Keystone marker

The Keystone Markers were products of the height of the Good Roads Movement that opened highway travel to the masses.{{cite news|author=Weaver, Stephanie |title=Refurbished Signs Making Their Mark in Birdsboro |work=The Reading Eagle |date=April 9, 2012 |url=http://www.keystonemarkertrust.org/Uploads/KeyStoneUploads/PdfUpload/Birdsboro%20Reading%20Eagle%20Article.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220075226/http://www.keystonemarkertrust.org/Uploads/KeyStoneUploads/PdfUpload/Birdsboro%20Reading%20Eagle%20Article.pdf |archive-date=February 20, 2014 }} The Keystone Markers were the signature project of the Department, the second oldest of its kind in the nation and predecessor to today's PennDOT.{{cite news|author=Gustafson, Randy |title=Historic Keystone Signs get new life |work=Times Observer |date=March 17, 2012 |url=http://www.keystonemarkertrust.org/Uploads/KeyStoneUploads/PdfUpload/Irvine%20Town%20Marker%20Article%20Randy%20Gustafson.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220082526/http://www.keystonemarkertrust.org/Uploads/KeyStoneUploads/PdfUpload/Irvine%20Town%20Marker%20Article%20Randy%20Gustafson.pdf |archive-date=February 20, 2014 }} The proliferation of the familiar blue-and-yellow, cast iron Keystone Markers popularized Pennsylvania's reputation as the "Keystone State".

While Pennsylvania once claimed thousands of Keystone Markers, approximately 600 remain. The loss of the Markers prompted Preservation Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth's statewide heritage preservation advocacy organization, to include the Keystone Markers among their most endangered resources in 2011.{{cite web |title=Pennsylvania At-Risk |publisher=Preservation Pennsylvania 2011 |url=http://www.preservationpa.org/uploads/presfundpa/ppa-25-1.pdf |access-date=2012-05-03 |archive-date=2016-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624030617/http://www.preservationpa.org/uploads/presfundpa/ppa-25-1.pdf |url-status=dead }} Keystone Markers associated with towns are the most common of the survivors. In each municipality where the markers were installed, at least two were put up, one on each end of town along the principal roadway.{{cite news|author=Graham, Jack |title=The Cast Iron Town Signs of Pennsylvania |work=Lancaster Farming |date=March 26, 2011 |url=http://www.keystonemarkertrust.org/Uploads/KeyStoneUploads/PdfUpload/L.pdf }}{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} If a town was at the intersection of two such roadways, there were four signs installed, two on each road. Markers for towns indicated the name of the town, the reason why the town was given that name, and the date founded. Many town Keystone Markers indicated the distance to the next town in the upper part of the sign. Thus, each marker for a given town was unique.

There are three different varieties of Keystone Markers, each generally associated with a different kind of use.

1. Front-mount, single-sided sign markers used for towns. These markers have signs that mount on the front of a specially-designed post.
2. Top-mount, dual-sided sign markers used for streams/creeks/rivers. These have a two-sided sign and mount on top of a specially-designed post that differs from the town marker post.
3. Keystone Variant Markers used for borough lines, trails, points of interest, directions, county and local roads, etc. They use the same post as the town markers but have a slightly differently-shaped sign.{{cite news|title=Birdsboro the only municipality to have three types of Keystone Markers |work=The Reading Eagle |date=April 9, 2012 |url=http://www.keystonemarkertrust.org/Uploads/KeyStoneUploads/PdfUpload/Birdsboro%203%20marker%20types.pdf }}{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{Out-of-date|section|date=May 2022}}

A non-profit advocacy organization called the Keystone Marker Trust is working with PennDOT and municipalities across the Commonwealth to restore existing Keystone Markers. Grant funding has enabled patterns to be created and the first replica Keystone Markers are slated to be installed in 2012. The co-founders of the trust are attorney and employee of the National Railway Historical Society Nathaniel Guest and historian Greg Prichard.{{cite web | title =Pennsylvania Keystone Markers ...Symbols of our Past and Bright Future | publisher =TREDYFFRIN HISTORIC PRESERVATION TRUST | year =2013 | url =http://tredyffrinhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Fall-13-Lecture.pdf | access-date =October 2, 2013 | archive-date =October 4, 2013 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20131004234650/http://tredyffrinhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Fall-13-Lecture.pdf | url-status =dead }}

Historically accurate

File:Cleona, PA Keystone Marker in 2003.jpg|Pre-restoration Keystone Marker for Cleona, Pennsylvania (2003)

File:Cleona, PA Keystone Marker in 2009.jpg|Post-restoration Keystone Marker for Cleona, Pennsylvania (2009)

File:Kratzerville PA Keystone Sign 1.jpg|A good example of an original pole

File:Vicksburg, PA Keystone Marker 1 crop.jpg|A full view of a restored Keystone Marker

Damaged or out of place

File:Daggett, PA Keystone Marker.jpg|Keystone Marker for Daggett, Pennsylvania inlaid in cement wall

File:North East, PA Keystone Marker.jpg|An atypical color scheme for a Keystone Marker in North East, Pennsylvania.

File:Robesonia, PA keystone marker.jpg|A Keystone Marker in serious need of repair from Robesonia, Pennsylvania.

File:Media PA Keystone Marker.jpg|Atypical colors

File:Sugar Grove, PA Keystone Marker.jpg|A Keystone Marker affixed to a flagpole

File:Tunkhannock Creek Keystone Marker.jpg|An example for a stream, rather than a settlement

File:Lawn, PA Keystone Marker.jpg|An atypical example

Delaware River sign in Matamoras, PA.jpg|A lookalike

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• [http://keystonemarkertrust.org/ Keystone Marker Trust]
• {{cite news|last=Evans |first=Dean Lee |title=Mountville unveils historical markers |newspaper=Lancaster New Era |date=Apr 9, 2013 |url=http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/836179_Mountville-unveils-historical-markers.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005004751/http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/836179_Mountville-unveils-historical-markers.html |archive-date=2013-10-05 }}
• {{cite news | last =Marotta | first =Mark D. | title =Preserving a bit of Pennsylvania history | newspaper =Pottstown Mercury | date = 2013-05-24 | url =http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/MP/20130525/FINANCE01/130529439

}}

• {{cite news | last =Beaugue | first =John | title =PennDOT seeks help restoring Keystone Markers | newspaper =The Patriot-News | date =September 24, 2011 | url =http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/09/penndot_seeks_help_restoring_k.html }}
• {{cite news | last =Thomas | first =Mary Ann | title =Keystone Markers give insights about towns but have fallen victim to time, theft or traffic accidents | newspaper =Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | date = 5 July 2015 | url = http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/8613638-74/marker-keystone-markers }}

Category:Pennsylvania state historical markers

Category:Transportation in Pennsylvania

Category:Signage