Sweet memories, mouth-watering economic development plans and tasty pieces of cake were served up last Monday in Coatesville for the city’s kickoff to a year-long centennial anniversary celebration.

“The poet Emily Dickinson said ‘dwell in possibilities,’ and that’s what we’re doing today,” state Sen. Andy Dinniman said at the event. “We’re dwelling in those possibilities. We’re dwelling in our hopes, our dreams. We made if for 100 years. Now we have to make it for another hundred and a hundred after that.”

The official program featured the Coatesville Area Senior High Marching Band; a poem of fondness from fresh graduate Aja Thompson; a myth-busting poem performed by Aadil Malik; the hand-drawn train and High Bridge logo by Sydney Tushar; a nod to anchor employer ArcelorMittal and its fore-mother, Rebecca Lukens; a recently discovered 1818 letter from Lukens about the railroad; plans leading up to a 2018 completion of the city’s new train station; congratulatory statements from local, state and national lawmakers; and the serving of cake topped with the image of Lee Carter’s 2001 “The Arches” painting.

“The setting was perfect because you can see what we have, where we’re coming from … you can see why we need a new train station,” City Council Member Ed Simpson said in the article. “The train station is going to be the center of the revitalization.”

Read more about each of the centennial presentations in the Daily Local News’ coverage here.