- Last Updated on Sunday, 30 June 2013 23:36
The Donora Historical Society welcomed one-time Mon Valley resident Rich Rockwell from New Jersey on Monday, June 3, 2013. Mr. Rockwell presented the history of Eldora Park from its inception, to when it closed as Charwood.
Mr. Rockwell’s presentation was supplemented by photos from the Donora Historical Society’s Bruce Dreisbach collection, as well as vintage newspaper articles. If you missed the presentation and are curious to know what Eldora Park was all about, including its’ roller coaster, feel free to view Mr. Rockwell’s website www.eldorapark.com.
This is our last formal meeting for the summer, however, the museum will remain open. Our next meeting will be on Monday, September 9, 2013.
On another note, over the past three years, the Smog Museum has welcomed visitors from 39 states (including Alaska). We’ve also had visitors from various countries like: Canada, France, Columbia, England, Germany and China. We often have student visitors from local colleges and universities. We take pride in hosting school age children from grade school to graduate school. We’ve hosted Girl Scout, Boy Scout and Cub Scout Troops as well as summer camp groups. In the past two years we’ve hosted documentary companies and film crews from the Travel Channel, the Weather Channel, and ROOT Sports for the MLB Network. Because of all this activity, we applied for and were rewarded with a Washington County Tourism Grant in the amount of $3,000. This money has to be used for the specific purpose of increasing tourism to Donora by bringing visitors to our Museum. With that in mind, the grant will go toward upgrading our brochures with our new website address and phone number, as well as table covers when we take the Donora Historical Society on the road, and last but not least, upgraded display cases to better show our priceless artifacts. We should have all in place by summer’s end.
Volunteers Needed
Calling all volunteers! If you have an interest in history, research, archiving, fundraising, working with students of all ages, working on some amazing projects, or working with people from all over the world, we may have an opportunity for you at the Donora Historical Society. We are always on the lookout for individuals who can help promote and advance the Society.
Upcoming Events
Some of our anticipated events and projects for 2013 include: 65th Anniversary of the 1948 Smog – Environmental Conference; Cement City Walking Tour – Third Annual (October); open house during the Donora Fireman’s Street Fair (August); Weather Channel’s “When Weather Changed The World” documentary release; Dreisbach negative development with Photo Antiquities; and work with Rivers of Steel on tourism opportunities.
The Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum is located at the intersection of Sixth and McKean in the heart of Donora, and is open Monday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. or by appointment.
If you have additional questions about the subjects mentioned above, the society, museum, meetings or possibly volunteering, feel free to stop by or send us an e-mail at DonoraHistoricalSociety@gmail.com or by calling 724-823-0364 and leave a message. You can also visit us on the web at www.DonoraHistoricalSociety.org.
