Bethel Park Historical Society plans major improvements to former school
Bill Haberthur stands at the South Park Road entrance to the Schoolhouse Arts Center.
Entrance to Bethel Vocational School following the building’s 1920s expansion
A museum of local military history is part of the plans for the renovated Schoolhouse Arts Center.
Bethel High School Class of 1916
Bethel High School Class of 1917
Class of 1927
Class of 1928
A 1947 baseball uniform has been donated to the historical society’s collection.
A Bethel Park Historical Society display at the Schoolhouse Arts Center
A photo from 1934 shows the governor’s drive, which still exists and is targeted for renovation.
A long-unused restroom in the Schoolhouse Arts Center basement
A stairway evokes images of students walking up and down to reach their classes.
This type of device used to be state of the art.
Take a close look at the west wall of the Schoolhouse Arts Center in Bethel Park, and catch a blast from the Teddy Roosevelt-era past.
“The original entrance was on Park Avenue,” Bill Haberthur said, as opposed to the building later fronting South Park Road, “and you can actually see the outline of the front door.”
That would have been the configuration from 1905, when what then was Bethel High School opened for business, and the structure’s expansion in 1921.
“Basically, if you look at the front of the building, everything to the right of the steps is an addition,” Haberthur explained.
As a Bethel Park High School graduate – from the multi-building campus off Church Road, which since has been demolished – who lived elsewhere for three decades before returning to his hometown, he has taken up the cause of preserving local history.
And that cause starts with the 111-year-old brick edifice that provided an education for so many local students.
“There are many people who dedicated a lot of time and effort to saving this building, to where we are presently,” he said. “Now we have the next generation of people to carry the building into the future.”
Bethel Park Historical Society, of which Haberthur is a member, acquired the building for $1 and set it up as the Schoolhouse Arts Center, making the organization’s headquarters there while renting space to artists, theater groups and others to help cover costs of upkeep.
With costs mounting as the decades pass, a capital campaign is in progress to raise money for everything from replacing the roof and repointing the brick to bringing the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system squarely into the 21st century.
“The architect, who donated his services, wants to create the new HVAC system as kind of like industrial ductwork,” Haberthur explained. “You can’t go back to 1905 and do a coal-burning fireplace and be energy-efficient, but at least you can work with it.”
Beyond physical improvements, a goal of the historical society is to provide a history and cultural center for Bethel Park – Haberthur is the center’s director – with opportunities for educational classes and tours.
The concept would include a miner’s museum and military museum, both focusing on a local perspective. Some items already hand include a miner’s lunch bucket that belonged to Haberthur’s great uncle and pieces of company scrip that were paid in lieu of actual money at the former Coverdale Mine.
The historical society also is re-creating a classroom of the past, thanks largely to a donation from the Murdoch family, founders and owners of the South Park Shops. As renovations continue, the society plans to rent space for special occasions.
A key to success of the capital campaign is securing larger-scale grants, but members of the community can help by joining the historical society – at $20 per individual or $40 for a family – and simply by spreading information through social media, starting with “liking” the historical society’s Facebook page. Information is available there about donating.
“Even if somebody gives $5, if you get the word out, it adds up,” Haberthur said.