Heritage Park becoming a historical showcase
KEVIN RAUCH/THE EXPRESS The Renovo Area Heritage Park headquarters on Erie Avenue expanded this year as the group acquired the former Maxwell Furniture Store building next to its previously owned building. The small but dedicated committee has spent countless hours restoring both buildings and preparing them for their future plans.
KEVIN RAUCH/THE EXPRESS Dave Barrows and Chuck Graw spent some of their late summer days working on the facades of the Heritage Park headquarters and Maxwell’s.
KEVIN RAUCH/THE EXPRESS Live music has been a real goal for Heritage Park members, and that wish became a reality when Luke Cozzi, left, began offering free music lessons on Wednesday evenings. Cozzi is shown instructing Piper Rauch on bass and Charley Kepler on the guitar.
KEVIN RAUCH/THE EXPRESS The Renovo Area Heritage Park headquarters on Erie Avenue expanded this year as the group acquired the former Maxwell Furniture Store building next to its previously owned building. The small but dedicated committee has spent countless hours restoring both buildings and preparing them for their future plans.
KEVIN RAUCH/THE EXPRESS Dave Barrows and Chuck Graw spent some of their late summer days working on the facades of the Heritage Park headquarters and Maxwell’s.
KEVIN RAUCH/THE EXPRESS Live music has been a real goal for Heritage Park members, and that wish became a reality when Luke Cozzi, left, began offering free music lessons on Wednesday evenings. Cozzi is shown instructing Piper Rauch on bass and Charley Kepler on the guitar.
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RENOVO -- Six years ago a vacant building adjoining the Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park Headquarters on Erie Avenue began caving in. The brick and mortar that connected Heritage Park building and the dilapidated structure led to some rather serious issues for the group dedicated to preserving the heritage of the greater Renovo area.
"The roof, the walls, you name it, it put the integrity of our building in serious peril," recalls Heritage President Rich Wykoff. "In all honesty, that should have been the end of us."
The Heritage building withstood the razing of the building next door but the setback was obvious. Years that should have been dedicated toward moving forward were suddenly spent painstakingly cleaning, tidying up and securing the structure.
Wykoff points out that during these past six years many board members and volunteers often found themselves not only dedicating time, but also using personal funds to stabilize the headquarters. Donations from friends and local organizations and grants from the county, Clinton County Community Foundation, PA Lumber Heritage Region, and the Clinton County Economic Partnership Tourism Board sustained the organization as it worked to restore its headquarters and rebuild its programming.
As the remnants of the destruction of the vacant building to the right slowly faded away, the volunteers would face a rather dramatic decision as yet another vacant building, this time to the left, came to their attention.
The former Maxwell Furniture Store was for sale. Although the building was empty for years and it too had recently received work to secure its structure, the potential benefit of the building as an asset to the community and the organization seemingly justified the risk of acquiring it.
The building has been a pillar of Erie Avenue back to when it was the Ward House, a hotel decades before the Maxwell family would buy it in 1918.
Heritage Park bought the building and has spent many weeks since sprucing it up with an eye toward making it look as original as it did in the 1800s.
Fortunately for the heritage volunteers, three large donations came forward that enabled them to make the purchase and begin renovations.
The group also owns the old coal and sand wharf (the tipple) at the western end of Renovo and now, with the two Erie Avenue buildings secured added to the original plan, Wykoff struggles with defining just what Heritage Park is.
"We have grown beyond the original concept of an outdoor museum or park that people can visit to learn about the different eras that became the story of our region. It's interesting to step back and see how these changes are actually helping us move closer to the organization's original mission. One thing is for sure. We are going through some interesting changes," he said.
The reason for this is simple-- the group knows no boundaries in ideas and will. The volunteers are determined to reboot the organization to make it more accessible and useful to members and the public by connecting them to their passion for history using modern-day technology. Grants from the Clinton County Community Foundation were used to fund a state-of-the art wifi and computer system as well as a video surveillance system to cover both buildings.
Plans are being completed to use the system to allow Renovo area residents to participate in presentations and meetings held by the Clinton County Genealogical Society in Mill Hall.
The former Maxwell building will eventually showcase the items that the group has archived for historical purposes. The two buildings together, however, will possibly one day host a myriad of opportunities such as a place to enjoy gourmet coffee, live music, an eBay store, a place for like-minded people to take lessons in photography, music and art, just to name a few.
It's hoped that people will eventually stop in and use the onsite Skype capabilities to discuss anything from history and genealogy to wooden cigar box guitar-making and to connect with people from all over the world.
A newer crop of board members has also given Heritage Park a jolt of energy and instant progress.
Heritage Park fundraising coordinator Tracy Shady has undertaken the task of developing a fundraising calendar with new adventures. This past year the group hosted its inaugural kayak poker run as well as a 5K color run. Soon the assssociation hopes to host an ATV ride.
The group will also be reprising its murder-mystery dinner play in February, an evening that was enjoyed by all who attended a year ago.
Kari Kepler has come on board as secretary and immediately began grant-writing, starting with meetings to apply for USDA funds that would prove valuable as Heritage Park plans its projects for the Maxwell building and the headquarters at 530 Erie Ave.
Kepler has submitted the first of a set of grant applications focused on restoring the tipple and developing an outdoor museum to honor the area's railroad heritage.
Treasurer and finance committee coordinator Kristy Serafini-Brooks has been working with Dave Barrows to computerize the financial program and membership while Aaron Kelley works at developing Heritage Park's web presence.
Luke Cozzi offers free guitar and bass lessons to the public in the building. Wykoff noted that the sounds of young people playing and learning music can be heard echoing through the building and are truly a dream that has become a reality.
It certainly took years of hard work-- something that really started to become visible in 2017 to the public--but the Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park Association is well on its way to taking Western Clinton County's history into the future.