Stunja seeks headquarters for Whitsett Historical Society
The Whitsett Historical Society is searching for a headquarters in the village, and in doing so members are trying to keep the village’s name on place on the National Register of Historical Places.
Jeff Stunja, founder of the Whitsett Historical Society, has been searching for a headquarters since its inception in 1993.
“We would like to find a place,” said Stunja, a health-care technician at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Pittsburgh and who also served in the U.S. Air Force for 10 years. “We have been looking since 1993 for a place and have identified a few places in the past and in the present. We are interested in a few certain places where we would like to restore the outside to its historical origins.”
Stunja named two problems that have consistency hindered the group’s plans.
“There are places we have found, but the problem is either they aren’t vacant or the person who owns them lives outside the area and will not sell them,” said Stunja. “We also are dealing with the issues of acquiring the money, too, but right now we are still looking at the process of beginning to buy a structure.”
Still Stunja keeps searching and hopes to preserve as many homes as possible, citing the real threat that the village could lose its position on the National List of Historical Places, where it has been located since 1995.
“It’s more of a long-term problem,” said Stunja. “But if we lose too many historical sites in the town, we could lose our position. The integrity of the outside and inside of the structures in the town needs to remain in good condition.”
With Whitsett part of the Greater Allegheny Passage and many bicyclists expressing interest in the area, removal from the list could hurt the Perry Township village, Stunja said.
“We have a lot of bicyclists come through here and have an interest in the town’s history and spend time in the town,” said Stunja. “Some people just aren’t aware of the danger we are in if we don’t take steps to preserve our town’s history.”
In connection with the process of buying a building, Stunja cited the need to reconnect residents with those who have moved out of the area over the years.
This isn’t something new to Stunja, who published the Whitsett Yearbook in 1993 to try to accomplish that goal.
“I had done a lot of interviews with people who had been children back in the heyday of the town in the early 1900s,” said Stunja. “I took handwritten notes, and at that time used my word processor to copy them for my 188-page book. I also collected over 1,000 photographs though I knew I couldn’t use them all in such a small book.”
Though a supplement to the book came out in 1995, Stunja could not afford to keep producing further supplements as he paid for the book out of his own pocket.
So faced with the need to bring attention to his group’s efforts to purchase the home, and the desire to create a forum to post the photographs to bring the past and present residents together, Stunja launched the Facebook group page titled “Whitsett Historical Society/Whitsett, PA” this past Thanksgiving.
“I had been thinking about the best way now to reach out to the community,” said Stunja. “Perryopolis Historical Society has two sites and I modeled our site off of one of theirs. I wanted to use a site where I could allow people to access it for free and see pictures. Facebook offered that solution.
Stunja said the good response amazed him.
“Mr. Wall, along with several other Whitsett descendants, are quite enthused about it,” said Stunja. “I wasn’t sure if personally they wanted it done this way where their pictures would be available online, but they are pleased and we have 1,600 people now ‘friends’ with the site.”
While the group cannot currently seek donations as it is not a nonprofit group, Stunja hopes that if the 125-member historical society could purchase a headquarters site, that the website will encourage participation in the process.
“I would love to achieve nonprofit status to do that,” said Stunja. “Right now, I’m contacting the Perryopolis Historical Society to find out how they went about the process in the 1970s.
“Hopefully, we can do this and it will be a great tool in helping to preserve this town’s historical place.”