of the Pocono Mountains. As railroad expansion in the late 19th century offered access to this once-remote region of Pennsylvania, a group of Philadelphia Quakers formed a corporation in 1900 to build a mountain retreat. The Inn, designed by the Philadelphia firm of Bunting and Shrigley and opened in 1901, contained 20 rooms and no private baths. The tremendous success and popularity of the Inn led to almost annual additions and alterations including the 1923 construction of a large rambling 4-story hotel of native stone in the Mission Revival style, also designed by Bunting and Shrigley. As the Poconos developed as a popular early 20th century tourist destination, other resort complexes followed including Pocono Manor (1902), and Skytop (1927). In addition to a main hotel, each also included a cottage community. Buck Hill and Pocono Manor, both established by Quakers, offered a relaxed, understated atmosphere in contrast to the grander scale and opulence of Skytop. Buck Hill was, even into the later years of the 20th century, one of the largest Pocono resorts.

Threat
Changes in tourist patterns and management issues forced the closing of the Inn in 1991. Following the closure, the owner sought a management or development group to take over the ownership and operation of the Inn. Although a buyer was found, the ownership of the property remains unclear and continues to jeopardize the property's future. Since 1991 the building has stood empty and general maintenance has been ignored.

Recent proposals for the demolition of the 500-room Inn and redevelopment of the site alerted many residents and community groups in the region, and initial steps were taken to build support for preservation of the Inn, including potential listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Demolition of the Inn would also impact the surrounding 5,000 acres of recreational land, protected under easement by the Buck Hill Falls Company, and the historic summer cottage community, represented by the Lot and Cot Association. It is hoped that continued public awareness and National Register listing will encourage present or future ownership to explore rehabilitation of the historic Inn and re-establish one of the Pocono region's most identifiable landmarks.

Significance
Bedford's distinctive Koffee Pot is a landmark on Pennsylvania's section of the Lincoln Highway. The highway, designated in 1913 as the first transcontinental highway in the U.S., became the catalyst for numerous eateries, inns, and other services designed to attract the auto-traveling public.

David Koontz opened his coffee-pot-shaped lunch stand in the mid 1920s. The circular building, with its handle and spout, is of woodframe construction. Originally, the first floor served as a lunch stand and the second floor housed a small apartment. According to Olga Herbert, executive director of Pennsylvania's Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, there were once fifteen coffee/tea pot shaped structures in the U.S. Today, only five remain.

The Koffee Pot is one of Pennsylvania's best examples of programmatic architecture - in which the building's shape declares its purpose and acts as a giant advertisement to draw the public. Other Lincoln Highway examples of programmatic architecture include the S.S. Grandview

Threat
The Koffee Pot has been closed for a number of years, and the building has suffered greatly from lack of maintenance. A potential environmental threat from underground storage tanks also made the sale of the building to new, more sympathetic owners problematic.

With the assistance of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and a historic structures report are currently underway, as well as a feasibility study on a future use for the building. Once these are completed, the challenge will be to find the funds necessary to return this unique structure to a place of prominence along one of Pennsylvania's and the nation's most historic transportation routes.

Significance
The Lazaretto, the quarantine station for Philadelphia, was built in 1799 in response to the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1793. Overlooking the Delaware River, it functioned as a quarantine station for most of the 19th century, inspecting ships heading toward the port of Philadelphia. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, the Lazaretto is considered to be one of the most important historic structures in Delaware County.

The property originally consisted of numerous buildings with different functions. Only four of the original buildings remain standing. The main administrative building or stewards' quarters was the largest and most significant. This three and a half story Georgian brick building, with north and south wings, retains a high level of architectural integrity.

In addition to its importance as the only surviving east coast example of a quarantine station, the site was also used as a seaplane base before World War I and, as such, witnessed the early development of aviation. The 10-acre site also has the potential to yield significant archaeological resources relating to New Sweden, the first European settlement in Pennsylvania.

Threat
In June of 2000 the Lazaretto was sold. New owners have submitted four plans for development of the parcel, each calling for demolition of the main building. One plan razes the building for airport parking and the other three show new structures relating to the hotel/restaurant/marina business, possibly in anticipation of approval of riverboat gambling in Pennsylvania.

