Doylestown Historical Society, Neighbor

In 1995, the Doylestown Historical Society was begun as a committee of the Doylestown Revitalization Board in order to focus on historic preservation. The Revitalization Board, established by Borough Council, was based on a program originally sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation known as “Main Street.” The purpose of the program was to compete with shopping centers and malls that were threatening to put historic downtown districts out of business. The genuine appeal of history and historic preservation was one of the few competitive edges available to the downtowns. Even in Doylestown, the tax base had been declining, and the number of vacant store fronts was on the increase. Since then, revitalization has been a great success.