This Place Matters:
Group Photo Planned outside of the
Perkiomen Bridge Hotel in Collegeville

The Collegeville Main Street Program (CMSP) will be coordinating a community photo in front of the Perkiomen Bridge Hotel on Tuesday, August 18, at 6:00 PM as part of its entry in a national contest sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation entitled “This Place Matters.”  The contest is designed to raise awareness and start a conversation about the importance of historic buildings in preserving our national heritage and strengthening our communities.  It also calls attention to all the places that people from around the country believe define us as a nation. 

Borough residents and supporters of Main Street are invited to show their support for Collegeville and the reuse of the Perkiomen Bridge Hotel by being part of the photo shoot in front of the building, located at 1 E. Main Street in Collegeville.  Their goal is to have several hundred supporters in the snapshot.  Participants will be given a flier to be held up stating This Place Matters.  B-101 will be broadcasting from the site, the B-101 Bee will be buzzing about, and kids will be able to have their faces painted and leave with balloon art.   Teri Stagliano, Borough Council President, will make a short speech to the crowd.  There is no cost to participate.    

The Perkiomen Bridge Hotel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s listing of the most important historic buildings and places, was used by passerby for food and lodging since 1706.  Located behind the Hotel is the Perkiomen Bridge, a stone arch bridge which has been in continuous use since 1799. The Perkiomen Bridge Hotel is currently vacant and for sale. 

Linda Flederbach, Collegeville’s Main Street Manager, states that the “This Place Matters” photo is only one of the efforts to raise awareness about the Perkiomen Bridge Hotel.  “The Main Street program recently co-hosted, along with the Borough, a reception for potential developers.  Since it is located at one of the entrances of the Borough and along Main Street, it is very important that we do everything we can to restore this location to the prominence it has had in our community for over 300 years.  We have to do everything we can to bring attention to the Hotel and the need for it to be refurbished.  I cannot imagine that corner without the Hotel. ”

Flederbach adds that the Collegeville Main Street Program is less interested in winning the digital camera, the prize for the contest winners, but more focused on enhancing the Main Street, bringing business back to the vacant building and uniting the community on the reuse of the Perkiomen Bridge Hotel.

Andrea Baptiste, Collegeville Borough councilperson and chairperson for the CMSP Economic Restructuring Committee believes that the right person has not heard about the hotel.  “There’s got to be someone out there with a passion for preservation.  They just have not heard about (the hotel) yet.  This is a great opportunity to spread the word.”

Please contact Linda Flederbach, Main Street Manager, at (610) 454-1050 or e-mail manager@collegevilledevelopment.org if you plan on being part of the photo.  A rain date has been scheduled for Wednesday, August 19 at 6:00 PM.