(rshsdepot) Avella, PA

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Photo links:
http://208.140.31.210/temporaryimages/bp35916.jpg  (this link may expire
soon)
http://www.thayerhouse.com/Doug/avella.html  (watercolor of station)
http://communities.msn.com/AvellaPa15312AnHistoricalTown/oldphotos.msnw?acti
on=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=140  (historic photo)
http://communities.msn.com/AvellaPa15312AnHistoricalTown/oldphotos.msnw?acti
on=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=138  (circa 1910)
http://communities.msn.com/AvellaPa15312AnHistoricalTown/oldphotos.msnw?acti
on=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=139

Grant puts plan for A.D. White library and museum on right track

BY KIM LYONS - THE OBSERVER-REPORTER
klyons_@_observer-reporter.com

AVELLA - Among the projects approved last week for federal transportation
grant money is a small, boarded-up former railroad station in Avella.

It may not look like much now, but the A.D. White Research Society wants to
turn the building into a library and museum that will house its namesake's
collection, a treasure trove of genealogical and historical information.

"He kept everything," said June Welch, who is part of the research group and
knew Alvin Dinsmore White personally. White, a Washington County teacher and
historian, collected obituaries, old newspapers, information on cemetery
inscriptions and family files, among other historical documents.

"He had genealogical information on hundreds of families in the area," Welch
said. He also had written several books on the history of the area, Welch
added.

After White died in 1994, a few months shy of his 100th birthday, some of
his friends formed the research society. "The goal is to preserve the vast
amount of information he collected," Welch explained.

The railroad building is to receive $150,000 for the renovations from the
federal highway bill. It's part of $45.4 million in state transportation
projects approved last week.

The center is now in Burgettstown, and Welch said the group has been looking
to move to better quarters. It purchased the railroad building a few years
ago, with the intent of relocating the archives there.

The museum-library will house White's collection, which includes documents
from Washington, Beaver and Allegheny counties, as well as eastern Ohio and
communities in the West Virginia panhandle.

Within White's documents are copies of census returns from these areas from
1800 to 1900, as well as county histories, maps, and records of the various
ethnic groups that settled in the area.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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