The Match Factory

The Centre Daily Times is reporting there is between $2 and $3 million earmarked for the American Philatelic Society (APS) in the Pennsylvania state budget.

Located in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, APS purchased the town's deserted match factory in 2001 and transformed it into commercial space its own use. The partially renovated building opened in 2004. It now serves as the society's headquarters along with several other commercial enterprises that rent space.

Shown above is a computer generated mailing permit that shows an aerial view of the APS headquarters building and the "Match Factory". In lieu of stamps, the society uses these and other designs on much of their outgoing mail.

According to the article, immediate plans call for constructing an enclosed pavilion to house a 19th-century post office and country store that has spent the past 35 years as an exhibitin the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Also in the works is a new independent American cuisine restaurant (complete with liquor license) and doubling the usable space for the stamp society to 100,000 square feet.

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