The PECO Building

Electric service came to Pottstown on February 19, 1889, when the Pottstown Light, Heat & Power Co., located on Queen Street west of Penn Street along the railroad tracks, illuminated High Street with a series of 2000 candlepower arc lights and installed the first private lamp in the clothing store of A. Weitzenkorn & Sons at 145 High Street. Local operation of the power plant continued until the company transferred its stock to the Philadelphia Suburban Gas & Electric Co. on March 19, 1910, and the new company soon announced plans to build a new powerplant at this site, the first of its kind in the area, equipped with three Keeler water-tube boilers of 320 horsepower rated capacity each. Current from the new plant was officially turned on during opening ceremonies on March 14, 1912. Until the late-1990's, the Philadelphia Electric Co. continued to use the building as a generation plant and substation. In 2001, using funds from the Montgomery County Revitalization Fund, the Borough purchased the site as a gateway to Riverfront Park. The building was later identified in several planning projects, including the Pottstown Parks plan and the Pottstown Promenade project, as an important connecting node between High Street and Riverfront Park along the Schuylkill River. In an example of adaptive reuse, the Schuylkill River Center became the home of the Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area managed by the Schuylkill River Greenway Association.

Pottstown, Pennsylvania · United States