Town file
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Pottstown, Pennsylvania (Montgomery County, Pennsylvania) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 637, "Strange Affairs & Frozen Blood" (9 October 2025). David Anthony Sweinhart was born in 1938, the son of Harvey, a blue-collar worker, and Alice, a homemaker, and grew up with a brother, Robert, and several sisters.
- Town
- Pottstown
- County
- Montgomery County
- State
- Pennsylvania
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 637
- Approximate location
- 40.251, -75.645
Episode 637 / 9 October 2025 / 180 min / full
Strange Affairs & Frozen Blood
"Pottstown, Pennsylvania is in eastern Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia about an hour outside, and this is in Montgomery County." about 0:05:45
The case: Murder of David Sweinhart (January 15, 1982); Murder of Timothy Boris (1996). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2025
- Population
- 23,282
- Median age
- 35.4
- Median household income
- $52,722 a year
- Median home value
- $297,800
- Two-bedroom rent
- $1,240
- Cost of living
- $114
- Religious
- 64%
- Property crime
- ▲ almost double
- Violent crime
- ▲ about one third above
History, in brief
- Iron and steel production attracted the Potts family, who were iron masters. about 0:06:17
- The Potts family established a forge and built a large house just west of the creek. about 0:06:25
- John Potts founded the town in 1761 on part of the 995 acres he owned. about 0:06:34
- It is home to the nation's oldest mill, the Pottstown Roller Mill. about 0:06:45
- It incorporated under the name Pottstown in 1815, becoming the second borough in Pennsylvania after Norristown. about 0:06:56
- The railroad came in 1838, allowing finished goods to leave by rail. about 0:07:12
- Steel from the borough was used in the Panama Canal and the Golden Gate Bridge. about 0:07:21
- The American steel industry fell apart and the town's jobs went away. about 0:07:33
- Darrell of and Oates is from Pottstown. about 0:07:59
- The and Oates album Abandoned Luncheonette from 1973 features a photo of the Rosedale Diner in Pottstown, where his parents took him as a child. about 0:08:05
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Pottstown is a very decent area to live in, though some areas are not as safe as others, the school district is not too good and housing is cheap."about 0:08:31
1 star
"The town is horrible, New Jersey is much better, Brad is from here, and everything about the town is bad and sucks."about 0:09:11
1 star
"Pottstown is an area about an hour outside Philadelphia that the reviewer wants to get out of, with broken-down houses and people on the streets without work."about 0:09:26
1 star
"A disgusting, filthy, hoarder-ridden town dotted with drug addicts and religious extremists, where the reviewer got out a decade ago and will never go back."about 0:10:26
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Collegeville, Pennsylvania11 miles
- Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania18 miles
- Bridgeport, Pennsylvania19 miles
- Weisenberg Township, Pennsylvania25 miles
- Chester, Pennsylvania32 miles
- Hockessin, Delaware32 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.