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State adds 23 historical markers to 2,300 at Pennsylvania sites

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Twenty-three new Pennsylvania Historical Markers have been approved by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC).

The new markers, selected from 39 applications, will be added to the nearly 2,300 familiar blue signs with gold lettering along roads throughout Pennsylvania.

Since 1946 PHMC’s Historical Markers have chronicled the people, places and events that have affected the lives of Pennsylvanians over the centuries.

The following is a list of the newly approved Pennsylvania Historical Markers with the name of the marker, location and a brief description:

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, 20th-century Pop artist. His unique style combined commercial images with fine art and has inspired numerous modern artists.
Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842-1932), Philadelphia, Quaker abolitionist and women’s rights advocate.

Anna Morris Holstein (1900- 1975), Upper Merion Township., Montgomery County. Holstein was the lead organizer in acquiring and restoring Washington’s Headquarters and its surrounding acreage and in the establishment of Valley Forge as a State Park (eventually a National Military Park).

Charlotte Elizabeth Battles (1864- 1952), Girard, Erie County. Battles defied late 19th- and early 20th-century gender roles by becoming a college graduate and a female bank president. Her bank was described as the only bank in the state and one of few in the nation to remain open and solvent during the Great Depression.

Chinese Workers in Beaver Falls, Beaver Falls, Beaver County. The first substantial workforce of Chinese immigrants in Pennsylvania came to Beaver Falls in 1872. The workers were recruited to the Beaver Falls Cutlery Factory to replace white laborers on strike. Other American labor unions and politicians felt the Chinese workers were a threat and advocated for the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which remained in effect until 1943.

Dr. Oscar James Cooper (1888- 1972), Philadelphia. One of the founders of Omega Psi Phi (OPP) at Howard University, the nation’s first fraternity established at a historically Black college or university.

Earl “Fatha” Hines (1903- 1983), Duquesne, Allegheny County. Revolutionary jazz pianist, who became the first African American on a radio broadcast.

Ephrata Female Composers, Lancaster. Three members of the Ephrata Cloister religious community were among the earliest documented woman composers in America.

Gen. Lyman Louis Lemnitzer (1899-1988), Honesdale, Wayne County. Lemnitzer had a long and storied military career that culminated in his role as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and supreme Allied commander of NATO in the 1960s.

George Alexander Spratt (1870- 1934), West Brandywine Township, Chester County. Early aviation design pioneer whose research was instrumental in the Wright brothers’ first flight.

Lancaster Caramel Company, Lancaster County. Milton Hershey’s first successful company (1886) that dominated the United States confectionery market. Hershey started a chocolate company as a subsidiary of the caramel company.

Mary Ella Roberts Rinehart (1876- 1958), Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. American mystery writer often compared to Agatha Christie although she predated her.

McFate Archaeological Site, Cochranton, Crawford County. In a 1938 Works Progress Administration project, archaeologists unearthed a series of overlapping palisaded settlements dating to the Late Woodland Period (1200-1500 AD).

Mead Island Tradition, Conewango Township, Warren County. First discovered in 1964, Mead Island was the dominant Native American culture within the middle Allegheny River between 960 and 1360 A.D.

“Out of This Furnace,” Braddock, Allegheny County. Novel by Braddock native Thomas Bell describing three generations of a family’s experience working in the steel industry.

Pittsburgh Chinatown, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. Established as early as the 1870s, Chinatown was the cultural and economic center of the Chinese community in western Pennsylvania.

Richard Schlegel (1927- 2006), Harrisburg, Dauphin County. Early gay activist who brought the second case in the nation before the U.S. Supreme Court that dealt with employment termination due to sexual orientation.

Rolling Mill Mine Disaster, Johnstown, Cambria County. Explosion at the bituminous coal mine owned by the Cambria Iron Co. in 1902.

Shapp Administration LGBT Initiatives, Harrisburg, Dauphin County. During Gov. Milton Shapp’s administration several significant strides were made for gay civil rights.

Siberian Iron Works, Leechburg, Armstrong County. Constructed in 1872, it was one of the earliest foundries in the U.S. to produce black plate and tin plate on an industrial scale.

Stan Musial (1920-2013), Donora, Washington County. Considered one of the best baseball players of all time.
“Winter Wonderland,” Honesdale, Wayne County. Classic Christmas song written by lyricist and Pennsylvania native Richard Smith.

Wyck House and Rose Garden, Philadelphia. A National Historic Landmark, Wyck served as the ancestral home of one of Philadelphia’s leading families from 1690 to 1972.


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