While other area historical societies are making strides to preserve the stories of their towns, the Robinson Township Historical Society is fighting what looks like a losing battle when it comes to displaying the many artifacts the group has collected since forming in 1989.
The group had a fair amount of space – nearly 900 square feet — in the township’s previous Municipal Building on Church Hill Road. But when the township bought a building off Campbells Run Road and converted it into a new Municipal Complex, the local Historical Society saw its space shrink considerably.
Now, the group has two small rooms that historical society President Len Rider said totals less than 300 square feet of space. that space is adjacent to the library in the Municipal Complex, which opened last May. One room has become a de facto storage space and the other smaller space is used as an office and meeting room for the historical society’s monthly gatherings.
The storage space is packed with historical items, some harkening back to the township’s old coal mining days. Other items include military uniforms, models of old schoolhouses, an old 1940s radio, old farm equipment and more. Many of the items were stored in old family barns and donated to the group.
At its previous location, the historical society had eight glass cases displaying some of its collection; the new quarters have room for only two. The other six, along with a bevy of other artifacts, are still in the old Municipal Building, which is being renovated into medical offices.
Rider said when plans were being made to divvy up the space in the new Municipal Complex, his group asked for about 1,200 square feet of space, hoping to get 1,000 or so. But it received just 288 square feet. As a result, the group asked township officials if it could display some of its materials in the spacious lobby of the new Municipal Complex, but that request was denied.
Frank Piccolino, the township manager, said that the Board of Commissioners preferred to keep the lobby area “as clean as possible.” As for the space allocation in the new Municipal Complex, Piccolino said that the township administration and the board made the call.
Piccolino said he’s heard rumblings that the historical society is not satisfied with its current space situation, but he also said he doesn’t know where the additional space for the group would have come from, considering all the other space needs for the complex’s other occupants.
“The library needed what they needed,” he said. “They were a big driver of the space (allocation) given the programming they offer and the foot traffic they generate.”
The library is a little over 6,700 square feet, more than twice as large as its space in the old Municipal Building.
Piccolino said the historical society’s quarters couldn’t be expanded on the other side because restrooms are there and they couldn’t be moved.
“We also needed space for admin, which got a small sliver,” Piccolino said, “and then you have the (Parks & Recreation Department) space out there.”
The new Municipal Complex is home to a large indoor recreation space that can be used for a variety of activities, including pickleball and basketball.
Neither Rider nor other members of the historical society are in a position to complain too loudly, given that the group has at least some space and receives financial support – about $2,000 a year, according to one group member – from the township.
But that lack of space has the group considering other options, including relocating to a larger space. One space that theoretically would be ideal is the old Summit House, which at one time housed the Moon Run Volunteer Fire Department and now is home to a local magistrate. The first floor would be ideal, Rider said, except for the fact that it would need to be totally renovated. Asbestos and lead paint could be an issue, and a new HVAC system – among other things — also would be needed.
“The first floor would be perfect – it’s big and spacious,” he said at a recent historical society meeting. “But we’re talking $20,000 minimum to start (renovating).
“Even if we started tomorrow, it would be a couple years away.”
Other possibilities include asking a local business owner to donate space. At the very least, the group wants to see an old veterans monument, which remained in the old Municipal Building following last year’s relocation, housed somewhere suitable.
“That’s my biggest beef,” Rider said Monday – on Memorial Day. “We’re scrambling to get it out of there. We might have to move it to an outdoor location but it was already outdoors for years and I don’t want to see it destroyed.”
There was a time that the group had considered moving back to its previous home – the old Municipal Building on Church Hill Road. But Rider said the new owners would only agree to have the group set up shop on the second floor, and that would be difficult for people to reach – and also wouldn’t be very visible to the public.
Rider said he toured that building recently, just to make sure all the group’s historical artifacts that were left behind in the move are still there.
“It is,” he said of the collection. “All the tools are on the floor. Everything is lying there. It’s still the same way we left it. But it’s coated in an inch-thick of dust.”
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