Talk:Pottstown, Pennsylvania

The Hill School content, originally from User:67.87.61.196, is now here. iMeowbot~Mw 00:26, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)+

General Info

Verify you know the Boundries of Pottstown before adding info

• FYI:
  • Did edit 12/27/08 found that someone included K-Mart as a business in Pottstown - actually it is outside the boundries in Lower Pottsgrove and the zipcode for Pottstown is 19464, although 19464 is also used for some areas outside of Pottstown
  • Did edit 12/27/08 found 19465 as Pottstown zip code, however 19465 is used with the Pottstown address but it is actually for addresses on Chester County served by Pottstown Post Office

July 5 Revert

Below are additions of PatM1401 reverted by a bot on 7/05/07 for referencing photobucket. While I do agree that the photo bucket link cannot be used, there is alot of other usable information in here that (with proper sourcing) can be incorporated into the article. Skabat169 23:20, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

=== History ===

William Penn deeded the land, which is now Pottstown and the surrounding area to his son John in 1701. As early as 1714 the first iron forge was built. Among the early settlers were Germans, Swedes, and English.

By the 1720’s, the first blast furnace was in operation for the production of cast iron and wrought iron. In 1732, the first steel furnace was in production in the Pottstown area.

The Potts family, who were iron masters, moved to this area and established a forge here.

The Potts home was a showplace on a small hill just west of town.

John Potts, the oldest son of Thomas Potts, purchased nine hundred ninety-five acres in the area and in 1752 Pottstown was founded. When the town was first laid out, it stretched from York Street to Charlotte Street and from the Schuylkill River to Beech Street.

Before 1800, the village was called Pottsgrove, however, as the population increased, this slowly evolved into Pottstown. On February 6, 1815, this area was incorporated as a Borough, the second Borough formed in the county, Norristown being the first. The first election of town officers was held in April of 1815.

Soon after 1842, the Reading Railroad completed a series of lines from Philadelphia to Mt. Carbon, near Pottsville. Raw materials and coal were moved easily, and markets were more readily accessible. At this time, the population of the Borough was six hundred. Since the first forge, Pottstown has received much recognition in the metal industries. The most significant projects include the locks for the Panama Canal and the Golden Gate Bridge.

In 1847 the town was divided into two wards. By 1850 the population of the Borough reached a total of one thousand eight hundred fifty. As the town grew, new wards were added and old ones were divided. By 1893 the Borough had ten wards represented by twenty councilmen, two from each ward. Borough Council continued to function as one of the largest municipal representative bodies in Pennsylvania. In 1964 the number of wards was reduced to seven, with one councilman representing each ward.

In 1944, the Council-Manager form of government was adopted; administrative responsibility for the operation of the Borough was given to a professional Manager. The Borough has had nine Managers since the position was created.[[1]]

===Barry Lee Bush===

Pottstown, Pa became the nation's center focus after the death of FBI agent Barry Lee Bush. Bush was was shot and killed after another agent's weapon accidentally discharged during in an attempt capture a robbery suspect in Readington, NJ. Bush, who lived in Forks Township, Pa., was born in Pottstown and was a 1972 graduate of Pottstown High School. Before becoming an FBI agent, he served with the Boyertown and Pottstown police departments. Bush was laid to rest at the Policeman's and Fireman's Mausoleum at Highland Memorial Park. Funeral ceromonies were held at the arts center auditorium at the Hill School, where at least 2,000 people, including FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came to mourn the loss of Barry Lee Bush.[[2]]

[[3]]

===Businesses===

===Coventry Mall===

The Coventry Mall provides many jobs for people in the Pottstown Area. The newly renovated mall includes many popular stores. Some of the stores include:

Aeropostale; American Eagle Outfitters; Bath & Body Works; Boscov's; C.J. Banks; Childrens Place; Christopher & Banks; DEB; Dick's Sporting Goods; Dress Barn; Footlocker; Gap; Gymboree; Hot Topic; IQ; KB Toys; Kohl's; Limited Too; Pac Sun; Pier 1 Imports; Radio Shack; Schuylkill Valley Sports; Sears; Victorias Secret

=== Media ===

===PCTV===

PCTV (Pottstown Community TV) is owned and operated by the Borough of Pottstown and provides local origination programming over Comcast Cable TV in over 77,000 homes in western Montgomery County, Northern Chester County and Eastern Berks County. In existence since 1983, PCTV currently produces programming on 3 local Cable Channels 22, 27 and 98).[[4]]

===Pottstown Mercury===

The Mercury has the unique distinction of being the smallest circulation newspaper in the U.S. to win two Pulitzer Prizes. The first award came in 1979 in the Spot News Photography category by staff photographer Tom Kelly. The second Pulitzer Prize came in 1990 for Editorial Writing by Tom Hylton. The Mercury has won hundreds of other state and national awards in the past 75 years.[[5]]

=== Travel ===

===Pottstown Urban Transit (PUT)===

Bus service in Pottstown and the surrounding communities is a publicly owned and privately operated system. The Borough of Pottstown owns, funds, and administers the system. The day-to-day operations are the responsibility of Pottstown Urban Transit, Inc.

===Pottstown Municipal Airport===

The Pottstown Municipal Airport is a full service airport for business and recreational flyers.

