Most people know Strasburg for its trains, and fair enough, it calls itself Train Town USA for a reason. But the borough was a working town long before anyone thought of it as a destination. Its Main Street follows the Old Conestoga Road, which was already in use by 1714, and the houses lining it are some of the oldest we see anywhere in Lancaster County.
A way station on the Conestoga Road
Strasburg grew up as a stop for travelers and freight. A tavern and a few log houses went up along the road in the first half of the 1700s, and as Conestoga wagons hauled goods between Philadelphia and the interior, the town became a way station with, by the borough's own account, as many as ten hotels and as many stores serving the traffic. It was formally incorporated as a borough in 1816, and it took its name from Strasbourg, the native city of an early settler.
The Strasburg Rail Road was chartered by the state legislature in 1832 and is described as the oldest continuously operating standard-gauge railroad in the western hemisphere. It ran freight and passengers for well over a century before a group of enthusiasts bought it in 1958 and started tourist excursions in January 1959. Today it shares the area with the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, which is a big part of why the borough draws visitors from well outside the county.
Log, brick and limestone, still standing
The Strasburg Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and it covers 68 acres of Georgian, Federal, and German vernacular buildings. The numbers behind it are what stand out to us. By 1815 the town had about 90 houses: 53 log, 29 brick, and four limestone. About half of those log houses, a dozen of the brick ones, and all four stone houses are still standing, and roughly 150 more houses in the district were built almost entirely before 1900.
For window and door work, that means a lot of openings that were framed by hand two centuries ago, in walls that can be thick log, soft old brick, or solid stone. None of those take a stock-size unit gracefully, and a window that looks right on a 1990s house can look badly out of place on a Federal-era front. On houses like these we often start with repairing the existing sash before we talk about replacing anything, since original wood windows on a building this old are frequently worth saving. When replacement is the right call, we measure each opening on site and order to it, which is the approach we lay out in more detail in our guide to replacing windows in an old house.
Entry doors on an old main street
On a street lined with houses this old, the front doors have had a long time to take weather and wear, and the frames around them have had just as long to settle. Sometimes the fix is new weatherstripping, a rebuilt threshold, and hardware adjusted so the door closes cleanly again, which is a door repair job. Other times the door or frame has gone too far, and a replacement door built to the existing opening is the better long-term answer. Our repair-or-replace page walks through how we make that call, and our page on older homes covers the extra care houses of this age need, including the possibility of lead paint in any building put up before 1978.
Outside the historic core, Strasburg has newer homes too, and those are a much more ordinary job: standard openings, builder-grade units, and straightforward window replacement. The difference between the two sides of town is part of why we don't quote a Strasburg job without seeing it first.
Frequently asked questions
Does being in the Strasburg Historic District limit what windows or doors I can install?
The National Register listing by itself doesn't usually restrict what a private homeowner does, but local rules can be a separate matter. Check with the borough office before committing to a product, and tell us your house is in the district so we can plan around whatever actually applies.
Can you work on log, brick or stone houses in Strasburg?
Yes. Each wall type changes how an opening is trimmed and sealed, so we look at the wall itself as well as the window or door before recommending anything, and we measure every opening rather than assuming a standard size.
Is it worth repairing the original windows on a 19th-century Strasburg house?
Often, yes. Old-growth wood sash in sound condition can usually be repaired and weatherstripped to work well again. If the frames are rotted or the sash are beyond saving, we'll say so and talk through replacement instead.