Connellsville’s Gibson House being restored
Rachel Basinger
John Blackburn with Humes Masonry puts mortar in the joints of the old stone Gibson House in Connellsville.
Rachel Basinger
Tom Manson repoints the stones on a rear exterior wall of the Gibson House in Connellsville.
Tom Manson with Humes Masonry works on the restoration of the Gibson House in Connellsville
The Gibson House in Connellsville is being slowly restored by the Connellsville Area Historical Society.
Rachel Basinger
Repointing of the exterior stone of the Gibson House in Connellsville is part of the ongoing restoration work being done by the Connellsville Area Historical Society.
?The home of the Connellsville Area Historical Society is getting a facelift.
Contractor Matt Humes is undertaking the task of repointing the stone exterior of the Gibson House on Patterson Avenue as part of renovations to prepare for the structure’s 200th anniversary next year.
The society purchased the building in 2001 after two fires destroyed the roof.
“Originally our biggest concern was replacing the roof,” said Karen Hechler, society president. “But, it’s like owning your own house — there’s never really an end to the things you want to do.”
Since that time, with funds raised through book sales and obtained through grants and donations, the society has been able to repair the chimneys and add new heating, new plumbing, a water heater, a kitchenette, a handicapped accessible restroom and air conditioning to better preserve archived materials and wood restoration on the interior of the building.
“Over the years we’ve had people come to look at the house, including different people who knew about the care and maintenance of cut stone buildings,” Hechler said. “They would point out that it needed to be repointed.”
She added that over the years, when mortar would fall out, those responsible for the building would just fill it in with cement.
“That’s really not the proper way for preserving it historically, so we had known for a while that something needed to be done, but we had other things on our priority list that needed to be completed first,” Hechler said. “There were so many things that absolutely had to be done first, so it was a natural progression of getting to this stage where it was time to do something.”
Humes, who has done work on other historic buildings, said they are about two weeks in to the monthlong restoration process of the outside of the Gibson House.
“When they smudged the cement into the cracks, it really covered up the view of the natural cut of the stones, so we’re working to bring that view back to the surface,” Humes said.
Hechler added that the work the company has done to this point has been great.
“He’s really exposed the brick above the main door, which I never really noticed before,” she said.
Sarah Reedy, archivist for the historical society, said that while they don’t know exactly when the main structure was built, they do know that it has been in existence since at least 1818. An extension on the back of the house was added in 1870.
“Originally, this was the home of Josiah Gibson, who was the ironmaster of the iron village that was just down the hill,” she said. “More recently it was a family’s home before it was purchased by the historical society.”
Hechler said her love for the building goes back to when she was a child growing up on the south side of Connellsville and walking to the then Coker’s Stadium.
“That building standing there was just phenomenal,” she said. “Even then, as a young person, I could tell it was different and not of an age of the rest of the building around it.
“We’ve lost a lot of old buildings over the years, but this is one building that hopefully won’t be lost to Connellsville,” Hechler added. “We want it to be a viable, useful reminder of the tremendous history that Connellsville has that needs to be preserved.”
Other projects Hechler said they hope to have completed for the 200th anniversary year include the completion of a military room on the second floor that would track the involvement of Connellsville from the French and Indian War to the present time.
She added that they would also like to complete a media room on the second floor that would have television screens, scanners, tables and chairs and other things that would help individuals view films or conduct research with the help of the society’s archives.
The next society meeting is scheduled for April 19 at 7 p.m. at the Gibson House. Reedy said if there are any individuals who were thinking about possibly becoming a member of the society, this would be a great meeting to attend.
“Brian Reedy, chief of interpretation at Fort Necessity National Battlefield, will be here to talk about how it went from a battlefield to farm land to a national park,” she said.
There will be no cost to attend the meeting.