The Latrobe Area Historical Society has evolved and expanded throughout the past 50 years — but its continued service to the local community is reliant on the work of numerous dedicated volunteers.

President Mary Lou Townsend said the society is seeking younger volunteers to spearhead future growth of the organization.

Townsend, 77, of Latrobe has lived in the city since 1959 and has been part of the society since the 1990s.

“It’s just been a very congenial group of people, you know, working together,” she said. “I love the people.”

The society’s biggest challenge recently has been finding volunteers who not only want to help with research and writing — but ones who want to stay and learn Latrobe’s rich history, she said.

Multiple homes

In the summer of 1973, attorney Ned Nakles floated the idea of a historical society to Art Goldman, then-executive director of the Latrobe Chamber of Commerce. Gen. James Gallagher was appointed as the group’s first chairman.

On Nov. 15, 1973, the Greater Latrobe Historical Society officially became a nonprofit; the name was later changed to the Latrobe Area Historical Society. The first general meeting was held March 19, 1974, in Adams Memorial Library.

At first, the society owned virtually nothing, and during its initial meetings, members — usually the “old-timers” — would volunteer to speak on topics they were familiar with, Townsend said.

The Greater Latrobe School District gave the society space in the Harvey House, which was located on Ligonier Street before it was razed, according to Townsend.

“It was at least a place where they could put their file cabinets — not big enough to hold meetings or for people to really come in and do much research,” she said. “They were in there for a few years.”

Townsend said the district then moved the historical society into the third floor of the Second Ward School, which supported the society’s growing collection of items.

Eventually, the society had to move once again because the district was closing off the third floor because of asbestos issues. It was moved to some rooms in the old Latrobe Elementary School, she said, which was its home for 20 years.

It was during that period that Townsend joined the society after coming in to solve a question about family names.

“I was hooked,” she said. “The people were wonderful … and we’ve been blessed with that the whole way through.”

The space at the school, however, wasn’t particularly accessible. Visitors had to ring a bell at the back of the school and walk down stairs after a volunteer let them in.

“We knew that it wasn’t going to last very long,” she said. “It was crowded. … There were times when we were walking sideways down aisles between file cabinets and display cases.”

“They heated the building; they had electricity in the building,” she said. “The only bills we had were our liability insurance and our supplies.”

The space was free, though, which is not the case now at the former Beth Israel Synagogue.

After it was announced that the new Latrobe Elementary School would be built, the historical society was able to move in fall 2016, thanks to a grant and a one-year, interest-free loan.

“That gave us a year to mount a capital campaign to repay that loan,” Townsend said. “But we found there were a lot of things (in the building) — deferred maintenance.”

She said upgrades were needed for the electrical systems to support computers and printers, and just this year, the society had to pay for a new roof, which set the group back a bit.

Thanks to dues and the two capital campaigns the society holds each year, bills have been covered.

“People in the community have been extremely supportive,” Townsend said. “We love our community, and they seem to appreciate the fact that we’re keeping its history alive.”

Modern-day operations

Though costs rose after moving into the former synagogue, the Latrobe Area Historical Society gained lots of space.

Today, it boasts a large room that is a combination museum and library, a room that is a combination auditorium and office, and other smaller rooms that are used as the society’s themed rooms, including the country store, grandma’s house and a one-room schoolhouse.

But most of all, the location is accessible since it’s all on one floor. The only limitation, according to Townsend, is a lack of parking, since it’s in a residential area at 416 Weldon St.

The historical society is run solely by volunteers, and each has found their niche. Volunteers take care of keeping a file of obituaries, research requests, correspondence, membership records and more.

Townsend writes almost all of the articles for the Latrobe Historical Gazette, the official publication of the Latrobe Area Historical Society.

“If we don’t have visitors, then we’re all involved in our own little jobs,” she said. “If somebody comes in, then one of us leaves whatever we were doing — then we can answer questions or show them around.”

In the past, visitors mainly came to the society for help with genealogy.

Now, locals come in to learn more information about their homes — such as the age of the building or who previously lived there — which is information volunteers often are able to find, she said.

Robert Senger is in charge of the historical society’s collection, including cataloging donated artifacts, rearranging and setting up displays, which people travel from all over to see — especially the ones involving Fred Rogers, Townsend said.

Senger, 71, of Greensburg started volunteering in 2016. His work has evolved over the years into helping wherever the historical society has need, such as putting his computer skills to work and launching a new website.

There are roughly 11,000 items in the collection, he said, and he estimated that fewer than 50% are on display, with the rest in storage. The oldest artifacts date to the 1800s.

Staying relevant

Senger agreed that the society is in need of more volunteers, and that it’s sometimes hard to open the doors during the society’s normal hours of operation.

“Without people, it doesn’t work,” he said. “And we’re still trying to figure out how to recruit more people.”

When celebrating the Latrobe Area Historical Society’s 50th anniversary this year, Townsend said she believes the founders would “probably be amazed” to see what it’s grown into.

“I don’t think they could have ever imagined that it would be what it is now,” she said. “They were happy to finally have a file cabinet to put some of their papers in — we’ve got 17 file cabinets now.”

Latrobe has such a “unique history,” Townsend said.

“Even if (people) don’t come in here, the fact that we keep that history in front of people, it gives them a little more pride in their community.”

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