This week for Friday Photos, PHW brings you a look back at business in the mid-1970s. This series of photographs was taken at a Winchester-Frederick County Chamber of Commerce event. The images are all unmarked, however, so particulars about this event are unclear. If you can help PHW identify anyone in the photos or provide more details about what might be happening, please contact us at phwi@verizon.net or (540) 667-3577.
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| Chamber of Commerce 1975 |
We have just received word that the Winchester memorial service planned for John G. Lewis on June 11 will be postponed to this fall after his wife fell and broke her foot this past weekend. Please help us spread the word about the rescheduling. When the new date is set, we will let you know. Thank you!
This week for Friday Photos, we look back at some images of one of the first large scale membership and fundraiser events in PHW’s history. The gathering – the forerunner of today’s Memberfest – was held at Glen Burnie on September 14, 1973.
As with most stories, a bit of background is necessary to set the stage. In August of 1971, PHW had started working in earnest on fundraising for what would eventually become known as the Jennings Revolving Fund. The first substantial loan went to the Roberts family, whose front wall of their limestone home on South Braddock Street collapsed prior to their stabilization efforts could begin.
By 1973, PHW was gearing up to increase this corpus of funds to begin purchasing endangered buildings for resale through the Revolving Fund. The “Grand Event” was conceived with a twofold mission to begin the Revolving Fund and increase membership to 300.
The committee, made up of Joe Headley, LouAnne and Ray Jennings, Barbara Laidlaw, Buddy Orndoff, George Robertson, Lee Taylor, and Elanor White, organized the event. There was a puppet show, various musical acts, and a square dancing demonstration. Much like the Open House at the Noakes House this spring, architectural artifacts and other interesting donations were auctioned off to raise funds. The ticket cost to the event – a modest $5 for a single or $7.50 for a couple – served as the membership dues for that year.
While no written report was filed at the end of the event, we can surmise from the happy faces in these photographs and that the Revolving Fund was in negotiations to purchase its first building in 1974 that the “Grand Event” was a grand success.
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| PHW's "Grand Event," Sept. 14. 1973 |
Today’s photos are images of a greenhouse once located at the Virginia Agricultural Experimental Station/Winchester Fruit Research Laboratory on Valley Avenue (Route 11), approximately where Hope Drive is located today. Several greenhouses on the site had been abandoned and were decaying after the Research Laboratory moved into larger facilities in the mid 1990s.
Theodora and Benjamin Rezba salvaged, relocated and restored one greenhouse left behind at the Valley Avenue facility. These images, given to PHW in 2006, show the greenhouse in its dilapidated state and during the reconstruction and restoration phase. The unusual project was recognized in 2006 by PHW with an Award of Merit for retaining this piece of Winchester history, even though it had to be moved from its original location. Today, it is once again a functional greenhouse.
Read more about the history of the Fruit Research Laboratory at Virginia Tech’s website.
Curious about what other projects have received recognition with PHW preservation awards? Find a list of past winners at Preservation Award Recipients.
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| Salvaged Greenhouse from Fruit Research Laboratory |
Celebrate Charles Broadway Rouss and his contributions to Winchester this Saturday, May 25 with events at the Visitors Center, 1400 S. Pleasant Valley Rd. in Winchester. Kick off the morning from 10:30 a.m. to noon with presentations and tours of Rouss Springs led by Becky Ebert of the Handley Archives and Dr. Woodward Bousquet of Shenandoah University. Following the tour, join us for an ice cream social behind Abram’s Delight and Hollingsworth Mill. The event will conclude with the wreath laying at the Rouss Family Mausoleum at 12:15 p.m. in Mt. Hebron Cemetery, 305 E. Boscawen St.
Although no house is ever truly complete, the Samuel Noakes House at 101 West Cork Street/201 South Braddock Street has reached the finish line. This last update completes the work in the barbershop area and some tweaks to the Cork Street side.
As you may recall during the March open house, the barbershop area was still fairly rough and unfinished. Since our last visit, the floors have been painted, walls and lighting installed, and the bathroom given a complete overhaul. The shelves in the bathroom are fashioned from more of the salvaged oak shelving found in the Cork St. basement. The walls are wired for internet and for televisions in the corners of the room. Display lights have been installed in the windows and around the room. The exposed beams on the ceiling were oiled and the fire separation between the commercial and residential spaces approved.
Also, one door was tweaked upstairs in the Cork Street apartment. A barn style door on a track was installed at the top of the Cork Street stairway. This solved the problem with the two closet doors hitting each other. The horizontal members in the barn door are fashioned from more the old pine from the original stairwell. The boards were lightly planed and sanded, leaving traces of the old paint and saw marks. The frame was welded together out of angle iron. The door handle was originally attached to one of the giant beams in the barbershop and happily it could be repurposed in the house.
Revisit the previous entries: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19, part 20, part 21, part 22, and part 23.
Did you miss PHW’s lunch and learn lecture on May 15 led by John Willingham? Or do you wish you could review the information again at your own pace? Never fear! The PowerPoint presentation and the audio from the event is now available for you to watch on YouTube.
Or watch on YouTube: http://youtu.be/NGBNyfzHlkE
In 2001, a team of PHW volunteers canvased South Kent Street to gather more information about the properties in that neighborhood as part of our Revolving Fund efforts at the Blues House, 401-403 S. Kent St. Although it was not a complete survey, some buildings in the 500-800 block – properties just outside the Winchester Historic District – were captured and documented, along with a few of the field volunteers in action. Take a look back and “remember when…” on South Kent Street!
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| From South Kent Street, 2001 |
What: First Grinding at the Mill
When: May 18, 2013
Where: 15 Tannery Lane, Burwell-Morgan Mill, Millwood, VA
Admission: Free, donations appreciated
Contact: Jennifer Simpson, Outreach and Special Events Coordinator
Ever dreamt of getting preservative free grain and watching it be milled in an 18th century grist mill? A National Register Historic Landmark, the Burwell-Morgan Mill begins offering visitors a chance to meet both of these goals on May 18, 2013 when the first grinding of the 2013 season is set to take place and continue throughout the summer and into the early fall on Saturdays. The Mill is also open to visitors on Fridays and Sundays but does not operate.
The Burwell-Morgan Mill begins milling cornmeal and grits this coming Saturday, but throughout the summer grinds rye, buckwheat, nine-grain and whole wheat flour. Just a quick visit to the Mill’s website (http://www.burwellmorganmill.org) will allow visitors the chance to answer any questions about the up-to-date grinding information. Flour and grits are also available on Saturdays at the Clarke County Farmers Market located just minutes from the Clarke County Historical Association’s archives and museum in downtown Berryville, VA. The purchase of grain is not only a memento from the trip but goes to help fund both the preservation of the Mill and the running of the museum and archives.
For more information on the mill, please visit the Burwell-Morgan Mill’s website at www.burwellmorganmill.org, email admin@clarkehistory.org or call 540.955-2600.
Don’t forget, PHW’s fourth “Lunch and Learn” lecture on how to utilize historic tax credits will be held tomorrow, May 15 at noon. We’ll be meeting in the basement bar (off the lower level parking lot) at the OakCrest Companies, 126 N. Kent St. Feel free to attend even if you haven’t RSVP’ed — we’ll find room for you!
If you have any other last minute questions, be sure to call or email the office before 10:30 AM tomorrow so we can get back to you in time. Thanks, and we hope to see you at the lecture tomorrow!
