Allentown State Hospital, Allentown, Lehigh County

As I mentioned last week, husband Kevin and I attended the marker dedication ceremony for Allentown State Hospital this past Friday. My longtime readers know that I usually do separate posts for the ceremonies and the markers themselves; however, this event was probably the shortest of its kind that I've ever attended, and it just made more sense for me to combine it with the history behind the marker. So as a result, this post may be a little longer than usual.

Phoenix Iron Company, Phoenixville, Chester County

The May newsletter is out! If you're not already subscribed, you can read it here. (But please consider subscribing.)

This Friday, May 3rd, I'll be heading to my birth city to attend the marker dedication ceremony for the Allentown State Hospital. It was originally supposed to be held last fall but got rescheduled, and I only just found out a few days ago that it was set for this week! They've scheduled a few more dedication ceremonies throughout the coming summer, so be sure to check the official calendar to see if any of them are happening near you.

Meanwhile, for the first quest of the fifth month, let's travel to Chester County and take a look at the history of a company which, like the bird for which it was named, emerged from its own ashes repeatedly over almost two centuries before finally closing its doors.

Grace Methodist Church, Harrisburg, Dauphin County

April feels (to me at least) like it's been about three months long. Then again, ever since the pandemic I'm pretty sure time has lost a lot of its meaning. In any case, I've got one more blog post for you before we head into the month of May, so let's take a trek to Dauphin County and learn about a building that served one very unusual purpose: saving Harrisburg's role as capital of the commonwealth.

Troxell-Steckel House, Whitehall, Lehigh County

I had hoped to be starting this post with the announcement that I've got a new podcast episode ready to roll. As it happens, however, I'm still waiting on YouTube's account verification and a couple other details. (I'm trying to clean up the audio quality.) So instead we're just getting straight into the blogging.

This will be a slightly odd blog post, at least by my own standards. I have two markers for the location, because the wording is just a little different on each, but I won't be sharing pictures of the actual farmhouse. That's not to say that I don't have pictures - I do. Quite a few, in fact, and I would love to share them. But it's a peculiar quirk of the Lehigh County Historical Society that you can't publish photographs of either the Troxell-Steckel House in Whitehall or Trout Hall in Allentown without their explicit written permission, and I just never got around to requesting the permission. Maybe they wouldn't mind, but then again, maybe they would, and I don't feel like dealing with any possible legal fallout. I'd rather play by the rules. Eventually I'll remember to write and ask for permission at a time when I'm actually able to do it, and I'll come back and add my photos to the post.

The Banana Split, Latrobe, Westmoreland County

My apologies to anyone who missed a post last week. We had two and a half days of rain around here, and as my longtime readers know, my body does not take kindly to that sort of thing. I was hurting pretty badly and I just couldn't focus. But I'm back this week!

Pennsylvania, among its many claims to fame, is known as the snack food capital of the United States. It's not hard to see why, either. We're the home of Hershey, Tastykake, Middleswarth chips, Sturgis pretzels (both Julius and Tom), and a whole bunch of other companies that make many of our favorite snackies. This includes ice cream products, from outfits like Yuengling. 

There's apparently something of a mild debate about the origin of the banana split. It seems that a number of communities across the country like to claim to be where the famous sundae was invented. However, our own Latrobe has the earliest claim, and has been certified as the birthplace of the banana split by the National Ice Cream Retailers Association. My sister Liza and I visited Latrobe last autumn to pay homage to Mister Rogers, and the marker for the banana split isn't far from his.

Isaac Charles Mishler, Altoona, Blair County

I'm back from Zenkaikon and feeling very good about the whole thing! Also a bit melancholy, but that's nothing unusual - con weekend is one of the highlights of my year. All three of my historical presentations were very well attended and my jokes landed well, which always helps; the Celtic mythology presentation is the only one that's going to be available to watch online, though, and it'll take a little time because they have a lot to upload and YouTube only allows so much at once. So hopefully I'll have a link to share within a few weeks. But it was a wonderful experience and I honestly don't think I could be more pleased with how it all went.

For this week's quest, we're heading back out to Blair County, where a magnificent theater stands as a monument to one man's civic-minded spirit.

Bellefonte Air Mail Field, Bellefonte, Centre County

It's crunch time for Zenkaikon. We leave tomorrow and spend three and a quarter lovely days in beautiful downtown Lancaster, hobnobbing with other weirdos (most of them in costume). I'll be doing two presentations about Lancaster history and one about Celtic mythology. I'm not sure which ones will be available to watch via Zenkaikon Online, but they did make it free for everyone this year - so if and when I have links to share, I'll provide them for anyone who might care to watch me babble about history. I'll also return to uploading podcast episodes next week when it's over, I want to do a little fine-tuning.

For today, you just get to read my babbling. We're going to skip back in time just a little over a century, back to when air mail was a relatively new thing and somewhat dangerous to boot. A little community in central Pennsylvania was key to the success of the endeavor.