The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled on October 30, 2026, that the Borough of Jim Thorpe is legally obligated to maintain the High Street Steps. The court rejected the borough's appeal, which argued it had no formal duty to repair the pathway because there was no specific ordinance accepting it. Instead, the judges found that 130 years of uninterrupted public use created a conclusive presumption of dedication, meaning the borough accepted responsibility through its own actions over the last century.
Thomas M. Loughery and Michelle K. Loughery, owners of the property at 49 West Broadway where the steps are partially located, initiated the legal battle in February 2019. They sought a declaration that the borough owned the steps after it stopped maintaining them. The steps are not a simple municipal asset; they traverse private land, including the Lougherys' property and land owned by 61 West Broadway LLC, before reaching borough-owned ground. The couple argued that residents had relied on this passage for generations to move between High Street and West Broadway without crossing private lots.
The borough defended itself by pointing to the absence of a formal council resolution. It claimed that occasional repairs over more than a century did not equate to ownership or a binding maintenance duty. The lower court, however, disagreed. In a June 3, 2024, ruling, the trial court found in the Lougherys' favor on the dedication claim. The borough appealed that decision on January 7, 2025, hoping to shift the burden back to the private landowners.
The Commonwealth Court’s decision relied heavily on historical records from the borough council. Minutes from August 6, 1912, show a council member suggesting the steps be made "more substantial and permanent." By September 1912, officials ordered them paved with substantial material. Decades later, in 1978, the borough’s budget explicitly included $8,000 for the reconstruction of the High Street Steps, and officials authorized advertising for repair bids that August. A 2014 letter from the borough to residents further acknowledged the need to replace the steps. The court viewed this long string of financial and administrative actions as evidence that the borough had ratified the dedication.
The ruling closes the door on the borough’s argument that it could use the Pennsylvania Borough Code to decide how much maintenance to provide—or none at all. The court determined that once the dedication and acceptance were established through history and public use, the borough could not arbitrarily shed its responsibility. The formal judgment in favor of the Lougherys was entered on September 25, 2026, cementing the borough’s ongoing duty to keep the steps safe and accessible for the public.