Township officials are extremely concerned about the potential loss of this historic building and are investigating possible purchase in a public/private partnership that would permit adaptive reuse and place a preservation easement on the property. However, the sale price is in excess of $3.5 million and continues to grow with each passing month.

Significance
The Hotel Sterling, which opened in 1897, served as the grand hotel for the city for more than half the 20th century. It is listed as a significant building in the National Register River Street Historic District. The hotel consists of three sections: the original 1897 7-story building at the corner of Market and River Streets; the 1922 14-story "Plaza" hotel tower on the eastern end of the lot; and a 1949 4-story connector building.

J.H.W. Hawkins, a Wilkes-Barre architect, designed the original section. On the exterior, the 1897 building exhibits restrained Renaissance Revival detailing with a rusticated ashlar limestone ground floor, arcaded piano nobile, and full entablature. The 2-story lobby retains its original grandeur with extensive use of real and faux marble finishes and sweeping staircases, all topped by a large skylight. Initially constructed as a competing hotel in 1922 and purchased by the owner of the Sterling in 1927, the 14-story Beaux Arts tower was designed by the nationally acclaimed firm of Warren & Wetmore, architects of numerous hotels and New York's Grand Central Terminal. The Sterling operated as a hotel into the 1970s, after which the buildings were converted to apartment use.

Threat
In 1998 the Sterling was condemned by the City. Complicated ownership, an ongoing bankruptcy, millions of dollars in unpaid taxes and significant parking and environmental problems have combined to freeze this critical property in limbo while local taxing bodies and the present owner fight over ownership. In 2000, a fire contributed to the continued deterioration and neglect of the buildings.

Recently published development proposals, which call for demolition of the hotel and new construction on the site, have generated concern throughout the community. Groups, such as the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry, question whether local government leaders are ignoring community consensus by failing to recognize the importance of preserving the architectural heritage of the city in the overall revitalization of the downtown. Meanwhile, one of Wilkes-Barre's most identifiable and prominently located properties is caught in a quagmire that continues to thwart rehabilitation options.

Significance
One of the oldest structures in the City of Erie, Dickson Tavern was constructed ca. 1815 on the corner of French and Second Streets where it served as an important assembly point for the community during the early years of the 19th century. It was the site for the 1824 banquet celebrating the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and was part of festivities on the return of Lafayette in 1825.

The building was converted to a residence in 1841, at which time a Greek Revival addition was constructed. The house is reputed to have been a station on the Underground Railroad in the 1840s and 1850s. By the early 20th century the building was vacant. It was purchased by the City of Erie in 1923 and has been a museum property administered by a number of different local groups in the ensuing years.

Threat
Since its purchase by the City in 1923, the building has undergone cycles of intense work and then neglect. The City of Erie does not want to be in the museum business and with no long-term use or plan for the building, no one cares for it on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the building has lost its historic context and is now surrounded by a parking lot owned by the Erie Parking Authority. Employees of a nearby hospital use the site as a smoking area making fire a threat. Periodically, someone raises the possibility of moving the tavern to another location.

Recently, the City hired a local architectural firm to prepare a plan for the tavern, and CDBG funding is available to make repairs and perhaps even more extensive changes. However, until the issues of how the building will be used and who will operate and maintain it are resolved, the tavern will likely continue in its boom and bust cycle.

Significance
The West Chester Downtown Historic District is characterized by densely grouped blocks of three-story buildings, predominantly constructed of brick with first floor storefronts and upper story residential or office space. The buildings range in architectural character from Federal townhouses to Queen Anne rowhouses and 20th century commercial buildings. At the heart of the district is the Chester County Courthouse complex which consists of Thomas Ustick Walter's landmark Greek Revival Courthouse (1846), an 1892 Renaissance Revival West Wing and a 20th century addition and annex. The historic district is protected by both listing in the National Register of Historic Places and a local zoning ordinance that requires review of alterations, demolition and new construction .

