For the Record – April 16, 2015
by Barbara Mastriania
Get Ready for a celebration …
A month from now Renovo will kick off a year-long celebration in observance of its 150th (Sesquicentennial) birthday. The celebration won’t be 365 days of partying, but instead it will be various events spread throughout the year.
We’ll try to keep you informed of each event here if groups and committees inform us about them. We may even be participating in some of them.
The committee will kick-off fundraising with a Bake sale, on Friday, April 17, starting at 10:00 a.m. at Family Dollar in Renovo. Donations of baked goods would be appreciated and can be dropped off Friday morning.
The Renovo Community Choir will help kick of the borough’s opening celebration on May 15 in front of the borough building.
Rumor has it Renovo’s Heritage Park committee also has plans for May 15th. In fact, we’ve heard from Rich Wykoff, who’s helping get this celebration going is planning a Sesquicentennial Meeting on Thursday, April 16 at 6 p.m. in the Renovo fire hall. The primary topic for this meeting will be May 15 -the opening ceremonies.
ATV Cruise registrations available …
While we’re talking about Rich Wykoff, he tells us there’s still time and room to join in one of his favorite activities, the fifth annual ATV Cruise for a Cure on Saturday, June 56. The cruise benefits the American Cancer Society. This year’s ATV ride covers 60 miles. The starting point is the Heritage Park in Renovo Industrial Park. To register go to www.eventbrite.com and search for Renovo ATV.
Bucktail Medical Center Relay for Life Team and the Central Mountains ATV Association host the event. The American Motorcycle Association is a sponsor.
Volunteers are the best …
It’s not a rumor, it’s a fact. The volunteers in this area are second to none.
They proved it again last week when they searched for Kelley Jo Snyder who had been missing since Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, the search resulted in a sad find, but the volunteers came through all week long. We’ve heard only good things about the volunteers and police and commend them all.
History on record …
As the area gets ready to celebrate Renovo’s 150th anniversary it will be interesting to learn some of the history of the community. There are probably numerous sources of history recorded, including Renovo Public Library, area churches and by private historians. Among the historians is Wayne Short, who along with his wife Marilyn have compiled three tomes of Renovo history from 1866 to 1975. Each of his three books is filled with all sorts of information and while I hope to give you a few bits from his books as the week’s progress, I can’t begin to give you more than a smidgen of the work the Short’s have done in the three books.
Prior to its incorporation on May 1866, the area we know as Renovo Borough was part of Chapman Township. The first of Short’s books is the History of Renovo, Pennsylvania (1866-1925). In it he notes that a conversation in 1885 John Quigley Welsh talked about some early history of Renovo. He stated that there were “but five roughly constructed cabins on the bottomlands between Paddy’s Run and Drury’s Run in 1824.”
Those early cabins included one built by Paddy McCormick, circa 1798 at the mouth of Paddy’s Run; a cabin built by the David Summerson Family circa 1806 where 15th Street is now; a cabin circa 1775 built by John Price where the Renovo Hotel once stood; a cabin where the Samuel Kepler family lived in the area of Stout’s Hill and a cabin occupied by Jacob Kepler near the east bank of Drury’s Run, circa 1812.
Earth Day, April 22 …
Earth Day is 45 years old this year. Earth Day is an annual event that demonstrates the support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is celebrated in more than 192 countries each year. Earth Day reminds us to reduce, reuse, recycle, restore and replenish… make every day Earth Day!
