Brownsville Historical Society making plans for Front Street property
Frances Borsodi Zajac/For the Observer-Reporter
Rocky Brashear, president of Brownsville Historical Society, stands in front of a long-vacant house at 218 Front St. that the society plans to turn into an archives and welcome center.
Frances Borsodi Zajac/For the Observer-Reporter
Rocky Brashear, president of the Brownsville Historical Society, stands on the front porch of the Front Street house that the society plans to turn into an archives and welcome center.
Frances Borsodi Zajac/For the Observer-Reporter
Brownsville Borough is acquiring this Front Street building and will lease it to the historical society, which also operates Nemacolin Castle, located nearby.
Frances Borsodi Zajac/For the Observer-Reporter
Brownsville Historical Society operates Nemacolin Castle, an historic landmark owned by Fayette County. The society has plans to turn a long-vacant home located nearby into an archives and welcome center.
Brownsville Historical Society is making plans to turn a long-vacant home, located a short walk from Nemacolin Castle, into an archives and welcome center.
“It doesn’t look like much, but I know what’s going to happen,” said Rocky Brashear, historical society president, as he stood outside the structure, located at 218 Front Street.
The two-story, tan-colored wooden building looks worn but has intriguing features: a large front porch with columns, wood floors and several stained-glass windows. There are about 12 big rooms, including two kitchens, two bathrooms, deep closets, an attic and a full basement. A detached garage sits in the back.
“It was divided into two apartments,” said Brashear. “Cal. U college students used to rent this out in the ’60s.”
The structure is about 200 feet from Nemacolin Castle, which is owned by Fayette County and operated by the historical society.
“This is a great street to have it on,” said Brashear of Front Street, which includes the sites of the former Black Horse Tavern that housed meetings for the 1791 Whiskey Rebellion and homes of steamboat captain Henry Miller Shreve, for whom Shreveport, La., was named, U.S. Rep. John Littleton Dawson, who authored the Homestead Act, and Philander C. Knox, U.S. attorney general for Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, secretary of state for President William Taft and a two-term U.S. senator.
The historical society plans to use the building as a welcome center with visitors able to walk to and from Nemacolin Castle. Plans are to offer off-street parking here. There is also parking at the castle.
“We have two archives filled with photographs and documents, and antiques we can’t display in the castle because we have no more room,” Brashear explained. “The castle’s full of what furniture we have, and there’s documents and things that have not been seen for years. People will get to see this when they come here.”
Brownsville Borough is acquiring the property through the Fayette County Repository for unsold properties and will lease it to the historical society.
“There’s so much we can do with the building,” said Brashear, noting the upstairs could be used for offices and tea could be served on the front porch.
The structure needs work, including repairing broken windows and a damaged wall.
“We’re going to start using our money to do the steps out front, the porch and the pillars, fix the sidewalks. Our people are going to do that to make it presentable,” said Brashear.
The historical society will also have a large sign made to say: Future home of …” A name for the facility has yet to be decided.
Brashear said the historical society will draw up two- to five-year plans for the facility, which they will use to apply for grants.
“We know it’s going to take time,” Brashear added. “This building isn’t going to open up next year, but it’ll be close. We have some dedicated people. This is a win-win for everybody.”