The Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission was a federal commission established within the Department of the Interior to oversee the America's Industrial Heritage Project. It was created in 1988 as a means for "recognizing, preserving, promoting, and interpreting the cultural heritage of the 9-county region in southwestern Pennsylvania associated with the three basic industries of iron and steel, coal, and transportation. The Commission sunset on November 18,2008.
Projects
America's Industrial Heritage Project (AIHP)
The purpose of America's Industrial Heritage Project is twofold. First, there will be an examination of the significant contribution of the region's iron, steel, coal, and transportation industries, which helped fuel and move America's industrial growth and development and establish its standing among the nations of the world. Many of the region's cultural resources relate not only to its heritage but to the present and future as well. Second, in addition to the historic sites, the project will use sites within Johnstown and Altoona as focal points for a nine-county tourism promotion program. Tourism development efforts will take advantage of the region's scenic, natural, and recreational areas and will include these resources as integral to the planning process. Much of the project's background is based in a 1985 National Park Service study of the region entitled Reconnaissance Survey of Western Pennsylvania Roads and Sites. The NPS study identified the significant cultural resources at Johnstown and Altoona as focal points for new tourism initiatives.
Early on in AIHP planning, Altoona, Pennsylvania, was identified as the focal point around which the story of rail transportation could revolve. However, other resources in the nine-county area are integral components of the rail transportation theme of the AIHP. Two such resources were the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site and Horseshoe Curve. A third resource was the privately ownedEast Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company relating to the "secondary theme of support industries, including refractory industries, timber, and iron ore production." For the America's Industrial Heritage Project, the East Broad Top Railroad National Historic Landmark was "...the best remaining example in the nation of a regional narrow-gauge railroad system...... probably the only opportunity in the nation to tell a comprehensive railroad industry story." The landmark however was "...seriously threatened through deterioration, lack of operating capital, and legal threats to the right-of-way." Although the heritage project made efforts to preserve the landmark, they were not successful before the Commission was sunset in 2008.
Demise
The Commission sunset on November 18,2008.
Published Works
The Commission partnered with the National Park service for a number of projects such as the following sample:
Special History Study: Pennsylvania Railroad Shops and Works in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 1989. on October 8, 2017.
Revitalization Plan: Windber and Scalp Level: America's Industrial Heritage Project, Southwestern Pennsylvania. 1989 on October 8, 2017.
Study of Alternatives: East Broad Top Railroad: America's Industrial Heritage Project, Southwestern Pennsylvania: draft, 1990 National Park Service on October 8, 2017.
America's Industrial Heritage Project , 1990 on October 8, 2017.
Reconnaissance survey: Juniata River corridor : America's Industrial Heritage Project, southwestern Pennsylvania. National Park Service,., United States. Dept. of the Interior. Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission.,.. : The Service. on October 8, 2017.
America's Industrial Heritage: Southwestern Pennsylvania, 1991. on October 8, 2017.
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, America's Industrial Heritage Project, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., 1991. on October 8, 2017.
Recommendations of the Large Industrial Artifact Advisory Panel: America's Industrial Heritage Project, Pennsylvania on October 8, 2017.
Comprehensive management plan for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission, 1992, Dept. of the Interior. Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission., National Park Service. Denver Service Center.,.. : U.S. Dept. of the Interior. on October 8, 2017.
America's Industrial Heritage Project: seldom seen mine, Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission,. : U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Commission, National Park Service on October 8, 2017.
Special History Study: The Evolution of Transportation in Western Pennsylvania, 1994 on October 8, 2017.
Study of Alternatives: Western Pennsylvania Region: Its Landscape, People, and Industry. 1994 on October 8, 2017.
Concept Plan: Southwestern Pennsylvania Industrial Heritage Route., Pennsylvania. 1994. on October 8, 2017.
