Visitors to the town of Tionesta are greeted by this sign: "A Special Place With a Relaxed Pace."
The Forest County village is nestled among heavily wooded forests; a quaint lighthouse stands guard over the Allegheny River, which borders the town.
But financially, the town has seen better days. Once home to manufacturers like Evenflo, the baby bottle maker, Tionesta watched its economy start to tank in the 1990s as factories moved out.
Then a fire took out a prominent block of the downtown in 2003.
Read the full version of this reportat the website of Keystone Crossroads, a new statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. WPSU is a participating station.
