A History Of Pottstown Pennsylvania

Soldiers, champions and innovators have all hailed from this buzzing borough on the banks of the Schuylkill River. Founded in 1761 as Pottsgrove, the small country town was transformed into a thriving industrial center with the coming of the P&R Railroad. Local historian Michael T. Snyder brings together a collection of vignettes to chronicle this fascinating history. From tales of gallant Civil War colonel John Rutter Brooke and the dedicated Dr. Alice Sheppard to memories of summer baseball games long past and a community united in the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes, Snyder deftly captures the spirit and history of Pottstown.

From its founding by Colonial ironworker John Potts through its heyday as a manufacturing hub in the 20th century, Pottstown has been defined by entrepreneurs, inventors, and hard-working immigrants with dreams of a better life. It has been home to a variety of churches, community organizations, and businesses that have sustained and entertained residents and visitors for more than 260 years. It has also produced its fair share of musicians, doctors, nurses, and professional athletes, like Dick Ricketts, the first pick in the 1955 NBA draft. Pottstown is a culinary capital in its own right as the place where Amanda Smith started Mrs. Smith's pies, and where Dan Brunish sells his famous sausage sandwiches out of the deli started by his grandparents in 1937. Today, with the vision of people like Marta Kiesling and Deborah Stimson-Snow, cofounders of Steel River Playhouse, and Dr. Karen Stout, president of Montgomery County Community College, Pottstown is reinventing itself as a center for art, technology, higher education, and recreation on the Schuylkill River in southeastern Pennsylvania.