Services include:

Airport management; Aviation fuel; Aircraft parking (ramp or tie down); Hangars; Passenger terminal and lounge; Flight training; Aircraft rental; Aerial tours / aerial sightseeing; Aircraft maintenance; Aircraft cleaning / washing / detailing

=== Events ===

===Pottstown Rumble===

The Pottsown Rumble is a grass-court volleyball tournament held at Pottstown's memorial park. The tournament is split up between men's doubles and women's doubles. The event has grown over the years into a two-day tournament with 90+ nets and over 1200 players. The Pottstown Rumble is one of the biggest grass doubles tournaments in the nation with the reputation of having the toughest competition.[[6]]

===Pottstown Relay for Life===

Relay For Life of Pottstown is a 24 hour, fun-filled event that offers individuals, families, businesses, schools, service organizations and communities an opportunity to participate in the fight against cancer. It is held at the Pottsgrove High School's football field.

In June 2007, Pottsown expeirenced its largest Relay for Life yet raising over $931,600 and counting! This even is ranked as one of the top relays in the state, nation, and even the world.[[7]]

• Saint Peters School

Ok so i agree, and well i put back the majority of information prior to the revert, w/o the links to photobucket and some other changes. I moved the history more to the top as i believe that history sections are better situated at the top of articles. On 2 areas i removed the list, that being of the stores in the mall and services offered by the airport. While informative their better situated in a travel guide then an encyclopedia, and if they were in an encyclopedia would be better situated in a more specific article on the mall/airport in question less we list every store/gas station/bank in town. Other then sourcing, which is some that will come in time as a see it, and the current lack of it would not warrant pulling the info from the article as non of the raises to big of an issue, is some tone problems in Events section, it reads to much like a promotion for the events that would would see in a brochure, Pottstown Mercury section, considering their is a present article for the newspaper, and Barry Lee Bush, which if he is that important should be spun into a new article with a link to rather then a section on notable persons. But thats just the way i see it. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 01:28, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

• I assume you just reverted the prior revert to the this article. While much of the edit is completely legitimate, there has been no consideration of quality for the individual parts. The history is a verbatim copyvio Pottstown Website The Relay for Life? Who cares, half the cities in the US have them. Not sure if there is any mention of it in any of those articles. Pottstown Rumble? Sounds like some local interest nonsense akin to the Joe Blow Charity Softball tournament in every city in the country. Giving it a cute name doesn't make it encyclopedic. Barry Lee Bush apparently already exists. Montco 04:01, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

• • I disagree about the Pottstown Rumble: regardless of what it may sound like, in reality it is one of the largest grass doubles volleyball tournaments in the USA, with 1700 amateurs and professionals in competition this year - I'll try to find some firm info and add it later. (Apologies for any formatting problems, this is my first talk post)Arenaria (talk) 10:41, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

• • Anyway I worked on a good bit of it to bring it somewhat up to standard.Montco 04:54, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Removed notable business section... here's why.

I removed the notable business section for reasons related to WP:DIRECTORY. I think this section (or perhaps an "Economy" section) could have a purpose but every entry would need to be justified. Those justifications should include the business being more or less localized to Pottstown and it should have a major impact on the local economy or at the least a major historical impact. Places like Dana and Mr. Smith pies would probably qualify but Walmart would not. Every entry should be referenced properly to be included or it opens the floodgates to every small business wanting their entry. Jason Quinn (talk) 15:44, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Sharon Thomas

Sharon Thomas is listed as the city's mayor but her name is linked to a redirect to the Church of Scientology's Operation Snow White. A Sharon Thomas was indicted for her involvement in this operation and I do not know whether the mayor of Pottstown is the same one. The page of the operation links the name of that Sharon Thomas and a page should probably be created for the mayor (Is there some sort of mayors project?) in addition to that Sharon Thomas. DearthOfMateriel (talk) 21:09, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Jacob Albright, a notable native?

I can't access the citation listed, but the wikipedia article about Jacob Albright and other sources say he was born in nearby Douglass township. Believe it or not, there are two Douglass townships within a few miles of Pottstown, but I'm not sure which is supposed to be Jacob Albright's birthplace.Arenaria (talk) 06:06, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Climate

Try telling a Pottstown native that the local climate is humid subtropical. WeatherBase uses -3°C as a boundary but, if 0°C is used as is common in the US, the climate is hot-summer humid continental (Dfa.) Pottstown's winters vary widely as is common for areas near the Cfa/Dfa boundary. Heff01 (talk) 02:07, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

The winter of 2016 was milder than normal overall with most of the season's snow coming in a very large amount from Winter Storm Jonas on 22-23 January. Heff01 (talk) 02:09, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

The latest numbers came in the year 2021 and most of Pottstown borough is Cfa now due to global warming, This boundary with Dfa is set to spread up into Berks County soon. The airport is slightly cooler than most of the borough and is in Upper Pottsgrove Township NW of the borough. Heff01 (talk) 18:34, 26 February 2023 (UTC)

I see that the climate chart has been changed to an up-to-date one from Heritage Field Airport. It is significantly higher than Pottstown in elevation and shows a Dfa result. Actually, it has January and barely February averaging below freezing. The temperature numbers are significantly below what I expected. Heff01 (talk) 22:22, 27 December 2023 (UTC)

Pottstown has two nearby general-aviation airports: Pottstown Municipal Airport and Heritage Field to the NW and east of the borough, respectively. Their temperature numbers are lower than the borough. Heff01 (talk) 01:38, 28 December 2023 (UTC)