After careful consideration, and collecting feedback from the community, the following places have been added to Preservation Erie’s 2025 Endangered Places List.
Carpenter Electric Building, 1517 State Street, Erie
Located in the middle of one of only two architecturally intact blocks on State Street in downtown Erie, the Carpenter Electric Supply building was built in the 1890s and is adjacent to the National Register listed Meyer Building (PACA). Carpenter Electric Supply had been closed for seven years prior to the owner’s death in February 2025. The building has suffered from substantial deferred maintenance and the back brick wall appears to be separating from the building. The contents of the business are currently being sold, but after that the future of the building is highly uncertain.
In 1900, the building was located across from the old Central Market House; it housed the Theilmann Seed Company. By 1911, it was home to Siegel’s Seed Store, which operated from this location until 1934. Harley D. Carpenter then moved his Erie store to this location, and by 1940, he was selling florescent lighting from 1517 State Street.
Sarah Hearn Church, 947 West 9th Street, Erie
Sarah Hearn Presbyterian Church was built in 1928, designed by noted Cleveland architect J.W.C. Corbusier. It closed in 2008 when the congregation merged with another church in the suburbs. The building was sold to another congregation in 2009, but that group abandoned the building in 2020. The structure is still in the name of the successor church which no longer exists, and the mortgage holder has been reluctant to take possession. Meanwhile, the church building has been left to deteriorate and has not been properly secured. Vandals have broken in, causing further damage and stealing contents. No public or private entity appears willing to step forward to take possession and stabilize the building until a new use can be found.
Bayfront Penelec Smokestack, next to the Erie Maritime Museum, Erie
A tall, cylindrical smokestack towers over Presque Isle Bay in the City of Erie to the East of State Street. You can’t miss it. At 200 feet tall and over 60 feet around, the gray structure protrudes from the grass between parking lots just south of the Blasco Library. The reason for the smokestack’s seemingly out-of-place presence along the Bayfront starts in 2017 when the Erie Lighting Company created its Front Street Plant nestled between ironworks, fisheries, and dozens of railroad tracks. The lighting company soon became part of the Pennsylvania Electric Company (aka Penelec). The power station burned coal and required a smokestack to vent combustion gases into the air.
Changes in technology and environmental considerations made the smokestack obsolete. Penelec’s Front Street Generation Station closed in 1991. Penelec, now a subsidiary of the FirstEnergy Corporation, still maintains a substation near the smokestack, although their power is generated elsewhere. Part of Penelec’s old plant was incorporated into the Blasco Library and Maritime Museum Complex in 1996. The crane and a steam-powered generator are still present inside. However, the structures that connected to the Penelec plant to the smokestack were demolished, allowing Front Street to pass between the two. Three large openings still exist where the smokestack once connected to the buildings.
The smokestack’s unique location has sparked the curiosity of residents and visitors alike and has become a favored hunting perch for peregrine falcons. It currently has a redbrick interior that is encased in a thick layer of concrete that stands strong against the mighty gusts of wind from the water. This memorable and unique piece of the bayfront’s industrial history is now owned by Scott Enterprises, Inc.
Initial plans for the Scott’s Harbor Place hotel plans in 2019 included incorporating the smokestack into the design. However, plans have changed. Part of the updated Harbor Plan development plans presented to the City of Erie’s Revitalization and Improvement Zone Authority (CRIZ) includes the demolition of the smokestack. Funding for this plan was approved at the CRIZ’s October 2025 meeting. It is likely that this iconic piece of the Bayfront’s industrial heritage will not be with us much longer.
Hammermill Three Sisters Smokestacks
The “three sisters” smokestacks are prominent features on the east-side shoreline of the City of Erie. Easily visible from the water, they are the conspicuous remains of the former Hammermill Paper Company. Founded in Erie in 1898 by the Behrend family, Hammermill was the site of many innovations in papermaking. At one point, it was the largest employer in the City of Erie and occupied 25 acres before it was purchased by International Paper in 1986. The tides of the industrial economy shifted, and the plant closed in 2002. The Erie County Redevelopment Authority now owns the site. Most of the Hammermill industrial complex was demolished in 2012 allowing new industries to slowly repopulate the area. The smokestacks remained, mostly because their height and chemical contamination made them costly and complicated to remove.
Each of the three smokestacks is made of two layers. The two stacks closest to the water were built with tan colored bricks are lined with a layer of concrete. The north and south sides of these two stacks also contain black bricks that spell out Hammermill. The third stack is located farther back from the water than the other two. It is made of redbrick surrounded by an exterior, concrete veneer. The top portion, or crown, of the smokestack was painted black at some point, but there never appear to have been any letters. Each of the smokestacks has a single opening on the side of the stack where the exhaust from the paper plant would enter and be channeled skywards.
Already damaged and dirty from years of use, the smokestacks have deteriorated rapidly since Hammermill’s closure. Many bricks have broken and fallen onto the ground and into the water, potentially spreading hazardous contamination. The Erie County Redevelopment authority has secured funding for the removal of the two stacks closest to the water that are in the worst condition, although a demolition date has not been set. Their hope is to preserve the third stack with the concrete exterior that sits back from the water. Until demolition, the three sisters smokestacks will continue to be a focal point along the Lake Erie shoreline and a reminder of the paper-making industry that was a substantial part of countless local families’ lives.
Pennsylvania Soldiers & Sailors Home Commandant’s House, foot of Ash Street, Erie
In 2023, it was announced that the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home Commandant’s House was slated for demolition. Having been vacant for several years, the building’s porches had fallen into disrepair, and the Home, without a reuse option in place, decided to remove the structure and replace it with greenspace and a picnic pavilion.
The Pennsylvania Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home is one of the most significant historic resources in Erie’s lower eastside. Started in the 1860s on a promise to local Civil War veterans to provide quality medical care and housing, construction and operation of the Erie Marine Hospital quickly outgrew the city’s funding capacity. An act of legislature allocated state resources and created the PA Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in 1885. The expanded state-owned facility opened in 1886.
As a primary housing unit for the leadership of the Home, the Commandant’s House plays an important role in the history of the complex, and the integrity of the building exterior has, for the most part, been retained. The building is a contributing resource to the National Register eligible Pennsylvania Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home Historic District, which is important locally and statewide because of its connection to the history of Pennsylvania’s health care for veterans. The proposed historic district was determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A and C in the areas of Health/Medicine and Architecture (as an excellent example of 19th century public architecture).
As of the publishing of this list, the Home appears to have no pending plans to demolish the Commandant’s House. Until a reuse for the building is found, however, the Home’s leadership could restart demolition discussions at any time.
Amy’s General Store, 6894 Sterrettania Road, Fairview
This 6,126-square-foot historic building, often referred to as Amy’s General Store, has stood at the heart of the Sterrettania crossroads since the late 18th century, with property records noting a construction date as early as 1795. For generations, it served the local community as a general store, most notably under the ownership of the Amy family, whose name became synonymous with the building itself. Today, the structure remains a significant reminder of Erie County’s early commercial and social history, but it faces an uncertain future. Listed in real estate databases simply as “The General Store,” the building shows the wear of time and changing use. Without preservation efforts, this rare surviving example of a rural general store risks being lost, taking with it an important link to the area’s community and commercial heritage.