Tamaqua's rebirth was launched in the quiet stillness of a January snowstorm.

It went on to generate a 20-year avalanche of activity.It was January 1994.A newly fallen blanket of snow covered the town. Haberdasher Ted Block peered out of the doorway of his West Broad Street men's store. The town appeared to be in slumber. A downtown shouldn't be asleep, he thought; it should be vibrant and humming.Truth was, Tamaqua's glory days had long since passed. The community was in perpetual hibernation.Dismayed, Block walked five doors away to the office of then-state Rep. David G. Argall. A conversation began.That talk planted seeds for a movement called the Tamaqua Area 2004 Partnership, 10 years later rechristened the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership. It became the first visioning program in Schuylkill County and quickly grew into the most dynamic.First stepsAn appeal was made for volunteers through an advertisement placed in the Times News.More than 140 turned out to help. A program was founded through aid by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania and became a formal 10-year revitalization plan for the county's largest borough and four surrounding townships.To get the ball rolling, needs assessment surveys and visioning goals were completed. Priorities were established and scores of program participants signed on to any of four target areas: downtown revitalization, economic development, recreation, and historic preservation and tourism.To make the effort as effective and comprehensive as possible, members rallied support of existing civic groups. The partnership positioned itself as an umbrella organization to help provide focus.TourismBy 1995, the partnership teamed with an active Tamaqua Historical Society to identify and compile an inventory of marketable tourist attractions in the borough and adjacent townships.The partnership used a $14,000 grant from PPL to produce downtown welcome banners and to manufacture and install the first 10 of an eventual 30 historical markers.To help direct tourists to significant historical sites, a full-color tourism brochure and walking tour guide debuted early the following year in cooperation with Air Products & Chemicals in Hometown.A third full-color brochure outlined Tamaqua's central role in the story of the Molly Maguires.Tamaqua's tourism industry picked up steam. Thirteen regional tourist train excursions were unveiled in time for Tamaqua's founding bicentennial in 1999, and the town served as a tourist reception center. Riding a wave of momentum, the town saw its 55-block core designated a national historic district by the National Park Service.Economic developmentAmong major projects undertaken: helping the borough to secure $250,000 in grants, hiring a downtown manager, aiding the Tamaqua Save Our Station organization and administering $500,000 in grants for restoration of the 1874 Tamaqua depot."It was once the most blighted eyesore in our downtown," said Argall, today a state senator.The partnership also lent support to private initiatives such as the Tamaqua Salvation Army's goal to build a $1 million regional community center. The project had been underway before the partnership existed. The new group served as facilitator.By early 1997, a facade improvement program complemented the borough's existing low-interest revolving loan program. Sparked by $3,800 in grant money from the Appalachian Regional Commission, the program provided three $1,000 grants toward restoration of downtown buildings. The initiative proved so popular that PPL contributed $25,000 to sustain momentum. Those funds leveraged private investment and, in a matter of months, changes in the appearance of the downtown area were noticeable.New shopping promotions reinvigorated traditional events such as sidewalk sale days.In another milestone, the town was accepted into the Pennsylvania Downtown Program in 1998. It identified the heart of the community as Downtown Tamaqua Inc., leading to $205,000 in grant money and matching revitalization dollars, a program led by Linda Yulanavage, downtown manager.Eventually, the town qualified for a federal Elm Street Program, an ambitious, volunteer-driven push for renewal in the large South Ward area. Guided by manager Kathy Kunkel, the program spawned $1.2 million in improvements. Facade upgrades and infrastructure development linked South Ward to a restored downtown, home to a $2.7 million Victorian streetscape program.The partnership also focused on industrial and business growth at Tidewood East Industrial Park in Hometown, a 185-acre site developed by Greater Tamaqua Industrial Development Enterprises Inc.Working with the Schuylkill Economic Development Corporation, TIDE, the Rush Township board of supervisors and the Tamaqua Area Chamber of Commerce, the TACP helped forge a marketing agreement to attract prospective industries. In less than one year, things began to happen.Transwestern Polymers Inc. of California constructed a plastics manufacturing plant followed by Gellner & Co., a New Jersey-based ink manufacturer that opened a research and development facility. Two existing park tenants Fox Transportation and Silberline Manufacturing expanded operations.Perhaps one of the biggest achievements was turning Tamaqua into a college town offering free college education to qualifying graduates of Tamaqua Area High School. Argall hails it as his favorite among the area's countless accomplishments."LCCC's-Morgan Campus in Tamaqua is literally improving lives every day," he said.RecreationThe importance of recreation to the overall quality of life was emphasized when a new entity emerged.In December 1996, the partnership spearheaded formation of the Eastern Schuylkill Recreation Commission in conjunction with surrounding townships.The ESRC's initial project was recreational trail development along abandoned rail lines, for which it was awarded a $5,500 feasibility study grant by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.Led by full-time Director Keith D. Hoppes, then later Jason Boris, the ESRC established annual mountain bike races, golf tournaments, a roller hockey league, country festival, heritage bike tours, a recreational, educational and interpretative center at an abandoned mine, summer basketball league and more.Recreation and tourism enthusiasts saw potential for promoting the Tamaqua and Panther Valley area's unique location as the only place in the U.S. where two river heritage corridors meet.ESRC began working with the Schuylkill River Heritage Corridor and the Delaware & Lehigh Navigational Canal National Heritage Corridor to identify and develop a rail-trail linkage plan between the two systems.RecognitionThe TACP was featured in publications nationally and internationally as a model for community empowerment.The partnership won the 1998 Pocono Northeast President's Award and prestigious Countryside Institute Award. In addition, the group's success story was featured in the annual report for the 10th anniversary of the International Countryside Exchange.The TACP served as a model for other efforts such as Schuylkill County VISION, Greater Hazleton Civic Partnership, Panther Valley Renaissance, Carbon County's Vision and similar groups.TACP visioning was hailed again at the 2012 grand opening of the Tamaqua Community Art Center in a former church repurposed as the venue for regional creativity."It all started, in 1993, with one key question: What do we want the Tamaqua area to be like in 2004? We never imagined that this effort would include so many people, or to include so many different, successful projects," Argall said.