Bruce Conrad had the Old Mach Chunk Historic District placed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 17, 1977. With 350 properties, it was the largest at the time. 

George Hart (far left) brought Rail Tours, Inc, to Jim Thorpe and his crew celebrate an anniversary with Agnes McCartney – executive director of the Carbon County Tourist Promotion Agency. 

The arrival on Labor Day 1971 of George Hart Rail Tours, Inc, excursion railroad went unnoticed. Within weeks, crowds were forming to take a ride on the Iron Horse. 

Part 6 – The Heritage Years

Today, Jim Thorpe, the county seat of Carbon County, is a tourist destination. Nestled in a valley flanked by mountains on three sides, a pristine river dividing its major communities and a sparkling creek cascading  through a stone archway beneath the downtown, this Victorian town, among the largest listed on the National Historic Register is—well, frankly, romantic. 

By 1970, the borough of Jim Thorpe had undergone significant changes to its infrastructure—reversing nearly a century of neglect. The air, the water and the forests were all recovering from years of industrial and municipal pollution. Dams were in place to hold back the flood waters and to provide recreation, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike had built a Northeast extension to make travel to the Jim Thorpe area significantly easier. 

Agnes McCartney had become the first executive director of the Carbon County Planning Commission and had formed the Carbon County Tourist Promotion Agency. Jim Thorpe was inching toward becoming a tourist destination. All it lacked was a vibrant downtown and a major attraction. 

On Labor Day 1971, George Hart brought his Rail Tours, Inc. excursion railroad to Jim Thorpe. Hart, who was the first director of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, had helped the Reading Railroad run steam engine excursions called Iron Horse Rambles.  As the steam era was dying, Hart purchased railroad cars and locomotives. 

When Hart’s rail line arrived at the Jim Thorpe railroad station, there was virtually no one present to greet his arrival. “We were here a week until the newspaper identified who owned the engine,” said Hart. Before the autumn season was through, Rail Tours had run three excursion trips, packed with 700 people, to the 160-foot high trestle bridge between Hauto and Haucks. 

Now Jim Thorpe had it first major attraction. This attraction, along with the tours of the Asa Packer Mansion and St. Marks Church, was creating the basis of a tourist destination. 

Bruce Conrad in Jim Thorpe

In 1972, Bruce Conrad, a Vermonter studying for a BS in Environmental Studies at Harvard University was looking for a break from his studies. A fellow Harvard student, Hans Egli - an architect, had visions for the downtown section of Jim Thorpe, that he used to entice Conrad to visit the town. 

Egli had acquired several properties on Race Street and after making some modifications resold the properties. He partially renovated the Mauch Chunk Times News building on Race Street. Conrad opened a restaurant in the building called the Cockroach which he ran for two summers. 

According to Conrad, who currently lives in Weatherly and was a recent candidate for Carbon County Commissioner, by 1972, “People could see that Jim Thorpe couldn’t go down any further. People went to auctions and bought homes on Race Street for the current year’s taxes. 

Conrad bought one building and doing much of the work himself, converted it into five apartments. 

When Conrad first came to Jim Thorpe he noted, “It was depressed but not depressing.” He fell in love with the town and, after completing his university degree, he returned to Jim Thorpe and was hired by Charlie Wildoner as the Assistant Director of Planning for the Carbon County under Tom Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy had replaced Agnes McCartney in this position. 

In 1972, Conrad wanted to purchase and renovate the 28-room mansion at 66 Broadway in the downtown section of Jim Thorpe. Conrad found that the banks,  both locally owned, would not issue mortgages for the downtown section. 

Conrad worked with Henry Hintz of the Jim Thorpe National Bank to  convince his Board of Directors to start issuing mortgages in the downtown. Soon, the Mauch Chunk Trust followed. For the first time in many years, mortgage money was available for rebuilding the downtown. The story may have been quite different if the banks were not locally owned. In 1974, Conrad renovated the Odd Fellows Hall on Broadway. 

Putting Jim Thorpe on the Map

When Shaughnessy left, Conrad replaced him as Planning Director. His goal was to “build community self image to a point where people were going to wholesale reinvest in the community by themselves,” he said. “Money wasn’t going to come from the outside. It had to be the people in town believing in themselves.” 

While assisting Shaughnessy, Conrad had begun to file applications to list buildings such as the Central of New Jersey Train Station, Dimmick Library, Navigation Building, Carbon County Courthouse, Mauch Chunk Opera House on the National Historic Register. “Once every six weeks, another lengthy nomination would go in,” said Conrad. 

Conrad remembers the day two men walked into his office and said, “What the f--- are you trying to do, kill us with paperwork?” They then introduced themselves as the members of the State Museum Commission charged with reviewing the applications. 

“We had their attention because there was so much work involved with each nomination,” said Conrad. After spending the morning walking around the town, they said, “Listen, Bruce, let’s work together and put the whole damn downtown on the national Register. About 350 properties were eventually listed in one master nomination. “This was the largest that had ever been nominated at the time,” said Conrad. 

After months of waiting for the master application to be processed, Conrad received a word that the National Register wasn’t processing the final paper work and was asked to go to Washington to expedite it. 

“They didn’t have any typists,” Conrad laughs. “I sat in the offices of the National Register and typed up the final paperwork.” 

Back in Jim Thorpe, a letter writing campaign had misinformed peopled that the listing on the National Register would take away people’s rights to manage their properties. November 17, 1977 is the day the downtown was listed and “a day I will never forget,” said Conrad, “because I needed a police escort to get home.” 

The story continues in Part 7 -  The Plan—While the application for the National Register was being processed, Conrad was perusing a grant to come up with a master plan for developing downtown Jim Thorpe.