I posted photos from my 2006 visit to Brookville in 2006, but they must have gone to post heaven (or hell) because I couldn't find them with a search. I've appended

photos from last week's visit and brought the whole thing back for your unbounded enjoyment. :-D

 

Brookville, Pennsylvania

 

All Photographs Copyright © 2006 - 2011 by Robert E. Pence

 

Exit 78 on I-80 may be typically unsightly, but take time to drive a mile or two down 322/36 and check out the town. While visiting the Coolspring Power Museum's

Fall Swap Meet in 2006 I spent some time looking around Historic Brookville. I'm glad I did. In 2011 I returned and went into parts of the town that I hadn't visited

the last time. Both visits were encumbered with wet weather, and there's still more to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jefferson County Courthouse, built 1867

 

 

 

 

Elegance impeccably cared for

 

 

 

 

 

Wonderful ornate iron work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appropriate infill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this were mine, I might be nervous about ...

 

 

... these. I guess the couple of sharp turns coming into town have already slowed them down, though. They sure do rattle windows with their engine brakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is steeper than it looks in the photo. I'll bet those bricks are treacherous with a light coat of snow or ice.

 

 

Steps! Not quite as steep or long as some in Cincinnati or Pittsburgh, but still a pretty good climb.

 

 

 

 

Vertical board-and-batten siding is one of my favorite historic architectural features.

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't been down this street yet, but I'm out of time. I'll check it out on my next visit/

 

 

I'm back again in October, 2011 for the Fall Expo and Swap Meet at Coolspring Power Museum, and it's been cold, rainy, and windy for two days with another week of

the same in the forecast. This afternoon there's a brief window of no rain and possibly a little sun. Let's pick up where we left off on the last visit and go down the hill.

 

Here's Brookville Park, site of the 1915 Brookville Park Auditorium. It must have been impressive once.

Now, it has had some industrial buildings attached and it looks like it's being used as a warehouse.

A considerable inventory of steel was piled along one side.

 

 

 

 

Across the street a handsomely restored nineteenth-century home now functions as a law office.

 

 

Across Red Bank Creek sits downtown Brookville.

 

 

The North Fork on the left and Sandy Lick Creek on the right join to form Red Bank Creek.

 

 

 

 

Brookville Equipment Corporation manufactures and rebuilds railroad locomotives, streetcars and light rail vehicles, and haulage equipment used in mining

and tunnelling. Their web site is concise and impressive.

 

 

The Brookville Borough Complex is anchored by a gorgeous Italianate mansion and houses offices of local

government and law enforcement.

 

 

 

Roaming around the area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gable-roofed building in back with the vertical board-and-batten siding clearly is a railroad freight house, but the tracks don't go there any more. Brookville is served

by the Pittsburg & Shawmut railroad, a name with a long history. An effort to decipher the role of now-defunct branch lines in the area left me completely confused.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This glorious creation had a vacant appearance about it. It has suffered some unseemly modifications, but overall it's remarkably intact, at least on the exterior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That looks like an old mill building ...

 

 

... and it is.

 

 

 

Going across the creek to look around downtown and the historic district some more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Hey, buddy! Take my picture!"

 

 

I'll bet somebody's been to the swap meet at Coolspring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clouds are coming back and light is fading fast.

 

 

 

 

 

I remember this house from last time. It's had a sprucing up, some masonry repair, vines removed from the porch, and a coat of paint. They removed or sided over

the lattice that I liked on the bottom of the porch, but overall the property looks a lot better.

 

 

 

This one has been fixed up, too. Last time, it was tired and dingy-looking and the yard was full of plastic playground toys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A wonderful concept. This is the only gap in the otherwise-perfect Main Street streetscape.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll leave you to savor the chocolate-covered strawberries, while I go back to the motel to get a good night's

sleep and prepare for the long drive home. If you haven't had enough, you can visit my 2006 photo set

from the Coolspring Power Museum, just down Highway 36.

Wowowowowow!

 

Amazing. Hidden gem, if there ever were one.

That courthouse is an absolute beaut.

Great looking small town!  Something very special about those Pennsylvania towns....I can't put my finger on it.  Kind of like time has passed them by, but in a good way.

 

Thanks for the tour.

Wow what a gorgeous little town. It reminds me a little of Bellefonte. Thanks for the tour. I need to venture out to western PA one of these days.

Wow, Robert!

I have driven past Brookville dozens of times but never stopped there.

Nice compositions.  You managed to make the clouds work for you.