More industry, train service lost
At a recent Progress Pottstown luncheon, borough officials expressed optimism about Pottstown’s future. The following is one of a series about where we’ve been in the last five decades.
Pottstown manufacturing jobs continued to nosedive in the 1980s, starting with the closing of the Firestone Tire plant in 1980. Not only did Firestone provide more than 2,000 goodpaying jobs, it was a benevolent corporate presence that supported numerous civic activities.
Other manufacturers like the Clow Corp., Lincoln Underwear, Sunset Manufacturing, and Kiwi Shoe Polish either closed or moved out of town.
The downtown also continued its decline, with the closing of Ellis Mills , J.C. Penney, and the New York Store as well as numerous other stores on High Street. Pottstown’s last movie theater, the Colonial, was demolished for a proposed mini-mall that never materialized.
Meanwhile, the demolition of the Shuler House and adjacent businesses in 1975 for an aborted redevelopment project left a gaping 2-acre hole downtown in front of the former Reading passenger station that remained throughout the 1980s.
The abandoned passenger station symbolized the loss of train service in 1981 to Philadelphia and Reading, as SEPTA declined to maintain its aging trains and other operating equipment in the face of declining ridership.
To revitalize the downtown, the borough obtained $1 million from Montgomery County for streetscape improvements on High Street, including new paving, streetlights, and trees.
The borough also received state funding to hire a Main Street Manager, which led to the formation of a downtown improvement district, called PDIDA, in 1987.
Meanwhile, The Mercury led a three-year campaign raising nearly $500,000 to plant more than 2,000 street on High Street and in older Pottstown neighborhoods. Civic leaders formed a non-profit called Trees Inc. to manage the tree planting.