Hollidaysburg Heritage Guided Tours This Spring

Hollidaysburg Heritage Guided Tours Spring season runs Saturdays from April 30 through June 4, 2022. All dates provide the popular brunch option, at the U.S. Hotel and Tavern, with brunch beginning at 11 a.m. and including an informative presentation to enrich the overall tour experience. Tours are recommended for anyone interested in history, architecture, engineering marvels, or just an enjoyable, educational event.

Three different tours will be offered this spring: Canal Basin, North Montgomery and Allegheny/Walnut. The Canal Basin tour requires minimal walking and includes a visit to the Reiser House Museum. Participants will be guided to envision the birth, growth and renaissance of the community of Hollidaysburg when it became a transportation hub, and how it illustrates the national phenomenon of the dynamic history of the United States in the mid-1800s.

The North Montgomery tour is new this season. The popularity of the Historic Homes Tour (now titled Allegheny/Walnut) prompted a deeper dive into more fascinating stories of the area’s pioneers. This route includes facts and stories about one of the original houses in Hollidaysburg, dating back to 1839, along with other homes and businesses. Both Allegheny/Walnut and North Montgomery tours focus on building exteriors, architecture, plus historical facts and stories. They do not include home interiors.

Committee Chairman Tom Kopriva said that the Hollidaysburg Heritage Guided Tours are something that they conceived of a couple of years ago.

“Last fall, in 2021, we had five weekends where we conducted ten tours,” said Kopriva. “We had 120 participants. We were excited. We did the Canal Basin tour.”

According to Kopriva, without the Pennsylvania Canal, there wouldn’t be a story around Hollidaysburg.

Kopriva said that the second tour will go down Allegheny Street and then back up Walnut.

“We tell the stories of the people in the buildings, the people who live there and how they can accumulate wealth to build homes like that,” Kopriva said. “We talk about the boomtown atmosphere of Hollidaysburg back in the 1830s.”

Along with the new tour on North Montgomery Street, the committee will provide a Canal Basin Tour for students. Kopriva said that they will likely have all three elementary schools in the Hollidaysburg School District sending some fourth grade students.

The Montgomery Street Tour will start on the Diamond in Hollidaysburg and will just go two blocks up North Montgomery Street.

“In that two-block area, we cover a dynamic part of the history of Hollidaysburg that takes us from the boomtown days when the population went from seventy-two people to three thousand in ten years with new businesses and enterprises,” said Kopriva.

After that era, Hollidaysburg remained significant not only because the government moved the county seat there, but also because of the industrial development, such as the coke ovens and the iron mills.

“Those two blocks tell quite a story about Hollidaysburg,” said Kopriva.

Kopriva said that the tours financially benefit The Hollidaysburg Public Library.

“They do a magnificent job serving our community of all ages. We put maybe $1,400 into their coffers last year. They manage the online registration of the tours. It is just a great partnership.”

The tour schedule is as follows:

April 30: Canal Basin

May 7: North Montgomery

May 14: Allegheny/Walnut

May 21: Canal Basin

June 4: North Montgomery

Brunch begins at 11 a.m., with all tours beginning promptly at 12:15, ending by 1:45 p.m. Find more information on the Hollidaysburg Heritage Guided Tours Facebook page.