History

The recent past

To be ignorant of the past is to forever remain a child. So said the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero. Before we can discuss Pottstown's future, we need to know where we've been. Pottstown reached its zenith -- in terms of population, industry, and commerce -- in the 1960s. Since then, we've lost most of our industries, and many of our middle class residents. But in a few ways, we're better off now.

Here is a brief illustrated history of the major local developments in the last four decades.

The Pottstown Historical Society

The Pottstown Historical Society has collected a wealth of information about Pottstown's history at its headquarters at 568 East High Street. Unfortunately, only a few members of the know where to find it.

The Society has established a handsome website which it hopes will evolve into an online encyclopedia of information.

Pottstown High School Yearbooks

The Pottstown School District has scanned in all its yearbooks from 1908 to 2013. Each one can be downloaded free by clicking here.

Pottstown City Directories

City directories are one of the best tools available to research the history of Pottstown Borough. They are marvelous timeline to show when buildings were constructed, where people lived, and what businesses operated in Pottstown.

Eventually, the Historical Society will post this information on its website, but in the meantime, here are a few we have scanned as pdfs (Note: Each one takes a long time to download):