Westmoreland County Historical Society breaks ground on project at Hanna's Town

The Westmoreland County Historical Society on Sunday moved a step closer to having its headquarters, resource programs and a new visitors center all housed on a site steeped in history — Hanna's Town, the county's original seat of government 6 miles north of the current one.

It will be great for the historical society — both its staff and visitors — to be surrounded by the history at Hanna's Town, said Lisa Hays, the organization's executive director.

“You can immerse yourself. It feels right,” Hays said after a groundbreaking ceremony for the new 6,500-square-foot Westmoreland History Education Center at Historic Hanna's Town in Hempfield. The site served as the county seat in 1773 and the first English courts west of the Allegheny Mountains. It was burned by a raiding party of British and their Indian allies on July 13, 1782.

The historical society's headquarters now is in an office at Beatty's Crossroads off Route 30 in Unity. That site “certainly doesn't give you a historical vibe,” Hays said.

Prior to moving to Unity, the historical society had been in an office near the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg.

With the new visitors and education center, the historical society will have gallery space to host new and changing exhibits, using the historical society's resources and those of the county's 16 other historical societies. A multipurpose room will host special events and classes. Significant portions of the historical society's archeological artifacts will be available for research by professionals and students in a laboratory, the society said. A kitchen and restrooms also will be included.

Construction is expected to begin in February and be completed by the end of the year, said David Delisi, a co-chair of the historical society's fundraising committee.

Westmoreland County commissioners in November awarded $2.25 million in construction contracts to build the visitors and education center at the 176-acre county park. The project is being paid for from private donations and $250,000 from the county government. The county's portion is being financed through $50,000 grants over the next five years from money earned through an increase of the local hotel tax, which increased from 3 percent to 5 percent.

The historical society has received commitments for $2.6 million from its fundraising efforts, Delisi said. The historical society is in the process of raising another $300,000 for equipment and fixtures and for staffing that includes a new curator to work with the education coordinator.

The first phase of the project includes the ongoing renovation of the 1910 Judge John Steel Farmhouse, which will serve as the society's headquarters.

While the project was conceived about 10 years ago, it was delayed because of the stock market crash of 2008, when potential donors lost so much money from their investments, said Nancy Anderson, co-chair of the fundraising committee. Much of the money the committee raised for the first phase has only been in the last two years as more funding became available, Anderson said.

Major contributors to the $2.6 million that has been committed came from the Allegheny Foundation and the Richard King Mellon Foundation, both of Pittsburgh, and the estate of the late James R. Peach of Greensburg, Delisi said.

An intermediate building connecting the Steel Farmhouse with the visitors center is planned for the second phase of the project. That building will contain a library and museum and shop. The fundraising committee is seeking to raise $650,000 for that second phase, Anderson and Delisi said.

Historic Hanna's Town already has Hanna's Tavern, where court hearings were conducted, three relocated vintage log houses, a reconstructed Revolutionary War-era fort and a shed that houses an authentic late 18th-century Conestoga wagon.

Staff writer Rich Cholodofsky contributed to this story. Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-5252 or jnapsha@tribweb.com.