Rostraver Township Historical Society offers a glimpse back in time

The Rostraver Township society is looking for more volunteers to make sure its work continues.

A treasure trove of history can be found at the Rostraver Township Historical Society, which aims to preserve the history of the entire region.

Society President John Hepple works tirelessly to curate and preserve some of the exhibits at its home, located on 800 Fellsburg Road in Rostraver Township. For Hepple, the historical society is providing a service not only to Rostraver, but also to neighboring communities.

Rostraver Historical Society member Mark Cook displays a vintage phonograph record during a tour of the Rostraver Township Historical Society Welcome Center & Museum.

“History is important because we don’t want to keep making the same mistakes over and over,” Hepple said. “Historical societies are a place where you get to learn about your roots, and I always tell everybody to know one’s future, one’s got to know one’s past. There are a lot of people, especially in the Valley, that have no clue about their roots, and to know your roots, it gives you a snapshot of why you’re the way you are. Knowing what this country’s gone through over the years, we don’t want to make the same mistakes in the future, and I believe that’s what’s significant about history.”

The Rostraver Township Historical Society was established in 1994 and is one of the largest historical

The Rostraver Township Historical Society

societies in Southwestern Pennsylvania, with around 500 members.

It features historical exhibits about the Darr Mine Disaster, Native American artifacts found in Rostraver and Belle Vernon Area School District memorabilia.

The historical society often hosts special programs that include presentations or lectures about history-related subjects.

The Rostraver Township Historical Society sign.

“We do not just do programs on Rostraver, but we do world events, like World War I, World War II,” Hepple said. “We do events that happen nearby. Being in Rostraver puts us in a unique situation. Most historical societies aren’t like us. From the old historical society, we could throw a rock in Allegheny County, across the river, down the hill from us, and we’re in Washington County. Go further down (Route) 51 and we’re in Fayette County.

“We draw a lot of people. Our members aren’t just from Rostraver Township. As a matter of fact, we have way more members that are outside Rostraver Township than we do inside Rostraver.”

Hepple said museum exhibits are mostly available by appointment only. They’re also open on the second Tuesday of every month, from March to November, before historical society programs. Hepple said they’re typically open an hour for tours before the programs begin.

Hepple and Mark Cook, the historical society vice president, stated that the historical society is working on starting a genealogy program. Hepple said they’re hoping Mon Valley residents can use the new program and trace their family history.

“I say probably about another month and the genealogy department will be open,” Hepple said. “It’d be open to anybody. There’s a lot of people in the Valley that can’t really afford to go out there and pay for genealogy services, so we’re providing for people that want to get a glimpse at what their family history was.

“They don’t have to worry about the burden of putting much money into it, and it’s a service we’ll offer to the people in the area, members and non-members.”

The historical society recently started a history-related scholarship to give to a Rostraver-area high school student. Hepple said it’s part of an effort to bring younger people into the historical society.

“That’s something we just started this year, and will continue as long as the historical society exists,” he said. “That’s something we can give back to the youth, and we’re hoping to get some younger people into the historical society. They’re the next generation, we need them to be able to carry on what we’re doing right now.”

Volunteers and history

The historical society is housed in what used to be Fells Methodist Church. The building is owned by the township, but the historical society is typically responsible for all the general maintenance.

Even after the building was no longer a church, it took several years for it to become the home of the Rostraver Township Historical Society. It was previously the Rostraver municipal building, a police station and even a public library.

“The Rostraver commissioners have been excellent in supporting us here and helping us with funding and any of the work that needs to be done, so I can’t leave them out,” Cook said. “Without them, we wouldn’t be able to maintain this building.”

According to Cook and Hepple, Benjamin Fell, the inspiration for Fellsburg, was buried under Fells Methodist Church. Fell’s family was also buried alongside him under the church.

“When I stand up on that stage (at Rostraver Historical Society), I’m actually standing on my fourth great-grandparents. My grandmother was a Fell,” Hepple said.

All the major projects and museum exhibits put on by the historical society are done by volunteers.

“All of the work we’ve done that you see inside that building is done by the members of the historical society,” Hepple said. “We have a group of about eight people that I pretty much can rely on, and we’ve done most of the work ourselves. We probably have close to $300,000 that we put into that building, and all the work done, very little has been contracted out.”

Hepple and Cook noted that they’re always accepting volunteers and new members. Anyone interested in volunteering or helping can call 274-396-4599 or send an email to rostravertwphistoricalsociety@gmail.com.

The historical society typically tries to have a volunteer at its museum three to four days a week. Hepple emphasized that they would be happy to have more younger people come and help with their exhibits.

“If somebody wants to just give us a call, or show up for one of our programs, we’ll sign you up, and if you want to get involved, we’re more than happy to have you, because we’ve got tons of projects,” he said. “We’d especially like to get some younger people that have some computer knowledge, because we’re getting ready to digitize most of our records.”

Concord School

A lesser-known fact about the Rostraver Township Historical Society is that its members are responsible for operating the Concord School, a historical building in Rostraver. Concord School was built in 1830 as a one-room subscription schoolhouse.

The name “subscription” originates from the fact that each family would subscribe a sum of money to support the school. In 1830, Concord School was the last subscription school to be built in the township.

The school is owned by the Westmoreland County Department of Parks and Recreation, but it’s managed by the historical society.

“We manage the Concord School, and we have it set up similar to what you see in some of the rooms down at the Historical Society in Fellsburg,” he said. “We have mannequins there, we’ve got literature, and we’ve got a lot of old documents from back when the Concord School was built.

“We work hand in hand with the Westmoreland park service, so anything I ever need for the Concord School, they pretty well take care of it for me. We put quite a bit of money out into that school too, but Westmoreland Parks and Recreation just put a brand new shake roof on that building for us last year, so between them and us, we’ve restored that school to exactly the way it was in 1830.”

Funding and donations

Hepple said the historical society applies for multiple types of grants to cover projects. He noted that a lot of members also help with costs for some of their major projects.

A lot of the artifacts found in the historical society’s museum exhibits have been donated by current or former Rostraver residents.

“We’ve got a lot of out-of-state members that have helped us out on some of our bigger projects,” he said. “We got a really nice hardwood floor in that building. We had one benefactor that was raised in Rostraver Township; he footed the bill for the material, and we supplied the labor. We’ve had that with a lot of our members, where they’ll step up with special projects.”

Anyone interested in donating an item or funds to the historical society can call 274-396-4599 or send an email to rostravertwphistorical-society@ gmail.com.