A city style marker in Philadelphia, the state's largest city
Clickable map of Pennsylvania counties

This is a list of Pennsylvania State Historical Markers which were first placed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1914 and are currently overseen by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) as part of its Historical Markers Program. Since the modern PHMC program began in 1946,[1] there have been over 2,000 historical sites in all 67 Pennsylvania counties that are marked by an official Pennsylvania state historical marker.[2]

History

Early Pennsylvania historical marker added in 1915 at Trimble's Ford

The Historical Markers Program was authorized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania when it created Pennsylvania Historical Commission (PHC), the precursor of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), through the Act of the General Assembly No. 777, on July 25, 1913. The PHC was empowered to mark by proper monuments, tablets, or markers, places or buildings within the Commonwealth where historical events transpired.[3]

The earliest markers were bronze plaques often mounted on large stones gathered from the Pennsylvania countryside. Philadelphia architect Paul Philippe Cret designed later bronze plaques that included the state's coat of arms with text laid out within a rectangular double border. Starting in 1945, markers were cast of aluminum, used gold-colored text of raised characters on a deep blue background within a silver-colored frame, and were initially affixed to concrete posts, so as to be more easily seen by motorists alongside roads. Eventually smaller and narrower city markers were added for their better suitability in urban settings.[4]

Listings of markers by county

The following are approximate tallies of current marker listings in Pennsylvania by county. These counts are based on entries in the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's database as of August, 2020.[5] There are yearly additions to the listings and some markers may be missing or stolen.[2] (Approved markers)

Markers by county
County Sites
Adams 45
Allegheny 156
Armstrong 13
Beaver 17
Bedford 35
Berks 66
Blair 27
Bradford 46
Bucks 79
Butler 15
Cambria 27
Cameron 8
Carbon 11
Centre 30
Chester 75
Clarion 7
Clearfield 12
Clinton 12
Columbia 9
Crawford 38
Cumberland 75
Dauphin 88
Delaware 67
Elk 4
Erie 56
Fayette 51
Forest 11
Franklin 70
Fulton 12
Greene 12
Huntingdon 23
Indiana 16
Jefferson 13
Juniata 5
Lackawanna 34
Lancaster 82
Lawrence 17
Lebanon 32
Lehigh 29
Luzerne 71
Lycoming 30
McKean 18
Mercer 20
Mifflin 12
Monroe 24
Montgomery 60
Montour 6
Northampton 75
Northumberland 32
Perry 15
Philadelphia 320
Pike 19
Potter 11
Schuylkill 26
Snyder 15
Somerset 31
Sullivan 6
Susquehanna 12
Tioga 16
Union 22
Venango 32
Warren 16
Washington 56
Wayne 15
Westmoreland 45
Wyoming 13
York 67
Total 2,509

See also

References

  1. ↑ "History of Pennsylvania State Historical Markers". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Pennsylvania Historical Marker Program". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  3. ↑ First Report of The Historical Commission of Pennsylvania, 1915
  4. ↑ Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine, Volume XL, Number 4, Fall 2014, A Century of Marking History: 100 Years of the PA Historical Marker Program, by John K. Robinson and Karen Galle
  5. ↑ "PHMC Historical Markers Search" (Searchable database). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  6. ↑ Finkenbiner, Scott (December 10, 2019). "Pennsylvania Historical Markers".
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