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The Donora Historical Society made the following announcements.

Next Cement City Walking Tour Date Set

The first in a series of our sixth annual Cement City Home and Walking Tours will be scheduled for Sunday, April 24th at 1 p.m.  The tour will start at the museum at 1 p.m. with a photo, artifact and blueprint presentation on Donora’s National Historic District – Thomas Edison’s Cement City.  The photos are from our Bruce Dreisbach glass plate negative collection and were taken during all phases of construction in 1916 and 1917, almost a century ago.

 The presenter is Smog Museum curator and Cement City resident Brian Charlton, who authored an article in the fall 2013 edition of the Western Pennsylvania History magazine published by the Heinz History Center titled "Cement City: Thomas Edison's Experiment with Worker's Housing In Donora."

A walking and home tour follows in the Historic District to point out various architectural and social details.  The tour concludes by touring the interiors of two homes with rooms restored to the period. 

The cost of the tour is $12/person and space is limited.  Please call or email to RSVP.  If you have any questions about Cement City or one of our Home and Walking Tours, please consult our website and click the “Cement City” tab, or contact the historical society.  Additional tours will be scheduled in October if you can’t make the April tour, and it is encouraged to call or email to get your name added to a waiting list to get contacted when a date has been scheduled. 

Seeking Cerini’s Harley Davidson Memorabilia

One of the many interesting stories from the early days of Donora is the founding of the Cerini’s Harley Davidson dealership that was opened in 1920 and was once considered the oldest family-owned Harley Davidson dealership east of the Mississippi River.  The original storefront still exists on Meldon Avenue, but is no longer open for business. 

This Donora business is one that is not prominently featured at the Smog Museum primarily due to lack of memorabilia.  If you have any old Cerini’s advertising items, T-shirts, clothing or any other memorabilia that you would like to donate to the Donora Historical Society to better tell the Cerini Harley Davidson story, it would be greatly appreciated.  Please call or email to setup your donation appointment.

 Game Films

The Donora Historical Society is taking orders for copies of basketball games from 1978 and 1979 that feature Mon Valley Catholic against Frazier, Beth Center, Greensburg Central and Albert Gallatin. Originally on 16mm film, the games have been converted to DVD and are now available for purchase at $25 per game.  The proceeds help defray the ongoing effort to continue to transfer other games to DVD.

 The full list of basketball and football games from 1963 to 1979 can be found on the website under the “Game Films” tab.

 Additional Info

If you have additional questions about the subjects mentioned above, the society, museum, meetings or possibly volunteering, feel free to stop by, email us at DonoraHistoricalSociety@gmail.com, or by calling 724-823-0364 and leaving a message.  Or visit us on the web at www.DonoraHistoricalSociety.org.

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