Threat
Recognizing a need for additional space, future growth, and the desire to concentrate all court business within a single complex, Chester County officials have proposed to construct a new office building on the existing courthouse block. The new building will require demolition of the annex building and eleven historic buildings that contribute to the historic district. There is concern that the loss of office and commercial space in the heart of the historic/business district has the potential to compromise the overall historic character and economic vitality of the district. Besides the loss of the historic buildings, there is also public concern that the height, materials, setback and style of the new building will disrupt the uniform scale established by the historic buildings and that the proposed buildings will not adequately meet future needs of the county, creating the potential for future demolition. A group of concerned citizens is calling for the County to explore other alternatives, seek community input, and measure the full impact of demolition of the historic buildings before proceeding with the courthouse expansion.

Significance
Homestead Historic District, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 and is comprised of the three bor
oughs of West Homestead, Homestead and Munhall. Homestead and Munhall developed around the Homestead Works of U.S. Steel; West Homestead's principal industry was the Mesta Machine Company. All three municipalities consist largely of worker's housing constructed between 1890 and 1941. Interspersed throughout the community are churches and other institutional buildings. The commercial core of the district is concentrated along Eighth Avenue, with most structures built of brick, 2 to 3 stories in height, and Italianate or Romanesque Revival in style.

Homestead is famous for the 1892 strike, which pitted Henry Clay Frick, the chairman of Carnegie Steel Company against the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers, the powerful union representing the factory workers. On July 6, 1892, 300 Pinkerton Police hired by Frick clashed with the union workers and townspeople for 12 hours. Although the townspeople prevented the Pinkerton force from breaking the strike that day, the long stalemate lasted until November 20, 1892. Largely because of this decisive battle between management and union, the role of unions in the steel industry was greatly diminished until their resurgence in the 1930s.

Threat
The Homestead National Register District is threatened by a proposal from a national drug store chain and a local developer to tear down almost an entire block of the commercial core to build a pharmacy, parking lot and drive-thru lanes. The proposal took almost 2 years to go through the zoning and planning approval process but outstanding matters like PennDOT curb cuts and eliminating a Port Authority bus stop remain open issues.

Last July, CVS filed suit in Federal Court against 17 defendants including the communities of Homestead, West Homestead, the mayors of these communities, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and two other nonprofits as well as several private citizens. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the ACLU have filed amicus briefs on their behalf. The buildings remain standing but are not being maintained. The area's effort to promote heritage tourism and economic development based on its history could be severely jeopardized should this project be allowed to proceed.

 Threat of Demolition by Neglect:
J.W. Cooper High School
Shenandoah, Schuylkill County

Significance
Originally scheduled to open in 1918, the 3-story stone school building located at the intersection of North White and East Lloyd Streets in the center of the Borough of Shenandoah, was commandeered and used as a temporary hospital and morgue during the flu epidemic of 1918, when the local hospital was unable to accommodate the large number of victims. In May 1919 the building was dedicated as the "new Shenandoah High School". It was later renamed the J.W. Cooper High School in memory of the school's first principal. The school remained in use until 1986 when it was replaced with a new facility.

Shenandoah was a coal mining community, which during the 1920s and 1930s had a population of 30,000 residents within its one square mile boundary, giving the borough the highest population per square mile of any municipality in the U.S. at that time. Tens of thousands of Shenandoans were educated within the walls of Cooper High School and the school holds a significant place in the history and culture of the community.

Threat
As coal mining ceased to be the major industry in the region, the population of Shenandoah declined. The borough now has less than 6,000 residents, and the community lacks sufficient resources to undertake reuse of the school. The building is currently in the hands of the Schuylkill County Tax Claims Bureau due to default by the owner of record, who has also failed to secure the building from vandalism and has stripped all plumbing and salvageable metal from the building. Local advocates for preservation of the building fear that if left in its current state of neglect, it will deteriorate to the point where rehabilitation will not be feasible and it will have to be demolished.

Despite the assaults on the property, the community is committed to its preservation. The Borough of Shenandoah and the Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society are developing plans to rehabilitate the building, possibly into a local arts and community center. Significant funds and increased public awareness are necessary for these plans to move forward.