Saint Marys....

...Pennsylvania, a pleasant small town,
Bavarian Catholics founded it, good to be around;
it's home to a brewery, Straub, at the foot of the mountain,
if you go on tour they have the "eternal fountain".

There is a Church, built by a priest,
when he became disabled, it is the least..
..or the smallest, or somewhere in between,
because it measures twelve by eighteen.

Top: Twilight time in Saint Marys.
Middle: Msgr. Deckers Chapel, he built it after he had broken his back.
Bottom: The inside of Deckers Chapel.
Note: The 'eternal fountain' allows for one drink, got long to live?

Punxsutawney....

...Pennsylvania, the home of Groundhogs Day,
it's when townsmen get Phil, out of the hay;
you see, he can predict how long 'til spring,
it's always six weeks, isn't that interesting?

Gobblers Knob is where it all takes place,
people eagerly awaiting Phil's smiling face;
they're all in hopes of an early spring,
but, every year, Phil says the same old thing.

Top: Famous resident in bronze.
Middle: Downtown Punsxutawney.
Bottom: Where to?

Butler...

...Pennsylvania, a history of American manufacturing is here,
Pullman Standard made it's rail cars, Pullman Park is where fans cheer,
American Bantam Car Company, whose memory we keep;
rolled out an original small vehicle, in World War II, known as the Jeep.

So there you have it, for better or worse,
those companies faded, the City's in reverse;
industrial towns all across our country,
all dead and gone, remnants to see.

Top: The City of Butler
Middle: A 1931 Bantam, these were the original small car - beautiful.
Bottom: Alameda Park in autumn, Butler, PA

Duquesne....

....Pennsylvania, what a hand they've been dealt,
once thriving, not an example of the Rust Belt;
seven thousand souls are living her today,
there were that many in the mill, when the town was in the hay.

It's an industrial landscape, full of broken dreams,
financially distressed, no help is close it seems;
they've even closed the high school, the student bussed away,
let's all hope that they....will see a better day.

Top: A bridge over the Monongahela River, road to Pittsburgh.
Middle: The coal loader at Union rail yard, still in use.
Bottom: Abandoned rail cars used for molten steel, the last car carried ingots.

Chambersburg....

....Pennsylvania, with two streams running through it,
is a city fighting for jobs, people feel as if they've been bit.
The State has Philadelphia on one end and Pittsburgh on the other;
with Alabama in the middle, as termed by one mans mother.

That is not the truth, except in a random way,
it refers to the conditions, and what they do at play,
people here like the outdoors, and it's many pleasures,
hunt, fish, hike and camp, nature has the treasures.

Top: A stream runs through it.
Middle: Memorial Square, downtown.
Bottom: Falling Spring Creek, for fly fishing.

York...

...Pennsylvania, first capitol of the United States of America, maybe,
the Articles of Confederation, written here..first used that phrase, to be...
..the claim of being the first.  A busy place with significan history too,
so much to learn, so much to see, it would take a week, for me and you.

National companies are headquarted, or work here, Pfaltzgraff, York Barbell,
York Controls, Harley-Davidson, American Hydro there are too many to tell,
but the best known is now missing, have a guess, hey, who can it be?
York Peppermint Pattie, was sold to Hershey.

Top: A 1906 Pullman, six wheels and all, it was driven to San Francisco, before a road was built.
Middle: The most "famous" of York products, or we could argue.
Bottom: The Shoe House, built in the 1940's to help promote a motel, it was recently sold.

Chester....

...Pennsylvania, truly a City of change,
this one's run the gamut, or, the whole range,
once there was a shipyard and an auto plant;
replaced by boarded windows, and a successful rant.

But, things are improving slowly, change is under way,
now it can be said, today's a brighter day.
Bill Haley and the Comets, got their start here,
how many now remember how they used to cheer.

Top: The Commodore Barry Bridge, over the Deleware River.
Middle: A sign of improvment-all of these windows used to be boarded.
Bottom: Bill Haley and the Comets, started in Chester, it was their headquarters.

Note: I heard them live, in 1959 at the Navy Tech. Training Center in Norman, Oklahoma