Getting It Together

Since the previous editor of the Chestnut Ridge Historical Society editor resigned her position, I’ve been assisting to select the subjects for the main topics of our newsletter. Searching through our archives several members choose local events, persons, buildings, or organizations to spotlight and to share. When we find an important fact or relatively unknown item we feel will interest and educate our members, we search through our archives for photographs and create a story that needs to be told. We resurrect information that brings to light some aspect of the Laurel Highlands’ rich history.

We also share upcoming guest speakers for our meetings that occur every third Tuesday evening. Our next will be April 16 at 7 p.m. Thomas Soltis is to present the details of the Flu Pandemic of 1918 and the devastation wrought by this disease.

In the latest newsletter, we share facts of local coal mines’ first aid crews responsible for safety education of the miners and for treating their injuries. Our local crews won several safety awards for Pennsylvania. The crews were easily recognized by their uniforms provided by the mining companies.

We are sharing the names of new members that keep our organization viable. Information of upcoming bus trips and events are made available to our members first, then to the community. Travelers have just returned from an excursion through Amish country and there is another bus trip planned to The Ark and the Bible Museum. An evening at Brady’s restaurant for Dinner and Show is also advertised.

We are dedicating a section for buildings that have either changed their use or no longer exist. In this edition, we highlight the Melcroft Hospital. It was a large structure with all the amenities of hospitals of the times. Photos and a brief history are dedicated to this local house of medicine. It burned to smoldering pile of ashes in 1930 and is no longer there.

The Society is a repository for old photographs of people, businesses, and churches. We house records for family histories, obituaries, newspaper articles, and local artifacts. Schools, military, and even the mail bins from an old post office have found their way to our building. Old deeds, death certificates, marriage licenses, paper trails in ledgers, bills of lading, and books line our shelves waiting for visitors seeking the roots of their families.

We are open Wednesdays 11a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. someone will be there to assist visitors find information that they seek. Because we can only share a small bit of history in our newsletter, visit and join our passion for local history.