By Felicia A. Petro

Allied News Staff Writer

Local history just keeps moving ahead.

The Grove City Area Historical Society received a $25,000 grant two weeks ago through the Pennsylvania Museum Commission that will help finish renovations in the College Avenue building, allowing it to expand displays of local history.

“This is an old, old building that needs constant maintenance,” said Mary “Skip” Sample, president. “We’re thrilled.”

Much of the work on the old Travelers Hotel has been completed on the first floor within the past couple of years.

Now it’s time to finish the second floor. The $25,000 will be used to complete the old rooms of the hotel that will be used for displays and storage.

After the borough purchased the building for the society in January 2000, the roof “sprung a leak,” Sample said. The roof couldn’t be fixed until the spring, and the plaster in all the rooms upstairs received extensive water damage.

After nearly 10 years of working on other projects, the upstairs work has received its due attention. As soon as the recent grant money was in hand, the society brought in a contractor to repair the upstairs ceilings and walls.

Having submitted bids for the project was part of the grant-application process. “We were ready to go with the construction,” Sample said. “We were a shovel-ready project.”

The contractor finished his work last week. The society members will now be painting, tearing up carpet and decorating the rooms.

This past winter, the society already funded work to repair three rooms that will commemorate Grove City College; business and industry; and area churches.

Sherwin Williams in Pine Township donated employees and materials to paint the three rooms during the Grove City Day of Caring in April.

There are 13 rooms upstairs that will be decorated in various themes or used for storage, she noted. The society took out plumbing, but installed a heating and cooling system to keep the temperature upstairs consistent, she added.