close

History center reopens in Mt. Lebanon

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read
1 / 6

Harry Funk / The Almanac

From left are Jim Wojcik, Historical Society of Mount Lebanon president; Karen Cahall, former president; Sean Daniels, Mt. Lebanon Fire Department assistant chief; Commissioner Kelly Fraasch; and Sheryl Cohen, on behalf of state Rep. Dan Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon.

2 / 6

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Firefighting equipment on display

3 / 6

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Part of the exhibit allows for children – adults, too – to have their photos taken with firefighting equipment.

4 / 6

Harry Funk / The Almanac

A vintage fire extinguisher is on display.

5 / 6

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Special equipment for handling hazardous materials

6 / 6

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Hydraulic rescue tools, commonly known as “jaws of life”

Back when a visit to the physician was a much simpler proposition, Dr. Donald McMillan saw patients on the ground floor of his Mt. Lebanon home.

Occasionally, his two sons caused him to venture upstairs.

“Bill and I would play football here in the living room,” Dick McMillan recalled, “until Dad would come up from his office and say, ‘It sounds like the ceiling’s coming down.’

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Dick and Jean McMillan

“We had a football game that we played on our knees, and we’d bang into each other and knock each other over. And I guess it didn’t sound too good downstairs.”

Dick and his sister Jean were among the guests at one of the late-September reopening celebrations for the Mt. Lebanon History Center, in the house at 794 Washington Road where they spent their childhood.

The building now serves as headquarters for the Historical Society of Mount Lebanon, which has completed the second of three phases of renovations, overhauling the main floor to reflect the house’s appearance when the McMillans lived there.

A new feature is a wheelchair lift, part of an overall effort to improve accessibility, in what used to be a porch on the building’s south side.

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Harry Funk / The Almanac

A look at what a firefighter wore a century ago is part of the history center exhibit “Mt. Lebanon’s Fire Department: 100 Years of Serving the Community.”

“I just can’t get over that porch,” Jean McMillan said about the update. “We’d hide out there. We had a lot of bushes, and no one could see us.”

She remembers the ornate fountain that once sat inside the house, a feature that has been lost to the years.

“That fountain, we had fish in there. I pulled the plug out, and the fish went down,” she recalled. “Then, we had a canary cage. I changed the paper, and the canaries flew out.”

Her siblings, also including the future Ann Shuman, probably weren’t pleased at what happened to the pets. But they have their memories.

“Dad had a model railroad that one of his patients gave him to pay his bill. Dad was not opposed to bartering,” Dick said. “So we had this elaborate railroad that, we kind of shrugged our shoulders because we didn’t make it. It didn’t mean anything to us. But it was something to see.”

Dr. McMillan, who died on the last day of 2002 at age 91, bought the house with his wife, Christine, after World War II, and he had his practice there until the 1980s. Afterward, the building was used primarily for office space, and the historical society moved into the ground floor in 2009.

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Harry Funk / The Almanac

What a firefighter wears today is on display.

The first phase of renovations tackled problems with the roof, and plans for the third phase address the ground and second floors, including an expansive balcony overlooking Washington Road that can be used for special gatherings.

“We still need to finish restoring the rest of this wonderful building to make it an outstanding asset fro the community and to make it the best historical society space in the South Hills,” Jim Wojcik, the society’s president, said.

In conjunction with the history center’s reopening, the exhibit “Mt. Lebanon’s Fire Department: 100 Years of Serving the Community” is on display. Starting Dec. 1, the building will host Senator John Heinz History Center’s traveling exhibit “We Can Do It! WWII” in its first appearance in the South Hills.

For more information, visit lebohistory.org.

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Harry Funk / The Almanac

A major component of the renovation’s second phase was restoring the skylight that graced the home of Dr. Donald McMillan and his family.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today