Skip to main content

Butler, PA Walkabout

Image
By
 1113

Over the Christmas holiday, I was able to explore parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania.  On December 23rd, we took a drive up to and walked around the town of Butler.

To visit the entire photo set on flickr, head here.

Butler is a unique town of 15,000 located about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh.  It is the county seat of Butler County.  The County Courthouse (shown below) was built in 1885 and is still in use today.

1070

One of more unique buildings in Bulter is the Butler County Motor Company Ford Dealership.

1079

This is the first time I had seen an automotive dealer be housed in a multi-story building like this.  The Butler County Motor Company (aka Butler County Ford) has been around since 1918 and was one of the first Ford automotive dealerships authorized by Henry Ford.

Walking down Main Street in Butler - there are a number of great older building, storefronts, and ghost signs.

1091

1087

Beer? Wine? Your choice

1086

One of the buildings that caught my eye at the end was the home of the Penn Theatre.  Even though looking up the theatre online says that it is being renovated, it looks in pretty bad shape, and most of those articles date to 2005 and the theatre looks a lot better then.

The Penn Theatre will see better days

1104

1106

The theatre was built in 1938 and was sold in 2001.  Currently, the Butler Penn Theatre Community Trust hopes to renovate the Penn Theatre but the last information I found was a presentation from 2009.  I certainly hope that this theatre can be renovated and that various events small, large, local, and otherwise can occur there.

Finally, it was a cold day and even some snow flurries briefly fell through the air.  Maggie and I stopped at a Downtown Butler tradition, Cummings Candy and Coffee Shop to warm up and get something to eat.

1099

The Cummings family have owned and operated the shop since 1905 - making it the oldest family owned business in Butler!  Inside definitely has an old fashioned soda shop feel, and it's a great place to have some coffee or tea or a quick snack.

There's a lot more to Butler than the quick 30 or so minute walk that Friday before Christmas.  It was certainly worth the drive to check out for the first time.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

By
After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley.  To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker.   Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.   The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language.  The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246.  CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County.  CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward.  South of CA 127 ...
4 comments
Read more

Finding the Pre-Emption Road of New York State

By
  The Pre-Emption Road (or rather a series of roads named Pre-Emption Road) follows a survey line called the Pre-Emption Line, drawn in the early days of the United States. The story begins with Massachusetts and New York having competing land claims to modern day Western New York State that have their roots in colonial charters granted by the British. After the Revolutionary War ended, this land became the frontier of the nation and its settlement became a priority for the new American government. During this era, there were a lot of competing land claims that needed to be settled. It was no different with the land claims between New York State and Massachusetts. On November 30, 1786, Massachusetts and New York sent representatives to Hartford, Connecticut to resolve their competing land claims. In less than three weeks, the representatives had reached a compromise. Massachusetts would receive pre-emption rights, meaning the right to sell the land after the Indian title ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

By
  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...
Post a Comment
Read more