Trinity to preserve history of military academy
Around the rooms of the Trinity Hall Museum are photos, montages and other interesting displays of years gone by at the school. The memorabilia dates to the 1800s.
Aaron Scott, director of facilities and transportation for Trinity Area School District and coordinator of the new Trinity Hall Museum, replaces a framed photo of female students in woodshop in 1958.
In one corner of the new Trinity Hall Museum stands a lighted display of uniforms students wore when Trinity was Trinity Hall Academy.
Observer-Reporter
Pictured is the exterior of Trinity’s Old Main, which houses the Trinity Hall Museum.
Trinity High School students pass a statue of a cadet five days a week, but they may not know the history of the young men who walked those grounds in the late 1800s, or the tale of the uniformed ghost who is said to wander the halls at night.
Teachers and administrators hope the new Trinity Hall Museum will help preserve the history of the former military academy on campus and the early years of the school district.
Several exhibits set up in the Old Main section of the high school building will be unveiled to the public during a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. today.
Trinity Hall Academy opened in 1879 and had 35 students initially, according to Darlene “Buffy” Biernesser, a social studies teacher at the middle school. The boarding school aimed “to make Christian gentlemen and scholars of our boys,” while also providing them with military training. Both Andrew Carnegie Jr. and Clarence Heinz were former students, and President Ulysses S. Grant visited the academy several times.
Exhibits in the museum include an original cadet uniform, old classroom desks and photographs. Issues of the “Trinity Record” and “Trinity Dude” newsletters from 1886-87 are yellowed, but still legible in their respective cases.
“I’m trying to show the students that Trinity is steeped in history,” Biernesser said, adding the school’s history will be incorporated into the eighth-grade curriculum.
Biernesser is interviewing Trinity alumni for the second leg of the project, which will include video exhibits. She said she has received an “overwhelming” response from alumni, and one alumna even gave her 1946 class ring to Biernesser to wear while she worked on the museum.
“That was one of the kindest gestures,” Biernesser said.
The museum also includes old yearbooks and mementos from the early years of Trinity High School. The first class graduated in 1925 after Trinity Hall shut down.
Sherry Knight, a high school art teacher who is helping to restore and frame photos, said she wants students to take an interest in Trinity’s history. But if that fails to grab their attention, the story of the Hiller cadet ghost should.
“There’s supposed to be a Hiller cadet here, which I’ve seen,” said Aaron Scott, director of facilities and transportation.
Scott said he spotted the ghost twice when he worked as a janitor around 2004, at which time the school was being renovated.
“You would hear music once in a while, old music, and you would see him floating down the hall,” he said.
Knight also had a ghost sighting and described him in the same way – a man clad in a navy blue military uniform. She said she heard footsteps one night when she stayed late at school and saw a man in uniform in the hallway.
“I got to about where the home economics rooms are, and the figure was down by Old Main,” Knight said, “and I just said, ‘Can I help you?’ … They turned around and looked at me and just disappeared.”
Many of the old artifacts from Trinity Hall were thrown out or sold when the school was remodeled. Knight said the district is accepting monetary donations and donated items for the exhibit. Those interested in donating money can call the administration building at 724-223-2000, or call Knight at 724-225-5380 extension 6183 to donate an item.