Foundation Stories
Boalsburg Bicentennial Exhibits: Boalsburg Heritage Museum
On April 7, 2009, the Boalsburg Heritage Museum celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Village of Boalsburg by unveiling several Bicentennial Exhibits, thanks, in part, to a $1000 grant from the Centre County Community Foundation. “One of them is a feature on Al Gingrich” says museum board member Earl Kesler. “He was the village blacksmith—a very well-known and well-liked figure. In later years he turned into a furniture maker, so they sort of acknowledge that, too.” The exhibit is entitled Albert E. Gingrich: The Last Blacksmith.
In the exhibit room of the museum, a tribute to The Country Store has also been prepared. Bill Tennis owned the country store, which was located just off West Main Street, but he closed it after the start of World War II when he took a wartime-related job in Washington D.C. When he returned to Boalsburg after the war, he never re-opened the store. His nephew Ken Tennis, who owned the local Texaco station (now the Pump Station Café), inherited the store, which was located just off West Main Street, and he and his wife Margaret stored a number of its artifacts in the museum attic, items which are now on display in this exhibit.
“Another exhibit is related to the Civil War,” Kesler says. “And upstairs they have established one small room featuring children’s antique clothing and toys. There’s another exhibit upstairs, what has been called A School Room, and that is a make-over—an update with some old photographs and materials related to the schools in Boalsburg and a model of the Boalsburg School, a three-story building which stood right in the middle of town. That’s the essence of what we’ve done and, of course, we’re most grateful for [the Community Foundation’s] help. And we’re not forgetful. We did get a grant from them some years back which helped us immensely. We were struggling, as I guess most volunteer groups are and, at this point, we’re not charging admission. Our hours are only 2 to 4 on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but we try to make ourselves available for any group that might want to come in there.” The Bicentennial Exhibits are scheduled to run throughout the summer. “We have not determined just when it will end,” Kesler adds, “but it will be in the fall.”
