Echoes of the PAST
In this issue of Pioneer America Society Transactions (PAST) we have included five manuscripts from the 2012 PAS:APAL Conference at Stuart, Florida. The sessions were held at Wolf High-Technology Center, Chastain Campus, at Indian River State College, where eighteen papers were presented. Additionally, Wayne Brew and Scott C. Roper hosted a regional field trip and their field guide, Boom and Bust: Landscapes of Economic and Cultural Transition, A Field Trip along Florida’s Treasure Coast, is included in this issue. Although the field guide stands alone as an engaging historical-geographical take on coastal Florida, we also hope that this guide will provide an example that can be used by others who are contemplating organizing a field excursion.
Christopher Post examines the political and economic setting surrounding the town of New Berlin’s name change to North Canton after the United States entered World War I in his manuscript “Oh what a rotten name:” Toponymic Change in Northeast Ohio. In particular, the role of the Hoover Suction Sweeper Company (later the W.H. Hoover Company) in bringing about the eventual name change is examined.
Andrea Truitt examines the economic changes that occurred in a boom-and-bust mining town in her manuscript Between Booms: the Commercial Identity and Heritage Tourism of Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The arc of these structural changes are examined in light of the town’s new role as a heritage tourism center for the historic lead-zinc mining economy.
In their manuscript Britain’s Ambitious Florida Venture: Turnbull’s Smyrnéa Settlement (1766-1777), Arlene Fradkin, Roger T. Grange, Jr, and Dorothy L. Moore investigate the archaeological remains of a British agricultural enterprise along Florida’s Indian River. Although a substantial amount of development has occurred in the area, over 40 significant archaeological sites have been recorded.
In Rebuilding Philadelphia’s Gold Mountain: Themed Space and Living Community in Transition, Kathryn E. Wilson examines the competing interests of preservation and redevelopment of Philadelphia’s Chinatown, an historically disadvantaged community. Of particular interest is her treatment of the often competing interests of preservation and revitalization efforts.
Keith A. Sculle continues his research into the American gasoline service station in his manuscript A Work in Progress on the Basic Gasoline Station. His current efforts focus on service station reuse and adaptation, using historic and modern photographs to document this process.
Finally, I would like to thank Deborah Slater for her work on this issue of PAST. In particular, her web skills have allowed authors to incorporate multiple images, graphics, and photographs into their work in a way that truly benefits the manuscripts. I hope you find this issue of PAST as enjoyable a I have.
– Paul Marr, Professor of Geography, Shippensburg University